UFC Heads to Cincinnati for UFC 77 'Hostile Territory'

Las Vegas, NV (USA) – The Ultimate Fighting Championship® (UFC®) organization announced that UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson “The Spider” Silva will travel to the hometown of the man he took the title from, Rich “Ace” Franklin, to defend his crown against the popular former titlist in a highly anticipated rematch entitled UFC 77: HOSTILE TERRITORY.  This event will take place at U.S. Bank Arena in Cincinnati, Ohio, on Saturday, October 20.  UFC 77 marks the UFC’s second fight in Ohio this year, and its first fight ever in Cincinnati. 

“Anderson Silva has shown he is probably one of the most deadly 185 pounders we’ve ever seen,” said Dana White, UFC President, “and he has shown no signs of slowing down in his two fights since beating Rich Franklin last year.  But Rich told me that he has never trained harder for a fight than he is for this one, and he is determined to not only win his title back, but to do so in front of his hometown fans on October 20th.”

After a devastating first round loss to Silva in their Middleweight title bout in October of 2006, Franklin has spent the last year training, fighting hard, and winning in order to get back to the number one contender’s spot.  Meanwhile, Silva, the reigning and defending champion, has fought and won twice since taking the belt from Franklin, and his plans for UFC 77 involve defending his title and spoiling his challenger’s homecoming.