UFC 50: The War of '04

From CageWiki

1 Background
2 Fight Card
3 Pre-Event Notes
4 Results
5 UFC Event Chronology
6 External Links

Background

UFC 50: The War of '04 was a 7-bout fight card that was held on October 22, 2004 at the Trump Plaza in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

The card aired live on pay-per-view and was headlined by a light heavyweight bout between former champion, Tito Ortiz and UFC newcomer, Patrick Cote.

A battle for the vacant welterweight championship between former champion, Matt Hughes and the undefeated Georges St. Pierre served as a co-main event.

Fight Card

Preliminary Card

Light Heavyweight Bout: Marvin Eastman vs. Travis Lutter
Middleweight Bout: Ivan Salaverry vs. Tony Fryklund

Main Card

Middleweight Bout: Evan Tanner vs. Robbie Lawler
Welterweight Bout: Frank Trigg vs. Renato Verissimo
Welterweight Championship Bout: Matt Hughes vs. Georges St. Pierre
Middleweight Bout: Rich Franklin vs. Jorge Rivera
Light Heavyweight Bout: Tito Ortiz vs. Patrick Cote

Pre-Event Notes

Tito Ortiz was to take on Guy Mezger in the main event, which would have completed a trilogy of fights that dated back to UFC 13. However, Mezger suffered stroke-like symptoms a couple of weeks before the fight and had to pull out. He was replaced by undercard fighter, Patrick Cote who was scheduled to make his UFC debut as a middleweight against Marvin Eastman.

GSP and Matt Hughes face off for the vacant welterweight belt after it was vacated when former champion BJ Penn left the organization in favor of K-1. Penn attempted to stop this fight from being for the welterweight title legally, but on September 30, 2004 the Courts ruled in favor of Zuffa.

This would be Rich Franklin's first fight in the middleweight division.

Marvin Eastman instead was matched up against UFC newcomer, Travis Lutter.

Trevor Prangley was the original opponent for Ivan Salaverry but had to withdraw due to injury and was replaced by Tony Fryklund.

Results

Preliminary Card

Light Heavyweight Bout: Travis Lutter defs. Marvin Eastman via KO (punch) at :33 of round 2.
Middleweight Bout: Ivan Salaverry defs. Tony Fryklund via submission (body triangle) at 1:36 of round 1.

Main Card

Middleweight Bout: Evan Tanner defs. Robbie Lawler via submission (triangle choke) at 2:22 of round 1.
Welterweight Bout: Frank Trigg defs. Renato Verissimo via TKO (strikes) at 2:11 of round 2.
Welterweight Championship Bout: Matt Hughes defs. Georges St. Pierre via submission (armbar) at 4:59 of round 1.

GSP had Hughes on the back foot early as he landed a clean spinning back kick and scored a takedown. Hughes' experience would be too much though as he would get a takedown late in the round and move to side control. GSP attempted a kimura from the bottom but paid the ultimate price as Hughes countered it with a perfect armbar that had the Canadian tapping on the bell.

Middleweight Bout: Rich Franklin defs. Jorge Rivera via submission (armbar) at 4:28 of round 3.
Light Heavyweight Bout: Tito Ortiz defs. Patrick Cote via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-26, 30-26).

Ortiz did what he had to do and scored multiple takedowns in every round and pounded on Cote with elbows to earn his first victory since manhandling Ken Shamrock at UFC 40.