UFC 70
UFC 70: Nations Collide was the second UFC event held in the United Kingdom, and the first in Manchester on Saturday, April 21, 2007. The first UFC event in the UK was UFC 38: Brawl at the Hall on July 13, 2002. UFC 70 was also only the seventh UFC event held outside the United States, and the first since UFC 38. The card was broadcast live on pay-per-view in the United Kingdom and Ireland on Setanta Sports.
The televised card on Spike TV drew a 1.84 overall rating (2.8 million viewers), and at its highest point, UFC 70 drew 3.5 million viewers for the main event.
Background
PRIDE FC Open-Weight Grand Prix champion, Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipović, fought heavyweight contender Gabriel Gonzaga in the main event to determine the top contender for the UFC Heavyweight Championship held by Randy Couture.
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 Filipović, Fabricio 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.
Lyoto Machida was originally scheduled to fight Forrest Griffin at this event, but Griffin became ill with a staph infection and could not compete on the card.
Results
Preliminary card
* Welterweight bout: England Paul Taylor vs. Brazil Edilberto "Crocota" de Oliveira
Taylor wins via TKO (strikes) at :37 of round three. This preliminary bout was not aired on either broadcast.
* Welterweight bout: France Jess Liaudin vs. Germany Dennis Siver
Liaudin wins via submission (armbar) at 1:21 of round one. This preliminary bout was aired on the pay-per-view, but not aired on the Spike TV broadcast.
* Light Heavyweight bout: Italy Alessio Sakara vs. Canada Victor Valimaki
Sakara wins via TKO (strikes) at 1:44 of round one. This preliminary bout was not aired on either broadcast.
* Lightweight bout: Brazil Junior Assuncao vs. England David Lee
Assuncao wins by submission (rear naked choke) at 1:55 of round two. This preliminary bout was not aired on either broadcast.
* Lightweight bout: England Terry Etim vs. United States Matt Grice
Etim wins by submission (guillotine choke) at 4:38 of round one. This preliminary bout was aired on the Spike TV broadcast after the Kongo-Silva fight, but was not shown on the pay-per-view broadcast.
Main card
* Heavyweight bout: France Cheick Kongo vs. Brazil Assuerio Silva
Kongo wins via Majority decision (29–28, 29–28, and 28–28).
* Light Heavyweight bout: Brazil Lyoto Machida vs. United States David Heath
Machida wins via unanimous decision. (30–27, 30–26, and 30–27). This match was shown on the pay-per-view and was NOT shown on the Spike TV broadcast.
* Light Heavyweight bout: England Michael Bisping vs. Australia Elvis Sinosic
Bisping wins via TKO (strikes) at 1:40 of round two.
* Heavyweight bout: Belarus Andrei Arlovski vs. Brazil Fabricio Werdum
Official UFC 70 fight card
Official UFC 70 website
UFC 70: Minute By Minute Review
