| UFC 31: Locked and Loaded | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 The poster for UFC 31: Locked and Loaded | ||||
| Promotion | Ultimate Fighting Championship | |||
| Date | May 4, 2001 | |||
| Venue | Mark G. Etess Arena atTrump Taj Mahal | |||
| City | Atlantic City,New Jersey | |||
| Event chronology | ||||
| ||||
UFC 31: Locked and Loaded was amixed martial arts event held by theUltimate Fighting Championship at theTrump Taj Mahal inAtlantic City,New Jersey on May 4, 2001. The event was seen live on pay-per-view in theUnited States, and later released onhome video.
The card was headlined by aheavyweight title bout betweenRandy Couture andPedro Rizzo. Awelterweight title bout betweenPat Miletich andCarlos Newton also occurred. The card featured the first appearance of futureUFC Welterweight ChampionMatt Serra, the professional debut of future multi-divisionalUFC ChampionB.J. Penn, andKevin Randleman's first fight inLight Heavyweight.
UFC 31 again saw reformed weight classes, adopting thecurrent standard under the newUnified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts, set by theNew Jersey State Athletic Control Board a month earlier in April 2001.[1]Bantamweight was renamedLightweight and raised from 150 to 155.Welterweights were now at 170,Middleweights at 185, andLight Heavyweights at 205.
Dana White has said on many occasions that this was one of the best fight cards ever mainly due to the main event and the bout betweenMatt Serra andShonie Carter which involved the infamousbackfist finish.
| Main Card | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weight class | Method | Round | Time | Notes | |||
| Heavyweight | Randy Couture (c) | def. | Pedro Rizzo | Decision (unanimous) | 5 | 5:00 | [a] |
| Welterweight | Carlos Newton | def. | Pat Miletich (c) | Submission (bulldog choke) | 3 | 2:50 | [b] |
| Light Heavyweight | Chuck Liddell | def. | Kevin Randleman | KO (punches) | 1 | 1:18 | |
| Welterweight | Shonie Carter | def. | Matt Serra | KO (spinning back fist) | 3 | 4:51 | |
| Heavyweight | Semmy Schilt | def. | Pete Williams | TKO (body kick and punches) | 2 | 1:26 | |
| Light Heavyweight | Matt Lindland | def. | Ricardo Almeida | DQ (repeated fouls) | 3 | 4:21 | |
| Preliminary Card | |||||||
| Lightweight | B.J. Penn | def. | Joey Gilbert | TKO (punches) | 1 | 4:58 | |
| Welterweight | Tony DeSouza | def. | Steve Berger | Decision (unanimous) | 3 | 5:00 | |
