UFC 76

Lore & Background

The main event featured a fight between former 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 2005 Pride Middleweight Grand Prix Champion and future UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Maurício Rua, who made his Octagon debut against TUF 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 after Gouveia suffered a severely broken nose during training; a replacement was not found. With the card left with only eight bouts instead of nine, the UFC scheduled a fight between Rich Clementi and Anthony Johnson to fill out the remainder. None of the preliminary bouts made it to the PPV due to the length of all the main card bouts.

In Their Own Story

The arena hummed with a low, electric murmur the way a stadium does before a storm breaks. Hughes sat on his stool, hands wrapped, jaw working slowly. Across the cage, Liddell bounced on the balls of his feet, that half-smile fixed on his face like a dare. The referee's voice cut through the noise: "Fighters, to the center of the cage." They met in the middle, foreheads nearly touching, and for a long moment neither blinked. Then the bell rang, and the Phoenix crowd inhaled as one. What followed was not the slow chess match the analysts had predicted. It was a war—elbows, knees, a body kick that echoed off the cage steel—and when it was over, one man was standing and the other was not. The belt changed hands, and the arena erupted in a sound that shook the concrete floor.

Reader's Guide

The event took place on September 22, 2007, at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California. The main event was Chuck Liddell vs. Keith Jardine. The card also included Maurício Rua vs. Forrest Griffin, and Diego Sanchez vs. Jon Fitch. Bonus awards: Fight of the Night – Tyson Griffin vs. Thiago Tavares ($40,000 each); Knockout of the Night – no bonus awarded; Submission of the Night – Forrest Griffin ($40,000).

Did You Know?

• Despite being titled 'Knockout,' the entire card produced no knockouts.
• The main event was originally anticipated to be Chuck Liddell versus Wanderlei Silva, but instead featured Liddell vs. Keith Jardine.
• Maurício Rua made his UFC debut at this event against Forrest Griffin.
• None of the preliminary bouts aired on the pay-per-view due to the length of the main card bouts.