On Nov. 19, 2005, the Ultimate Fighting Championship was in Las Vegas for UFC 56.
In the main event, Rich Franklin defended his middleweight title against Nate Quarry, winning with a highlight reel first-round KO. The former math teacher would defend the belt one more time, against David Loiseau at UFC 58, before losing it to Anderson Silva.
The co-main event saw Gabriel Gonzaga knock out Kevin Jordan with a superman punch in the first round. Also on the main card, Matt Hughes submitted Joe Riggs in the first round. Originally slated to be a defense against Karo Parisyan, Hughes’ replacement opponent Riggs failed to make weight, resulting in a non-title fight. And then Georges St. Pierre TKO’d Sean Sherk and begged for the next title shot – instead, he would have to go through the returning B.J. Penn before getting another crack at Hughes.
UFC 56 had 12,000 people in attendance and a reported buyrate of 200,000.
Continued Reading » Minute-by-Minute: UFC 56 by Jake Rossen