| UFC 39: The Warriors Return | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
The poster for UFC 39: The Warriors Return | ||||
| Promotion | Ultimate Fighting Championship | |||
| Date | September 27, 2002 | |||
| Venue | Mohegan Sun Arena | |||
| City | Uncasville,Connecticut | |||
| Attendance | 7,800 | |||
| Buyrate | 45,000 | |||
| Event chronology | ||||
| ||||
UFC 39: The Warriors Return was amixed martial arts event held by theUltimate Fighting Championship on September 27, 2002, at theMohegan Sun Arena inUncasville,Connecticut. The event was broadcast live onpay per view in theUnited States, and was the first UFC event to be released onDVD.
Headlining the event was a Heavyweight Title bout betweenRandy Couture andRicco Rodriguez for the vacant title. Originally Ricco Rodriguez was scheduled to fightJosh Barnett for the UFC title but Barnett was stripped following a positive test for steroids.
The event marked the octagon debut of future UFC Heavyweight ChampionTim Sylvia. This fight saw Sylvia's opponent,Wesley Correira, take several straight punches, knees, and kicks to the head without ever falling before his corner eventually threw in the towel.
| Main Card | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weight class | Method | Round | Time | Notes | |||
| Heavyweight | Ricco Rodriguez | def. | Randy Couture | TKO (submission due to elbows) | 5 | 3:04 | [a] |
| Heavyweight | Tim Sylvia | def. | Wesley Correira | TKO (corner stoppage) | 2 | 1:43 | |
| Lightweight | B.J. Penn | def. | Matt Serra | Decision (unanimous) (29–28, 29–28, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | [b] |
| Lightweight | Caol Uno | def. | Din Thomas | Decision (unanimous) (29–27, 29–27, 29–27) | 3 | 5:00 | [c] |
| Heavyweight | Gan McGee | def. | Pedro Rizzo | TKO (corner stoppage) | 1 | 5:00 | [d] |
| Middleweight | Phil Baroni | def. | Dave Menne | KO (punches) | 1 | 0:18 | |
| Preliminary card | |||||||
| Middleweight | Matt Lindland | def. | Ivan Salaverry | Decision (unanimous) (30–28, 29–28, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Welterweight | Sean Sherk | def. | Benji Radach | TKO (doctor stoppage) | 1 | 4:16 | |
| Semifinals | Finals (UFC 41) | ||||||||
| B.J. Penn | UD | ||||||||
| Matt Serra | 3 | ||||||||
| B.J. Penn | D1 | ||||||||
| Caol Uno | 15:00 | ||||||||
| Caol Uno | UD | ||||||||
| Din Thomas | 3 | ||||||||
1 AtUFC 41,B.J. Penn vs.Caol Uno ended in a split draw. (48-46, 47-48, 48-48). The title remained vacant.
The following fighters were honored in the October 2011 book titledUFC Encyclopedia.[1]