UFC 39: Ricco shocks the world
The former ownership of the UFC had done away with tournaments long ago, but the UFC staged something of a lightweight tournament beginning at UFC 39. Jens Pulver was stripped of his title in a contract dispute, so the UFC set up a pair of lightweight fights at UFC 39.
The winners were to meet for the vacant title.
A heavyweight bout on the card, though, turned into a title fight when Josh Barnett tested positive for steroids after his win over Couture at UFC 36.
Couture returned and met Ricco Rodriguez for the vacant belt. It was a terrific, back-and-forth fight. Rodriguez was not expected to be able to be strong in the fifth round, as some questioned his conditioning, but he was fighting as hard in the last as he was in the first.
And it paid off when Rodriguez got into Couture's guard and was raining down elbows, forcing a verbal submission from Couture.
Caol Uno defeats Din Thomas in the first fight of the lightweight tournament. Two future welterweight champions, B.J. Penn and Matt Serra, meet in the second fight and Penn pulls out a decision. Uno and Penn rematch at UFC 41 for the lightweight belt, only to have the fight end on a draw.
NOTEWORTHY
Future heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia made his UFC debut by stopping Wesley "Cabbage" Correia in the second round.
Gan McGee, a 6-10 heavyweight who defeated Pedro Rizzo, had to cut nearly 40 pounds to make the heavyweight limit of 265.
The fight with Rodriguez would be Couture's last at heavyweight, at least for a while. Not long after the bout, Couture, then 39, noted that the current crop of UFC heavyweights were too big and announced a move to light heavyweight.
RESULTS
Sean Sherk def. Benji Radach, TKO, 4:16 R1
Matt Lindland def. Ivan Salaverry, unanimous decision
Gan McGee def. Pedro Rizzo, TKO, 5:00 R1
Tim Sylvia def. Wesley Correira, TKO, 1:43 R2
UFC lightweight title tournament semfinals
Caol Uno def. Din Thomas, unanimous decision
B.J. Penn def. Matt Serra, unanimous decision
UFC heavyweight championship: Ricco Rodriguez def. Randy Couture, submission (elbow strikes), 3:04 R5 (Rodriguez wins vacant title).
