UFC 70

Background

2006 PRIDE Open-Weight Grand Prix Champion, Mirko Cro Cop fought Heavyweight contender Gabriel Gonzaga in the main event to determine the top contender for the UFC Heavyweight Championship held by Randy Couture.{{cite news | access-date = 15 February 2007

The card also featured Michael Bisping fighting in England for the UFC for the first time against UFC veteran Elvis Sinosic and Andrei Arlovski taking on prize fighter and training partner of Mirko Cro Cop and future UFC Heavyweight Champion Fabrício Werdum, who was making his UFC debut.

Reports have indicated that the UFC was targeting this event for its debut on HBO, but negotiations with HBO were not completed in time for UFC 70. As a result, the card instead aired on Spike TV in North America at 9 pm EDT on a 6-hour tape delay.{{cite news | access-date = 13 March 2007

Lyoto Machida was originally scheduled to fight Forrest Griffin at this event, but Griffin is out, due to the staph infection and could not compete on the card.{{cite news |access-date = 15 March 2007 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070317194657/http://www.ufc.com/index.cfm?fa=news.detail&gid=4848 |archive-date = 17 March 2007

Results

|Heavyweight |Gabriel Gonzaga |def. |Mirko Cro Cop |KO (head kick) |1 |4:51 |UFC Heavyweight Championship title eliminator |Heavyweight |Andrei Arlovski |def. |Fabrício Werdum |Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–27, 30–27) |3 |5:00 | |Light Heavyweight |Michael Bisping |def. |Elvis Sinosic |TKO (punches) |2 |1:40 | |Light Heavyweight |Lyoto Machida |def. |David Heath |Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–26, 30–27) |3 |5:00 | |Heavyweight |Cheick Kongo |def. |Assuério Silva |Decision (majority) (29–28, 29–28, 28–28) |3 |5:00 | |Lightweight |Terry Etim |def. |Matt Grice |Submission (guillotine choke) |1 |4:38 | |Lightweight |Junior Assuncao |def. |David Lee |Submission (rear-naked choke) |2 |1:55 | |Light Heavyweight |Alessio Sakara |def. |Victor Valimaki |TKO (punches) |1 |1:44 | |Welterweight |Jess Liaudin |def. |Dennis Siver |Submission (armbar) |1 |1:21 |This preliminary bout was aired on the broadcast after the Gonzaga–Cro Cop fight. |Welterweight |Paul Taylor |def. |Edilberto de Oliveira |TKO (head kick and punches) |3 |0:37 |

Bonus awards

The following fighters received $30,000 bonuses.

• Fight of the Night: Michael Bisping vs. Elvis Sinosic
• Knockout of the Night: Gabriel Gonzaga
• Submission of the Night: Terry Etim

References

References

1. "Cro Dropped: Gonzaga Shocks Croat".
2. (22 April 2007). "UFC draws capacity crowd in Manchester". Virtual Manchester.