UFC 61: Bitter Rivals

Saturday, July 8, 2006 at 5:15 PM
at Mandalay Bay Resort Event Center in Las Vegas, NV

The Ultimate Fighting Championship 61 - Saturday, July 8th at 10PM EST.
The brawl is being held at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.

UFC heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia versus former champion Andrei Arlovski.
This championship bout being dubbed as "Bitter Rivals" matches up some fierce competition!

The featured bout will be between UFC heavyweight champion Tim "The Main-iac" Sylvia and former champion Andrei "Pit Bull" Arlovski and a rematch between a no love lost relationship between "The Huntington Beach Bad Boy" Tito Ortiz and Ken "The World's Most Dangerous Man" Shamrock.

UFC 61: Tim Sylvia vs Andrei Arlovski

Sylvia, 30, won the title at UFC 59 on April 15 by getting up off the mat to stop Arlovski at 2:43 of the first round. The 6-foot-1, 265-pounder floored the “Pit Bull” with a right hand and quickly pounced with a flurry of punches, forcing the stoppage.

The 6-4, 240-pound Arlovski beat Sylvia in February of 2005 in a mere 47 seconds, forcing a
submission with an ankle lock.

Current betting odds for these two matches are as follows:

Andrei Arlovski is a heavy favorite at -300 over Tim Sylvia who's getting +270 as the underdog.

In the other fight Tito Ortiz is a huge favorite at -517 over Ken Shamrock at +467.

Odds are of course subject to change as we get closer to the fight.

Also set to rumble on the UFC 61 pay-per-view undercard are welterweights Josh Burkman and Josh Neer.

You may of saw Burkman at UFN4 when he got choked out by Jon Fitch with only 3 seconds to go in the second round.

Neer's last fight was also at UFN4 when he upset TUF2 winner Joe "Daddy" Stevenson. The bout went the distance, after which Neer was awarded the unanimous decision.

The UFC 61 fight card so far:

UFC 61: BITTER RIVALS also is available live on pay-per-view at 10 p.m. EST/7 p.m. PST on iN DEMAND, DIRECTV, DISH Network, TVN, Bell ExpressVu, Shaw Communications and Viewer’s Choice Canada for a suggested retail price of $39.95.