Apologies for the delay getting this up; I was in Montreal all week.
THE HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE WILL BE UP FOR GRABS AT UFCâ 48: PAYBACK
Tim Sylvia To Meet Frank Mir for the Heavyweight Championship
LAS VEGAS, NEV., April 19, 2004....Tim Sylvia makes his much anticipated return to the Octagon Saturday, June 19, at the Mandalay Bay Events Center as he tries to regain the belt that he relinquished after a successful title defense in UFC 44. Sylvia gave up his belt after testing positive for an anabolic agent following UFC 44 and was unable to fight in UFC 47 because new test results were not available at the time of weigh-in.
UFC President Dana White says it's time for Sylvia to return, "Tim has served his suspension, been very remorseful and has handled the matter extremely well. I'm looking forward to seeing Tim back in the Octagon and I'm anticipating a tremendous fight."
Sylvia (18-0) from Davenport, Iowa will battle Frank Mir (7-1) from Las Vegas in an attempt to regain the title that what was once his. Mir is coming off an impressive win over Wes Sims in UFC 46, knocking Sims out in the second round. Mir knows this is going to be a tough battle, "I am training expecting this to be the hardest fight possible. Tim is going to be in the best shape possible and is not going to make a single mistake."
Also added to UFC 48: Payback; Dennis Hallman (51-8-2) from Olympia, WA, looks to avenge a previous defeat to Frank Trigg (9-2) fighting out of El Segundo CA. Veteran lightweight Matt Serra (12-3) from Long Island, N.Y., will meet Ivan Menjivar (13-2) from Montreal, Canada in his UFC debut. Las Vegan, Jason Miller (22-4) will also make his UFC debut against Welterweight Georges St. Pierre (6-0).
The main event at UFC 48: Payback will feature Heavyweight Ken Shamrock as he returns to the Octagon to fight. Shamrock, "The World's Most Dangerous Man," (25-8-2) from San Diego, Calif., and Kimo (10-3-1) from Huntington Beach, Calif., will meet in a long-awaited re-match. Shamrock submitted Kimo with a knee bar at UFC 8: David Vs. Goliath and fans have anticipated a payback fight ever since. Kimo is coming off an impressive submission victory over hometown rival Tank Abbott at UFC 43: Meltdown last June in Las Vegas.
Former UFC welterweight champion Matt Hughes (36-4) from Hillsboro, Ill., will meet Renato "Charuto"Verissimo (6-0-0) from Hilo, Hawaii; and in a feature fight, power striker Phil Baroni (6-3-0) fighting out of Las Vegas will battle Evan Tanner (30-4-0) from Portland, Ore., in a re-match of their controversial middleweight fight November 21 at UFC 45: Revolution.
Tickets for the all-star, fight card are $350, $250, $150, $75 and $35, are on sale now at the Mandalay Bay Events Center box office in Las Vegas, at all Ticketmaster locations, www.ticketmaster.com and www.mandalaybay.com. Tickets also may be ordered by telephone at 1-877-632-7400 or 1-702-474-4000. Ticket purchases are limited to eight per person and are subject to transaction fees. UFCâ 48: Payback will be available LIVE on pay-per-view at 10 p.m. EDT on iNDemand, DirecTV, Dish Network, TVN, Echostar, Bell ExpressVu and Viewers Choice Canada. The suggested retail price is $29.95.