UFC 53
| UFC 53: Heavy Hitters | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 The poster for UFC 53: Heavy Hitters | ||||
| Promotion | Ultimate Fighting Championship | |||
| Date | June 4, 2005 | |||
| Venue | Boardwalk Hall | |||
| City | Atlantic City, New Jersey | |||
| Attendance | 12,000 | |||
| Total gate | $1,100,000 | |||
| Buyrate | 90,000 | |||
| Event chronology | ||||
| ||||
UFC 53: Heavy Hitters was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on June 4, 2005, at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The event was broadcast live on pay-per-view in the United States, and later released on DVD.
History
This event was originally scheduled to take place at the Yokohama Arena in Japan with an Interim Heavyweight Championship bout between Andrei Arlovski and Mirko Filipović serving as the main event. However the lack of sponsorship for the event forced the event to be moved to Atlantic City.[1]
Initially, former champion Ricco Rodriguez was slated to contend for the Heavyweight Championship, but withdrew from the bout, citing complications with his training camp.[2] Headlining the card opposite of Interim Heavyweight Champion Arlovski, instead, was Miletich protégé Justin Eilers. Although there was some criticism directed at the UFC for giving Eilers a title shot after coming off a knockout loss to Paul Buentello at UFC 51, the UFC explained that Buentello was not medically cleared to fight when the main event was originally scheduled.
This was Forrest Griffin's first fight after winning The Ultimate Fighter show.
Results
| Main Card | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weight class | Method | Round | Time | Notes | |||
| Heavyweight | Andrei Arlovski (ic) | def. | Justin Eilers | TKO (punches) | 1 | 4:10 | [a] |
| Welterweight | Karo Parisyan | def. | Matt Serra | Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–27, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Middleweight | Rich Franklin | def. | Evan Tanner (c) | TKO (doctor stoppage) | 4 | 3:25 | [b] |
| Light Heavyweight | Forrest Griffin | def. | Bill Mahood | Submission (rear-naked choke) | 1 | 2:18 | |
| Heavyweight | Paul Buentello | def. | Kevin Jordan | Submission (guillotine choke) | 1 | 4:00 | |
| Preliminary card | |||||||
| Middleweight | Nate Quarry | def. | Shonie Carter | TKO (punches) | 1 | 2:37 | [c] |
| Middleweight | David Loiseau | def. | Charles McCarthy | TKO (spinning back kick) | 2 | 2:10 | [d] |
| Welterweight | Nick Diaz | def. | Koji Oishi | KO (punches) | 1 | 1:24 | [e] |
- ^ For the interim UFC Heavyweight Championship. It was realized that Eilers had injured his knee in the bout, prompting the referee to stop the fight as Eilers could not defend himself.[3]
- ^ For the UFC Middleweight Championship.
- ^ The bout, although preliminary, was aired on the broadcast.
- ^ The bout, although preliminary, was aired on the broadcast.
- ^ The bout, although preliminary, was aired on the broadcast.
See also
Sources
- UFC 53: Heavy Hitters Results on Sherdog.com
- "Ultimate Fighting Championship Cards" on Wrestling Information Archives
References
- ^ "Unauthorized Access".
- ^ "UFC 53: 'Pit Bull' attacks".
- ^ Josh Gross (June 6, 2005). "UFC 53 Injury Update: Eilers and Tanner". sherdog.com. Retrieved 2008-07-21.
