UFC 76
UFC 76: Knockout was a mixed martial arts (MMA) event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). The event took place on September 22, 2007 at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California. Though the event was subtitled Knockout, the entire card produced no knockouts.
Background
The main event was anticipated to be Chuck Liddell versus Wanderlei Silva, a long-awaited match between the two popular former champions of the UFC and PRIDE, respectively; however, the main event featured a fight between former UFC light heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell and The Ultimate Fighter 2 alum Keith Jardine, with both fighters returning from knockout losses at UFC 71.
Also appearing on the card was PRIDE 2005 Middleweight Grand Prix champion Mauricio "Shogun" Rua, who made his Octagon debut against The Ultimate Fighter 1 winner Forrest Griffin.
Welterweight Diego Sanchez returned after his decision loss at UFC 69 to Josh Koscheck when he faced Jon Fitch, a training partner of Koscheck and a former Purdue University wrestler who was in the midst of a thirteen-fight win streak.
A scheduled bout between light heavyweights Jason Lambert and Wilson Gouveia was removed from the card after Gouveia suffered a severely broken nose during training. A replacement for Gouveia was not found.
The card left with eight bouts instead of nine, the UFC scheduled a fight between Rich Clementi and Anthony Johnson to fill out the remainder of the card.
None of the preliminary bouts made it to the PPV due to the length of all the main card bouts.
Results
Preliminary card
* Lightweight bout: United States Matt Wiman vs. Japan Michihiro Omigawa
Wiman wins by unanimous decision. Judges scored the bout 30–27, 29–28, and 29–28.
* Heavyweight bout: Hungary Christian Wellisch vs. United States Scott Junk
Wellisch wins by submission (heel hook) at 3:19 of round one.
* Lightweight bout: United States Jeremy Stephens vs. Brazil Diego Saraiva
Stephens wins by unanimous decision. All three judges scored the bout 30–27.
* 177 lb. catchweight bout: United States Rich Clementi vs. United States Anthony Johnson
Clementi wins by submission (rear naked choke) at 3:05 of round two.
Main card
* Lightweight bout: United States Tyson Griffin vs. Brazil Thiago Tavares
Griffin wins by unanimous judges' decision. Judges scored the bout 29–28, 30–27, 29–28.
* Light heavyweight bout: Brazil Lyoto Machida vs. Japan Kazuhiro Nakamura
Machida wins by unanimous decision. All three judges scored the bout 30–27. After the fight, Nakamura failed a drug test, testing positive for marijuana.
* Welterweight bout: United States Diego Sanchez vs. United States Jon Fitch
Fitch wins by split decision. Judges scored the bout 30–27 and 29–28 for Fitch, and 29–28 for Sanchez.
* Light heavyweight bout: Brazil Mauricio Rua vs. United States Forrest Griffin
Griffin wins by submission (rear naked choke) at 4:45 of round three.
* Light heavyweight bout: United States Chuck Liddell vs. United States Keith Jardine
Jardine wins by split decision. Judges scored the bout 29–28 and 29–28 for Jardine, and 29–28 for Liddell.
- Fight of the Night: United States Tyson Griffin vs. Brazil Thiago Tavares
- Submission of the Night: United States Forrest Griffin
- Knockout of the Night: None, no knockout victories on the card
