CHUCK LIDDELL AND TITO ORTIZ TO COACH SEASON 11 OF THE ULTIMATE FIGHTER®

Las Vegas, NV ( USA ) — UFC® middleweight champion Anderson Silva, arguably the best mixed martial arts fighter in the world, pound-for-pound, will move up in weight class for the first time when he jumps from middleweight to light heavyweight to fight James “The Sandman” Irvin ( 14-4-1 ) on Saturday, July 19 at The Pearl at The Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas.

Silva will square off against the hard-hitting Irvin, who knocked out Houston Alexander in a record-tying eight seconds this past April. Silva vs. Irvin will air LIVE – for the first time ever – on the East and West coast on Spike TV. The fight will be seen at 9:00pm ET and 6:00pm PT, free on Spike TV.

“There has never been a better time to be a mixed martial arts fan,” said Dana White, UFC President. “You get to see Anderson Silva fight for the first time ever as a light heavyweight against James “The Sandman” Irvin, who just tied the record for fastest KO in UFC history with his destruction of Houston Alexander and whose flying knee KO of Terry Martin is an all-time highlight. Silva has been unstoppable in the middleweight division, and now he is looking to test the waters in the light heavyweight division. Fight fans on the West and East coast can see Silva vs. Irvin and a full lineup of great live matchups free on Spike TV Saturday, July 19.”

Tickets for UFC® Fight Night™ Silva vs. Irvin are priced at $450.00, $300.00, $200.00, plus any additional box office or service fees, and are on sale now. Please visit any Ticketmaster location, call 702-474-4000 or visit www.ticketmaster.com to purchase tickets.

Anderson “The Spider” Silva burst onto the UFC scene with a devastating knockout of Chris Leben in June, 2006 which was seen live on Spike TV. A native of Curitiba, Brazil, Silva became UFC Middleweight champ with an impressive TKO over Rich Franklin at UFC 64 in October of 2006, and he has since made four title successful title defenses, with all victories coming via TKO or submission, including a recent win over former PRIDE champion Dan Henderson at UFC 82 in March. Silva, considered by many as the most dominant force the UFC middleweight division has ever seen, is now moving up in weight class to fight the dangerous knockout artist, James Irvin.

Nicknamed “The Sandman,” Irvin, has a propensity for putting his opponents to sleep in dynamic fashion. His flying knee against Terry Martin at UFC 54 in August of 2005 is legendary, and his aforementioned knockout of Alexander tied the record for fastest knockout in UFC history. Fighting out of Sacramento, CA, Irvin has won four out his last five UFC bouts, and a victory over the undefeated Silva would certainly be the career highlight thus far for the 29 year-old slugger.

On the undercard, it’s a battle of two of the rising stars in the heavyweight division as former Purdue University wrestler Jake O’Brien takes on Yuma, Arizona native Cain Velasquez. In January of 2007, O’Brien ( 10-1 ) spoiled the UFC debut of former PRIDE star Heath Herring with a third round decision victory telecast live on Spike TV. Now the skilled grappler from Indianapolis looks to spoil Velasquez’s national television debut on Spike. Velasquez ( 3-0 ) made a triumphant UFC debut in April with an impressive first round knockout of Brad Morris at UFC 83. A victory over O’Brien on Spike’s high-profile fight card will elevate his status among the sport’s top heavyweights.

Brandon “The Truth” Vera ( 8-2 ), fighting out of San Diego, CA, will be moving down in weight from heavyweight to light heavyweight ( 205 lbs ) to fight Reese Andy, who is making his UFC debut. A victory over former UFC champ Frank Mir at UFC 65 in November of 2006 placed Vera in the upper echelon of the heavyweight division. However, a decision loss against Tim Sylvia and a controversial defeat to Fabricio Werdum this past June at UFC 85 have triggered the 30 year-old to drop in weight class to fight at 205 lbs, where he will take on the University of Wyoming’s three-time All American wrestler and former IFL fighter Reese Andy ( 7-1 ). The Seattle native is on a four-fight winning streak and looks continue his winning ways against the veteran Vera.

Also on the card, two highly regarded lightweights will engage in a potential “Fight of the Night” candidate as Hermes Franca takes on Frankie Edgar. Franca ( 19-6 ), a 33 year old Brazilian fighting out of Florida, has won eight of his last nine bouts, including wins over Nate Diaz and Spencer Fisher.

Standing in Franca’s way is Frankie Edgar ( 8-1 ), a superb wrestler from New Jersey who stormed into the UFC with three straight wins in 2007 against highly regarded lightweights Tyson Griffin at UFC 67, Mark Bocek at UFC 74, and Spencer Fisher at UFC 78. Edgar’s last bout was a hard fought defeat at the hands of Gray
Maynard in April, but with the lessons he learned in that bout, Edgar expects to be better than ever on July 18th.

In welterweight action, Anthony Johnson ( 5-1 ) looks to continue his rise up the division ladder as he squares off against Kevin Burns.

Johnson, an incredibly athletic striker from Dublin, GA, is coming off a devastating knockout win over “The Ultimate Fighter 6” finalist Tommy Speer in the first round of their bout this past April in Broomfield, CO. His other win in the UFC was a stunning 13-second knockout of Chad Reiner in June 2007, a fight he took on less than a week’s notice.

Burns ( 7-1 ) made his UFC debut as a late replacement for Ryo Chonan earlier this month at UFC 85 in London. The Iowa native upset veteran Roan Carneiro and earned “Submission of the Night” with his impressive triangle choke.

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About The Ultimate Fighting Championship
The Ultimate Fighting Championship is the world’s leading professional mixed martial arts organization and offers the premier series of MMA sports events. Owned and operated by Zuffa, LLC, and headquartered in Las Vegas, Nev., UFC produces over twelve live pay-per-view events annually that are distributed residentially through North American cable and satellite providers including iNDEMAND Networks, DIRECTV, DISH Network, TVN Entertainment, Shaw Pay-Per-View, Bell ExpressVU, Viewers Choice, SaskTel Max™ and via the Internet worldwide on Yahoo! Sports, and commercially through Joe Hand Promotions in the U.S. and Canadastar in Canada. In addition to its North American distribution, UFC programming is distributed in over 100 countries and territories throughout the world. For more information, or current UFC fight news, visit ufc.com or uk.ufc.com or ufcespanol.com.

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From an interview with MMAweekly:

“Wherever his head (Pierre) is at it’s at, I’m not basing what I’m gong to do on that. He could come inthe best shape mentally, phsyically, and I’m game man. I always was a game fighter I always will be. I’m ready to shock the world again.”

Which fighter competing at UFC 83 is a 2002 World Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Champion

GSP fights for the UFC title at UFC 83. What is his nickname?

Which UFC fighter was an assistant coach to Matt Serra on TUF 6?

Which 3 fighters were slated to fight Matt Serra at UFC 46, before Jeff Curran stepped up to fight him?

Michael Bisping takes on Charles McCarthy at UFC 83. Which 2 UFC fighters has Bisping trained with out of Juanito Ibarra’s training camp?

Rich Clementi who takes on Sam Stout at UFC 83, got a tattoo

Sam Stout’s kickboxing instructor out of London, Ontario is whom?

Nate Quarry who takes on Kalib Starnes at UFC 83, grew up a member of which religious affiliation?

Which fighter competing at UFC 82 is nicknamed “The Road Warrior.”

Rich Franklin, who takes on Travis Lutter at UFC 83, trains his weight training routine shown on UFC All Access with which coach?

Rich Franklin taught which subject as a high school teacher?

Travis Lutter did not have his glove tapped after extending it out to which fighter’s hand in the UFC?
answers
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Sam Stout spoke with Sherdog.com recently, who is getting set for his bout Saturday versus Rich Clementi:

“I’m working a lot on wrestling defense, especially stuff out of the clinch. I know he likes to go for those rear naked choke so I’m going to be watching out for that, I’m going to be ready for that. Whatever he brings to the table I’m going to be ready for.”

Joe Doerksen respects his opponent Jason MacDonald, whom he takes on this Saturday at UFC 83, but feels MacDonald isn’t as great MacDonald would rate himself.

Doerksen writes on his blog on Sportsnet.ca:

“But I will say for sure that I don’t think he’s as good as he considers himself to be. He’s not as good as he thinks he is. That I’ll say for sure. He thinks he’s the most amazing thing that ever walked into that cage. I don’t. I think he’s average, or less, as far as UFC quality goes. And yeah, he beat me once, so good for him, I just want one more chance to face him.”

Ray Longo, striking coach of Matt Serra,  spoke with the Canadian Press earlier this week and shed some light on what he feels will give Serra the edge over Georges St. Pierre on April 19th. “He’s the only guy to knock B.J. Penn down,” Longo said. “He knocked Karo Parisyan out and back up again. I mean Karo was definitely out in that fight. That fight easily could have been stopped. Power to Karo for coming back……He (Serra) has put people on their ass, he’s broken a couple of jaws in sparring, he hits pretty hard.”