05/21/2012
UFC® RETURNS TO SAN JOSE ON WEDNESDAY, JULY 11 WITH
MUNOZ vs. WEIDMAN, PLUS
FITCH vs. SIMPSON
Las Vegas, Nevada – On the heels of tonight’s successful STRIKEFORCE® event at HP Pavilion in San Jose, Calif., the Ultimate Fighting Championship® announced that it will return to the venue on Wednesday, July 11 with an action-packed card. Headlined by an explosive five-round fight between middleweight contenders Mark Munoz and Chris Weidman, the event will also showcase San Jose’s own Jon Fitch battling Aaron Simpson in welterweight action.
All four competitors were standouts in collegiate wrestling and have since made the impressive transition to mixed martial arts. Munoz won a Division I national championship in 2001 at Oklahoma State, while Weidman, unbeaten at 8-0 in his professional MMA career, was a two-time All-American at Hofstra. The winner of their clash on July 11 is expected to emerge as a top challenger to the middleweight title.
San Jose’s Fitch captained the 2002 Purdue University wrestling team, and his opponent on July 11, Simpson, was a two-time All-American at Arizona State who also competed at the 2004 Olympic trials. Both look to climb the ranks in the highly-competitive UFC 170-pound division when they meet at “The Shark Tank.”
The main card, which airs live on FUEL TV at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT, will include:
• Middleweight five-round fight: Mark Munoz vs. Chris Weidman
• Light heavyweight bout: Brandon Vera vs. James Te Huna
• Welterweight bout: San Jose’s Jon Fitch vs. Aaron Simpson
• Middleweight bout: Karlos Vemola vs. Francis Carmont
• Bantamweight bout: Sacramento’s TJ Dillashaw vs. Vaughan Lee
• Lightweight bout: Paul Taylor vs. Anthony Njokuani
*Additional fights to be announced in the weeks to come at www.ufc.com
Tickets for UFC® on FUEL TV: MUNOZ vs. WEIDMAN go on sale Thursday, May 24 at 10 a.m. PT. and are priced at $175, $100, $75 and $50. Tickets will be available at the HP Pavilion ticket office, all Ticketmaster locations, online at Ticketmaster.com or charge by phone at 1-800-745-3000.
UFC® Fight Club™ members will have the opportunity to purchase tickets to this event Tuesday, May 22 at 10 a.m. PT via the website www.ufcfightclub.com. A special Internet ticket pre-sale will be available to UFC newsletter subscribers Wednesday, May 23, starting at 10 a.m. PT. To access this presale, users must register for the UFC newsletter through UFC.com.
For more information or current fight news, visit www.ufc.com. All bouts live and subject to change.
The Ultimate Fighting Championship®
Universally recognized for its action-packed, can’t-miss events that have sold out some of the biggest arenas and stadiums across the globe, the UFC® is the world’s premier mixed martial arts organization. Owned and operated by Zuffa, LLC, headquartered in Las Vegas and with offices in London, Toronto and Beijing, UFC® produces more than 30 live events annually and is the largest Pay-Per-View event provider in the world. In 2011, the UFC burst into the mainstream with a landmark seven-year broadcast agreement with FOX Sports Media Group. The agreement includes four live events broadcast on the FOX network annually, with additional fight cards and thousands of hours of programming broadcast on FOX properties FX and FUEL TV. This includes the longest-running sports reality show on television, The Ultimate Fighter®, which now air on FX in an exciting new live format.
In addition to its reach on FOX, UFC programming is broadcast in over 149 countries and territories, to nearly one billion homes worldwide, in 20 different languages. UFC content is also distributed commercially in the United States to bars and restaurants through Joe Hand Promotions and in English throughout Canada via Premium Sports Broadcasting Inc. and in Quebec through Interbox. The UFC also connects with tens of millions of fans through its website, UFC.com, as well as social media sites Facebook and Twitter. UFC President Dana White is considered one of the most accessible and followed executives in sports, with over two million followers on Twitter. Ancillary UFC businesses include best-selling DVDs, an internationally distributed magazine, UFC.TV offering live event broadcasts and video on demand around the world, the best-selling UFC Undisputed® video game franchise distributed by THQ, UFC GYM®, UFC Fight Club affinity program, UFC Fan Expo® festivals, branded apparel and trading cards.
About HP Pavilion
HP Pavilion at San Jose hosts nearly 100 sporting events annually including more than 40 San Jose Sharks regular season home games, SAP Open men’s professional tennis, and the San Jose SaberCats of the Arena Football League. The building hosts approximately 170 events every year -- including Olympic athletes, Grammy award-winners and a variety of family and children's favorites that account for more than 200 event days. Pollstar, the leading concert industry trade magazine, nominated HP Pavilion at San Jose as “Arena of the Year” for 2005 and 2007. In 2007, Pollstar also recognized HP Pavilion at San Jose based on non-sports attendance as fourth in North America, top 10 in the world. Over the past 10 years, HP Pavilion at San Jose has consistently been in the Top 5 in North America and top 10 in the world.
