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UFC 66

UFC mixed martial arts event in 2006

Field	Value
name	UFC 66: Liddell vs. Ortiz
image	UFC 66 Poster.jpg
promotion	Ultimate Fighting Championship
date	December 30, 2006
venue	MGM Grand Garden Arena
city	Paradise, Nevada
attendance	13,761 (12,191 paid)
gate	$5,397,300
buyrate	1,050,000
purse	$767,000 (disclosed)
previousevent	UFC Fight Night: Sanchez vs. Riggs
followingevent	UFC Fight Night: Evans vs. Salmon

UFC 66: Liddell vs. Ortiz was a mixed martial arts (MMA) pay-per-view event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on December 30, 2006 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in the Las Vegas suburb of Paradise, Nevada.

Background

*UFC 66'''s main event was a championship fight with two of the UFC's biggest light heavyweight stars, Light Heavyweight Champion Chuck Liddell defending his title against former champion Tito Ortiz. This fight was first announced by Ortiz at the *UFC 63'' weigh-ins on September 22, 2006.

The co-main event saw Forrest Griffin take on "The Dean of Mean" Keith Jardine. The card also saw the return of former Heavyweight Champion Andrei Arlovski and The Ultimate Fighter 3 winner Michael Bisping's first bout in the UFC since winning that season. During the event, it was made official that Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic had signed a contract with the UFC, and would make his debut with the organization at UFC 67.

The event was the UFC's first show at MGM Grand Arena since UFC 56, and was nearly sold-out, producing the highest live gate revenue in North American mixed martial arts history, extending the previous record at UFC 57 by over $2,000,000 (USD). At the time, it was estimated to be the UFC's biggest pay-per-view success with just over 1 million buys.

The disclosed fighter payroll for the event was $767,000.

Results

|Light Heavyweight |Chuck Liddell (c) |def. |Tito Ortiz |TKO (punches) |3 |3:59 | For the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship |Light Heavyweight |Keith Jardine |def. |Forrest Griffin |TKO (punches) |1 |4:41 | |Middleweight |Jason MacDonald |def. |Chris Leben |Submission (guillotine choke) |2 |4:03 | |Heavyweight |Andrei Arlovski |def. |Márcio Cruz |KO (punches) |1 |3:15 | |Light Heavyweight |Michael Bisping |def. |Eric Schafer |TKO (punches) |1 |4:24 | |Welterweight |Thiago Alves |def. |Tony DeSouza |KO (knee) |2 |1:10 | This bout aired on the PPV broadcast following the Griffin vs. Jardine fight. After the fight Alves tested positive for spironolactone. He was fined $5,500 by the NSAC and suspended for eight months. Alves is the first fighter in Nevada to ever test positive for a diuretic. |Heavyweight |Gabriel Gonzaga |def. |Carmelo Marrero |Submission (armbar) |1 |3:22 | This bout aired last on the PPV broadcast following the Liddell vs. Ortiz fight. |Middleweight |Yushin Okami |def. |Rory Singer |TKO (submission to punches) |3 |4:03 | |Heavyweight |Christian Wellisch |def. |Anthony Perosh |Decision (unanimous) (29–28, 29–27, 29–28) |3 |5:00 |

Bonus awards

Fight of the Night: Chuck Liddell vs. Tito Ortiz
Knockout of the Night: Keith Jardine
Submission of the Night: Jason MacDonald

Reported salaries

UFC 66 Fighters' Salaries:

Chuck Liddell: $250,000 ($250,000 to fight; no win bonus)
Tito Ortiz: $210,000 ($210,000 to fight; no win bonus)
Andrei Arlovski: $145,000 ($90,000 to fight; $55,000 win bonus)
Michael Bisping: $24,000 ($12,000 to fight; $12,000 win bonus)
Thiago Alves: $22,000 ($11,000 to fight; $11,000 win bonus)
Gabriel Gonzaga: $18,000 ($9,000 to fight; $9,000 win bonus)
Forrest Griffin: $16,000 ($16,000 to fight; no win bonus)
Yushin Okami: $16,000 ($8,000 to fight; $8,000 win bonus)
Keith Jardine: $14,000 ($7,000 to fight; $7,000 win bonus)
Jason MacDonald: $10,000 ($5,000 to fight; $5,000 win bonus)
Chris Leben: $7,000 ($7,000 to fight; no win bonus)
Tony DeSouza: $7,000 ($7,000 to fight; no win bonus)
Christian Wellisch: $6,000 ($3,000 to fight; $3,000 win bonus)
Marcio Cruz: $5,000 ($5,000 to fight; no win bonus)
Carmelo Marrero: $5,000 ($5,000 to fight; no win bonus)
Rory Singer: $5,000 ($5,000 to fight; no win bonus)
Eric Schafer: $4,000 ($4,000 to fight; no win bonus)
Anthony Perosh: $3,000 ($3,000 to fight; no win bonus)

References

(2012-07-08). "UFC 148 draws a reported 15,016 attendance for $7 million live gate". mmajunkie.com.
Trembow, Ivan. (2007-03-01). "UFC PPV REVENUE TOPS $200 MILLION IN 2006". mmaweekly.com.
Trembow, Ivan. (2007-01-03). "FIGHTER SALARIES FOR UFC 66 & UFC FIGHT NIGHT 7". mmaweekly.com.
"Future looks 'Icy' for Ortiz". Boston Herald.
Trembow, Ivan. (2006-12-31). "UFC CONFIRMS CRO COP'S SIGNING; A LOOK AT TITLE PICTURES". mmaweekly.com.
Sievert, Steve. "UFC 66 To Make MMA History". chron.com.
Trembow, Ivan. (2007-02-16). "In-Depth: Commission Hearings For Randleman, Yvel, Alves, Toughill, & Carvalho". mmaweekly.com.
Stupp, Dan. (2007-02-16). "Thiago Alves Suspended Eight Months, Fined $5,500 by NSAC". mmajunkie.com.

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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