UFC 70

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title: "UFC 70" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["ultimate-fighting-championship-flagship-events", "2007-in-mixed-martial-arts", "mixed-martial-arts-events-in-manchester", "2007-in-english-sport", "april-2007-sports-events-in-the-united-kingdom", "2000s-in-manchester"] description: "UFC mixed martial arts event in 2007" topic_path: "sports" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UFC_70" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary UFC mixed martial arts event in 2007 ::

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

Field	Value
name	UFC 70: Nations Collide
image	UFC70NationsCollidesmall.jpg
promotion	Ultimate Fighting Championship
date
venue	Manchester Evening News Arena
city	Manchester, United Kingdom
attendance	15,114 (12,708 paid)
gate	$2,628,472 (£1.3 million GBP)
previousevent	UFC 69: Shootout
followingevent	UFC 71: Liddell vs. Jackson 2
::

| name = UFC 70: Nations Collide | image = UFC70NationsCollidesmall.jpg | promotion = Ultimate Fighting Championship | date = | venue = Manchester Evening News Arena | city = Manchester, United Kingdom | attendance = 15,114 (12,708 paid) | gate = $2,628,472 (£1.3 million GBP) | previousevent = UFC 69: Shootout | followingevent = UFC 71: Liddell vs. Jackson 2 UFC 70: Nations Collide was the second UFC event held in the United Kingdom, and the first in Manchester on Saturday, April 21, 2007. UFC 70 was also only the seventh UFC event held outside the United States, and the first since UFC 38. The card was broadcast live on pay-per-view in the United Kingdom and Ireland on Setanta Sports.{{cite news | first = Lee | last = Whitehead | work = MMA Weekly | url = http://www.mmaweekly.com/absolutenm/templates/dailynews.asp?articleid=3558 | title= LONDON CALLING: UFC & CAGE RAGE LOCK HORNS | date = 8 March 2007 | access-date = 9 March 2007

The televised card on Spike TV drew a 1.84 overall rating (2.8 million viewers), and at its highest point, UFC 70 drew 3.5 million viewers for the main event.{{cite news | first = Bryan | last = Alvarez | work = F4WOnline.com | url = http://www.f4wonline.com/content/view/3493/105/ | title= UFC 70 rating | date = 24 April 2007 | access-date = 24 April 2007

Background

2006 PRIDE Open-Weight Grand Prix Champion, Mirko Cro Cop fought Heavyweight contender Gabriel Gonzaga in the main event to determine the top contender for the UFC Heavyweight Championship held by Randy Couture.{{cite news | author = Mass Republican | url =http://www.masslive.com/sports/republican/index.ssf?/base/sports-0/117150360445540.xml&coll=1 | title=Fighter faces Ultimate Challenge | date = 15 February 2007 | access-date = 15 February 2007

The card also featured Michael Bisping fighting in England for the UFC for the first time against UFC veteran Elvis Sinosic and Andrei Arlovski taking on prize fighter and training partner of Mirko Cro Cop and future UFC Heavyweight Champion Fabrício Werdum, who was making his UFC debut.

Reports have indicated that the UFC was targeting this event for its debut on HBO, but negotiations with HBO were not completed in time for UFC 70. As a result, the card instead aired on Spike TV in North America at 9 pm EDT on a 6-hour tape delay.{{cite news | first = Ivan | last = Trembow | work = MMA Weekly | url = http://www.mmaweekly.com/absolutenm/templates/dailynews.asp?articleid=3591 | title= UFC 70 WILL AIR ON SPIKE TV WITH TAPE DELAY | date = 13 March 2007 | access-date = 13 March 2007

Lyoto Machida was originally scheduled to fight Forrest Griffin at this event, but Griffin is out, due to the staph infection and could not compete on the card.{{cite news |first = Thomas |last = Gerbasi |work = UFC.com |url = http://www.ufc.com/index.cfm?fa=news.detail&gid=4848 |title = David Heath to Replace Griffin against Machida at UFC 70 |date = 15 March 2007 |access-date = 15 March 2007 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070317194657/http://www.ufc.com/index.cfm?fa=news.detail&gid=4848 |archive-date = 17 March 2007

Results

|Heavyweight |Gabriel Gonzaga |def. |Mirko Cro Cop |KO (head kick) |1 |4:51 |UFC Heavyweight Championship title eliminator |Heavyweight |Andrei Arlovski |def. |Fabrício Werdum |Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–27, 30–27) |3 |5:00 | |Light Heavyweight |Michael Bisping |def. |Elvis Sinosic |TKO (punches) |2 |1:40 | |Light Heavyweight |Lyoto Machida |def. |David Heath |Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–26, 30–27) |3 |5:00 | |Heavyweight |Cheick Kongo |def. |Assuério Silva |Decision (majority) (29–28, 29–28, 28–28) |3 |5:00 | |Lightweight |Terry Etim |def. |Matt Grice |Submission (guillotine choke) |1 |4:38 | |Lightweight |Junior Assuncao |def. |David Lee |Submission (rear-naked choke) |2 |1:55 | |Light Heavyweight |Alessio Sakara |def. |Victor Valimaki |TKO (punches) |1 |1:44 | |Welterweight |Jess Liaudin |def. |Dennis Siver |Submission (armbar) |1 |1:21 |This preliminary bout was aired on the broadcast after the Gonzaga–Cro Cop fight. |Welterweight |Paul Taylor |def. |Edilberto de Oliveira |TKO (head kick and punches) |3 |0:37 |

Bonus awards

The following fighters received $30,000 bonuses.

• Fight of the Night: Michael Bisping vs. Elvis Sinosic
• Knockout of the Night: Gabriel Gonzaga
• Submission of the Night: Terry Etim

References

References

1. "Cro Dropped: Gonzaga Shocks Croat".
2. (22 April 2007). "UFC draws capacity crowd in Manchester". Virtual Manchester.

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