UFC 51: Super Saturday

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

Background

UFC 51: Super Saturday was a 9-bout fight card that was held on February 5, 2005 at the Mandalay Bay Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The card aired live on pay-per-view and was headlined by a light heavyweight bout between former champions, Tito Ortiz and Vitor Belfort.

An interim heavyweight championship bout between Andrei Arlovski and Tim Sylvia as well as a battle for the vacant middleweight championship between Evan Tanner and David Terrell served as co-main events.

Fight Card

Preliminary Card

Welterweight Bout: Nick Diaz vs. Drew Fickett
Welterweight Bout: Karo Parisyan vs. Chris Lytle
Middleweight Bout: David Loiseau vs. Gideon Ray
Heavyweight Bout: Mike Kyle vs. James Irvin

Main Card

Heavyweight Bout: Paul Buentello vs. Justin Eilers
Middleweight Bout: Phil Baroni vs. Pete Sell
Interim Heavyweight Championship Bout: Tim Sylvia vs. Andrei Arlovski
Middleweight Championship Bout: Evan Tanner vs. David Terrell
Light Heavyweight Bout: Tito Ortiz vs. Vitor Belfort

Pre-Event Notes

The event was originally to take place in Japan in December of 2004 and feature a heavyweight championship bout between Frank Mir and Andrei Arlovski but due to Mir's accident he was unable to compete at that date and the event was postponed and moved to Las Vegas.

Tito Ortiz vs. Vitor Belfort was originally scheduled as a championship bout for Ortiz's title at UFC 33 but an injury to Belfort nixed the bout.

Evan Tanner and David Terrell fight for the vacant middleweight championship that was vacated by previous champion, Murilo Bustamante after he decided to link up with PRIDE.

An Interim heavyweight title was created due to heavyweight champion, Frank Mir suffering a motorcycle accident and being unable to defend his title.

Phil Baroni was originally to take on bruiser, Robbie Lawler but an injury to Lawler saw UFC newcomer, Pete Sell fill in.

David Loiseau was to meet Joe Riggs but that was changed to Gideon Ray after Riggs pulled out with injury.

Results

Preliminary Card

Welterweight Bout: Nick Diaz defs. Drew Fickett via TKO (punches) at 4:40 of round 1.
Welterweight Bout: Karo Parisyan defs. Chris Lytle via unanimous decision (30-27 x3).
Middleweight Bout: David Loiseau defs. Gideon Ray via TKO (doctor stoppage) at 5:00 of round 1.
Heavyweight Bout: Mike Kyle defs. James Irvin via KO (punches) at 1:55 of round 1.

Main Card

Heavyweight Bout: Paul Buentello defs. Justin Eilers via KO (punches) at 3:34 of round 1.
Middleweight Bout: Pete Sell defs. Phil Baroni via submission (guillotine choke) at 4:19 of round 3.
Interim Heavyweight Championship Bout: Andrei Arlovski defs. Tim Sylvia via submission (achilles lock) at :47 of round 1.

Arlovski flattened Sylvia with a right hand shortly into the bout and after some ineffectual ground and pound, he fell back for an achilles lock forcing the tap and taking the Interim title.

Middleweight Championship Bout: Evan Tanner defs. David Terrell via TKO (strikes) at 4:35 of round 1.

Tanner survived an early guillotine choke to brutally pound on the green Terrell from half guard until the referee was forced to stop the fight, thus earning himself the vacant middleweight title.

Light Heavyweight Bout: Tito Ortiz defs. Vitor Belfort via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28).

Belfort hurt Ortiz in the first round and came close to finishing him, the second round was tight as Belfort again looked dangerous but Ortiz capitalized late with some positional control. The third round was all Ortiz however, as he began to dominate a tiring Belfort. The judges returned a split verdict to Ortiz giving him the victory.