UFC 36

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title: "UFC 36" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["ultimate-fighting-championship-flagship-events", "2002-in-mixed-martial-arts", "2002-in-sports-in-nevada", "ultimate-fighting-championship-events-at-mgm-grand-garden-arena", "march-2002-sports-events-in-the-united-states"] description: "UFC mixed martial arts event in 2002" topic_path: "sports" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UFC_36" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary UFC mixed martial arts event in 2002 ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox MMA event"]

Field	Value
name	UFC 36: Worlds Collide
image	UFC_36_poster_art.jpg
promotion	Ultimate Fighting Championship
date	March 22, 2002
venue	MGM Grand Arena
city	Las Vegas, Nevada
attendance	10,000
gate	$898,850
buyrate	55,000
previousevent	UFC 35: Throwdown
followingevent	UFC 37: High Impact
::

| name = UFC 36: Worlds Collide | image = UFC_36_poster_art.jpg | promotion = Ultimate Fighting Championship | date = March 22, 2002 | venue = MGM Grand Arena | city = Las Vegas, Nevada | attendance = 10,000 | gate = $898,850 | buyrate = 55,000 | purse = | previousevent = UFC 35: Throwdown | followingevent = UFC 37: High Impact UFC 36: Worlds Collide was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship at the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on March 22, 2002. The event was seen live on pay per view in the United States, and later released on home video.

History

The card was headlined by two title bouts, a Heavyweight Championship bout between Randy Couture and Josh Barnett and a Welterweight title bout between Matt Hughes and Hayato Sakurai. UFC 36 marked the last UFC appearance of former 170 lb Champion Pat Miletich, and the last appearance of Pete Williams. Miletich decided to concentrate on training his fighters, including Matt Hughes who was now the UFC champion in Pat's preferred weight class.

Hughes was originally supposed to fight then-current Shooto welterweight champion, and future UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva. However, Silva had signed a contract with PRIDE Fighting Championships.

Barnett defeated Couture via TKO (strikes) at 4:32 of the second round to become the new UFC Heavyweight Champion. Afterwards, Barnett was stripped of the title when he tested positive for steroids during a mandatory post-fight drug test.

Nine past or future UFC champions competed on this card (including at least one in each bout), more than any other event in UFC history.

Results

| Heavyweight | Josh Barnett | def. | Randy Couture (c) | TKO (punches) | 2 | 4:35 | For the UFC Heavyweight Championship. Afterwards Barnett would be stripped of the title when he tested positive for steroids during a mandatory post-fight drug test. | Heavyweight | Pedro Rizzo | def. | Andrei Arlovski | KO (punches) | 3 | 1:45 | | Welterweight | Matt Hughes (c) | def. | Hayato Sakurai | TKO (punches) | 4 | 3:01 | For the UFC Welterweight Championship. | Middleweight | Matt Lindland | def. | Pat Miletich | TKO (punches) | 1 | 3:09 | | Light Heavyweight | Evan Tanner | def. | Elvis Sinosic | TKO (cut) | 1 | 2:06 | | Heavyweight | Frank Mir | def. | Pete Williams | Submission (inside shoulder lock) | 1 | 0:46 | | Lightweight | Matt Serra | def. | Kelly Dullanty | Submission (triangle choke) | 1 | 2:58 | | Welterweight | Sean Sherk | def. | Jutaro Nakao | Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–27, 30–27) | 3 | 5:00 |

Encyclopedia awards

The following fighters were honored in the October 2011 book titled UFC Encyclopedia.

• Fight of the Night: Josh Barnett vs. Randy Couture
• Knockout of the Night: Pedro Rizzo
• Submission of the Night: Frank Mir

References

References

1. "UFC 36: Worlds Collide". Tapology.com.
2. "UFC 36 - WORLDS COLLIDE". Sherdog.com.
3. Critchfield, Tristen. (2012-10-24). "SHERDOG'S TOP 10: MATCHES THAT WERE NEVER MADE". Sherdog.com.
4. Meltzer, Dave. (2009-05-08). "UFC 36: Steroid controversy". Yahoo! Sports.
5. Gerbasi, Thomas. (2011-10-17). "UFC Encyclopedia - The Definitive Guide to the Ultimate Fighting Championship". DK.

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::