Oct-6-2009

COUTURE TO HEADLINE UFC 105 ON SPIKE TV

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New York, NY – Legendary five-time UFC® champion Randy “The Natural” Couture will headline a fight card on Spike TV for the first time on Saturday, November 14 (8:00pm ET/PT same day tape) in the main event of UFC 105. Emanating from the MEN Arena in Manchester, England, Couture will square off against highly-regarded veteran Brandon “The Truth” Vera in a bout in the light heavyweight division.

The 46 year old Couture (16-10) is a former UFC light heavyweight and heavyweight champion, and will be making his return to the 205 lb weight class after fighting the last
2 ½ years as a heavyweight. His last bout as a light heavyweight was a loss to Chuck Liddell at UFC 57 in February 2006. The mixed martial arts icon, fighting out of Las Vegas, is on a quest for an unprecedented sixth world championship in the UFC.

“I would love to be a six-time UFC champion, to set the bar very high in that regard, and that’s what I want to accomplish at 205 lbs,” said Couture. “That is my immediate goal. I am very intrigued by the current light heavyweight division, there are some great matchups for me here, and I believe I have to tools to win back the light heavyweight title.”

Couture, who grew up in Lynwood, WA, was an All-American wrestler at Oklahoma State and a three-time alternate on the U.S. Olympic Greco-Roman wrestling team. He has competed in a record 15 title fights, and was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame in 2006. Couture’s most recent championship reign was in the UFC’s heavyweight division, a title he captured with a dominating performance over Tim Sylvia at UFC 68 in March 2007.

Fighting out of San Diego, CA, Vera is 11-3 in his mixed martial arts career and is trying to win his third consecutive fight. He most recently snapped the six-fight winning streak of the highly-rated Krzysztof Soszynski with a unanimous decision victory at UFC 102 in August. Prior to that bout, Vera dismantled Michael Patt at UFC 96 with a series of brutal leg-strikes which led to a second round TKO victory.

Now Vera says he is ready to take on an all time great and begin carving his own legend in the UFC as he continues his ascent towards the light heavyweight title. "It will be an honor and a privilege to fight a living legend like Randy Couture. He has been someone that I have looked up to and I can't wait to get in there and fight in November,” he said.

The UFC 105 co-feature is a middleweight showdown between native Englishman and “The Ultimate Fighter 3” champ Michael “The Count” Bisping (18-2), as he meets Canadian Denis Kang (32-11-1) inside the Octagon™. Bisping will be looking to rebound from his loss to Dan Henderson at UFC 100 in July, while Kang will be looking to win his second straight fight in the UFC after years of competition in the now defunct PRIDE organization.

Also on the card is matchup with huge implications in the welterweight division between the UK’s own Dan “The Outlaw” Hardy (22-6) and Mike “Quick” Swick (14-2-0), a bout pitting “The Ultimate Fighter: US vs UK” welterweight division winner James Wilks (7-2-0) and the always exciting Matt “The Immortal” Brown (12-7-0), and a fight between “The Ultimate Fighter: US vs UK” lightweight division winner Ross Pearson and Aaron Riley.
Spike TV is available in 98 million homes and is a division of MTV Networks. A unit of Viacom (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), MTV Networks is one of the world’s leading creators of programming and content across all media platforms. Spike TV’s Internet address is www.spike.com