| UFC 37.5: As Real As It Gets | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 The poster for UFC 37.5: As Real As It Gets | ||||
| Promotion | Ultimate Fighting Championship | |||
| Date | June 22, 2002 | |||
| Venue | Bellagio Hotel and Casino | |||
| City | Las Vegas, Nevada | |||
| Attendance | 3,700 | |||
| Event chronology | ||||
| ||||
UFC 37.5: As Real As It Gets was amixed martial arts event held by theUltimate Fighting Championship at theBellagio Hotel and Casino inLas Vegas, Nevada on June 22, 2002.
The fight card was headlined by a bout between top contenders, returningVitor Belfort, andChuck Liddell. UFC 37.5 was the first UFC event to featureJoe Rogan as acolor commentator (he had previously done backstage interviews) but he would leave again to hostFear Factor, and return atUFC 40. Joe made several UFC appearances prior to UFC 37.5 as the behind-the-scenes interviewer starting atUFC 12.
UFC 37.5 was a last-minute event specifically held to promote the UFC onFox Sports Net'sThe Best Damn Sports Show Period, where the "best fight" of the night was to air during theBDSSP's "All Star Summer" celebration in June 2002.[1] The fight aired wasSteve Berger vsRobbie Lawler, which has the distinction of being the firstmixed martial arts (MMA) fight to be aired on US cable television.[1] It also aired inFree-to-Air television in Brazil for first time atSBT, Vitor Belfort had previously participated at the network'sreality showCasa dos Artistas (The House of Artists).
The event featured only six fights, which is a much smaller card than others under the UFC banner at the time, and was not broadcast on Pay-per-view until August 16th. The number 37.5 was used becauseUFC 38 had already been announced and marketed in England, where the UFC was making their debut just three weeks later.
| Main Card | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weight class | Method | Round | Time | Notes | |||
| Light Heavyweight | Chuck Liddell | def. | Vitor Belfort | Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–27, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Welterweight | Benji Radach | def. | Nick Serra | Decision (unanimous) (29–28, 30–27, 30–27) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Welterweight | Pete Spratt | def. | Zach Light | Submission (armbar) | 1 | 2:25 | |
| Welterweight | Robbie Lawler | def. | Steve Berger | TKO (punches) | 2 | 0:27 | |
| Middleweight | Tony Fryklund | def. | Rodrigo Ruas | TKO (punches) | 2 | 3:34 | |
| Lightweight | Yves Edwards | def. | Joao Marcos Pierini | TKO (injury) | 1 | 1:19 | [a] |
The following fighters were honored in the October 2011 book titledUFC Encyclopedia.[2]
