Background
2006 Pride World Grand Prix Open-Weight Champion, Mirko Filipović fought Heavyweight contender Gabriel Gonzaga in the main event to determine the top contender for the UFC Heavyweight Championship held by Randy Couture.
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 Filipović, Fabricio 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.
Lyoto Machida was originally scheduled to fight Forrest Griffin at this event, but Griffin became ill with a staph infection and could not compete on the card.
Read more about this topic: UFC 70
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