Headlining the card were the two coaches from The Ultimate Fighter 2, Rich Franklin and Matt Hughes, scheduled to defend their middleweight and welterweight titles, respectively. This event marked the first time that an Ultimate Fighter contestant, season one's Nate Quarry, would compete for a UFC championship.
- Welterweight bout:
Nick Thompson vs.
- Thompson wins by unanimous decision.
- Thompson came out and dominated most of this fight. Wisniewski was clearly exhausted first, but kept his heart in it and towards the end of the fight, actually winded up on top. However, he could not finish Thompson and therefore lost the decision.
- Welterweight bout:
Thiago Alves vs.
Ansar Chalangov
- Alves wins by technical knockout due to strikes at 2:22 of round one.
- Alves makes his debut in the octagon at age 22. He comes out strong and displays his ground game and stand up. Alves wins the fight from full mount (after a nice takedown), as he wasted no time posturing up and landing incredibly powerful blows that quickly rendered Chalangov defenseless.
- Light Heavyweight bout:
- Middleweight bout:
Trevor Prangley
- Horn wins by unanimous decision.
- In my opinion, I feel that Horn shouldn't have got the victory. Horn, who was clearly the crowd favorite, was taken down throughout the entire fight several times, and only threw up a few submissions. Prangley matched Horn in the stand up, and controlled Horn for most of the cage game. Prangley's downfall was he fatigued faster than the experience Horn and tended to stay content in Horn's guard instead of working to pass.
- Welterweight bout:
Georges St-Pierre vs
- St-Pierre wins by technical knockout due to strikes at 2:51 of round two.
- This fight is a notorious fight for anyone interested in St-Pierre's legacy. Sherk, a wrestling specialist, came into the octagon and was completely dominated by his opponent. In fact, Sherk didn't land a single takedown and was taken down numerous times by St-Pierre. The fight ends when GSP took Sherk to the ground, wedged up against the fence, and unleashed a hellish flurry of devastating strikes. Sherk's nose was badly broke via elbow and it was clear Sherk was in a lot of pain as he grunted and looked like he was scared for his life. Blood began pouring out of Sherk's "nose" and the ref stopped the fight.
- Heavyweight bout:
- Gonzaga wins by knockout at 4:37 of round three.
- A very uneventful fight. Both men gas very quickly and dance around for about 13 minutes. It's so uneventful that Joe Rogan and his announcer buddy talk about how boring the fight is, how the UFC will think twice before bringing either men back, how all black people look the same, etc. As they bash the fight with about 30 seconds left, Gonzaga does a superman punch, which was not common at the time, and completely shocked Jordan, the fans, and everyone watching the UFC. The punch landed clean on Jordan and sent him straight down knocking him out cold.
- Welterweight bout:
- UFC Welterweight Champion, Hughes wins by submission (kimura) at 3:28 of round one.
- Riggs was brought in as a replacement for Karo Parisyan, who suffered an injury in his training leading up to the bout. Although originally scheduled as a championship match, Riggs could not make the required weight at 170 lb (missed it by a pound) and the bout was changed to a non-title welterweight match.
- Middleweight Championship bout:
- Franklin wins by knockout at 2:32 of round one. Franklin retains the UFC Middleweight Championship.
- This fight was a dominating performance for Rich Franklin. Quarry came in and was dominated on the stand up, when it went to the ground Franklin pounded on his hardcore and at one point stopped because he though the fight was over. When the fight went up standing again, Quarry stepped back to get out of the way of Franklin's punches but eats a left and knocks him out, stiff as a board.
