UNDEFEATED OLYMPIANS COLLIDE AS CHAMPION RONDA ROUSEY MEETS SARA MCMANN AT UFC 170
Las Vegas, Nevada – In what could prove to be her toughest challenge yet, UFC® women’s bantamweight championRonda Rousey (8-0, fighting out of Venice, Calif.) squares off against undefeated wrestling sensation Sara McMann(7-0, fighting out of Gaffney, SC) in a battle of Olympic medalists at UFC® 170 at the Mandalay Bay Events CenterSaturday, Feb. 22. A bronze medal winner in Judo at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, Rousey recently defeated her bitter rival Miesha Tate at UFC 168 to retain the women’s bantamweight belt and remain the divison’s only champion. Now she takes on McMann, who comes in as the most decorated wrestler in the weight class, having also earned Olympic silver at the 2004 games in Athens in free-style wrestling.
In addition to the Rousey-McMann tilt, (No. 3) Rashad Evans (19-3, fighting out of Boca Raton, Fla.), a former light heavyweight champion, battles the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix winner Daniel Cormier (13-0, fighting out of San Jose, Calif.) in his debut at the 205-pound weight class. Evans comes into the bout sporting consecutive wins over Dan Henderson and Chael Sonnen while Cormier is looking to keep his unblemished professional record and make a statement in his new division.
The card also features Brazilian jiu-jitsu ace (No. 6) Demian Maia (18-5, fighting out of Sao Paulo, Brazil) matching up against Canadian prodigy and Georges-St. Pierre training partner (no. 4) Rory MacDonald (15-2, fighting out of Montreal, Canada) in a battle of Top 10-ranked welterweights.
Other bouts for UFC 170 include:
- Sixth-ranked lightweight star Rafael Dos Anjos (20-6) vs. heavy-handed 15th-ranked contender Rustam Khabilov (17-1).
- 170-pound veterans Mike Pyle (25-9) vs. TJ Waldburger (16-8).
- Brazil’s fourth-ranked Rafael Assuncao (17-2) vs. Francisco Rivera (10-2) in a bantamweight showdown.
- Australia’s Robert Whittaker (11-3) challenges South Carolina’s Stephen Thompson (8-1) in a welterweight duel.
- Third-ranked women’s bantamweight Alexis Davis (15-5) vs. (No. 5) Jessica Eye (11-1) in a pivotal bout between title contenders.
Tickets for UFC®170: ROUSEY vs. MCMANN, presented by BUD LIGHT®, go on sale Friday, Jan. 10 at 10 a.m. PT and are priced at $450, $325, $200, $150, $90 and $50. Tickets will be available at all Las Vegas Ticketmaster locations (select Smith’s Food and Drug Centers and Ritmo Latino). Ticket sales are limited to eight (8) per person. To charge by phone with a major credit card, call Ticketmaster at (800) 745-3000. Tickets also are available for purchase at www.mandalaybay.com or www.ticketmaster.com. Ticket prices do not include applicable service charges.
UFC® Fight Club™ members will have the opportunity to purchase tickets to this event Wednesday, Jan. 8 at 10 a.m. PT via the website www.ufcfightclub.com. A special Internet ticket pre-sale will be available to UFC newsletter subscribers Thursday, Jan. 9 starting at 10 a.m. PT. To access this presale, users must register for the UFC newsletter through UFC.com.
UFC®170: ROUSEY vs. MCMANN will be available live on Pay-Per-View at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT on UFC.TV, iN DEMAND, DirecTV, DISH Network, Avail-TVN, and in Canada on BellTV, Shaw Communications, Sasktel, and Viewer’s Choice Canada for a suggested retail price of $44.99 US/$49.99 CAN for Standard Definition and $54.99 US/$59.99 CAN for High -Definition.