Ken Shamrock (Photo: wwe.com)
UFC 61: Bitter Rivals
– Las Vegas, Nev. – Mandalay Bay Events Center – July 8, 2006
Ken Shamrock’s grudge match against Tito Ortiz set a new
pay-per-view record at UFC 61.
Ortiz and Shamrock had exchanged heated words as the coaches
for Season 3 of The Ultimate Fighter.
In the Octagon, Ortiz used a series of forearms to beat
Shamrock by TKO in 78 seconds. Shamrock lost to Ortiz for the second time, but he felt the fight was stopped too early.
The two rivals would meet again later in the year.
UFC was getting hot on PPV and at the box office, as UFC 61 set new records with 775,000 pay-per-view buys and $3.3 million in ticket
sales.
Tim “The Maine-iac” Sylvia retained his UFC heavyweight
title by defeating Andrei Arlovski in the rubber match of their three-fight
series. Sylvia prevailed by unanimous decision.
TUF 2 alumnus Josh Burkman improved to 3-1 in the UFC by
defeating Josh “The Dentist” Neer by unanimous decision.
Joe Stevenson dropped to the lightweight division and defeated “The Master of Thug-Jitsu” Yves
Edwards when the doctor stopped the fight after Round 2.
Frank Mir moved up the heavyweight ranks with a UD over Dan
Christison.
Jeff “The Snowman” Monson and Cheick Kongo also scored wins
in the heavyweight division. In preliminary fights, Monson beat Anthony Perosh
by TKO in 2:42, and Kongo beat Gilbert Aldana when the doctor stopped the fight
at the 4:13 mark.
Other prelim results included Drew Fickett over Kurt
Pellegrino with a rear naked choke in Round 3 and Hermes Franca over Joe Jordan
with a triangle choke in Round 3.