| UFC 63: Hughes vs. Penn 2 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 The poster for UFC 63: Hughes vs. Penn 2 | ||||
| Promotion | Ultimate Fighting Championship | |||
| Date | September 23, 2006 | |||
| Venue | Arrowhead Pond | |||
| City | Anaheim,California | |||
| Attendance | 12,604 (9,343 paid)[1] | |||
| Total gate | $1,582,370[1] | |||
| Buyrate | 400,000[2] | |||
| Total purse | $332,000 (disclosed only)[3] | |||
| Event chronology | ||||
| ||||
UFC 63: Hughes vs. Penn 2 was amixed martial arts (MMA) event held by theUltimate Fighting Championship on September 23, 2006. The event took place at theArrowhead Pond inAnaheim, California and was broadcast live onpay-per-view (PPV) in theUnited States andCanada.
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The event, originally subtitled "Hughes vs. St-Pierre," was scheduled to feature aUFC Welterweight Title match between championMatt Hughes andGeorges St-Pierre. Nevertheless, a groin injury—which was reported early in August, forced St-Pierre off the card. At first, St-Pierre sought aphysiotherapist, hoping the injury would heal on its own during training;[4] however, it was later announced that St-Pierre would indeed withdraw from his long-awaited title shot. Taking his place was formerUFC Welterweight Champion,B.J. Penn, who defeated Hughes in a championship fight in 2004, and was beaten by St-Pierre atUFC 58. In fact, the Penn loss was Hughes' only defeat in his last twenty fights.
TheQuad-City Times reported thatPat Miletich expressed outrage that theUFC had apparently scheduled this event alongside a bout he had forthcoming in theIFL, which caused him to miss cornering Hughes andPulver, fighters whom he coaches, in theirUFC matches.[5]
| Main Card | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weight class | Method | Round | Time | Notes | |||
| Welterweight | Matt Hughes (c) | def. | B.J. Penn | TKO (punches) | 3 | 3:53 | [a] |
| Middleweight | Mike Swick | def. | David Loiseau | Decision (unanimous) (29–28, 29–28, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Lightweight | Melvin Guillard | def. | Gabe Ruediger | TKO (punch to the body) | 2 | 1:01 | |
| Light Heavyweight | Rashad Evans | def. | Jason Lambert | KO (punches) | 2 | 2:22 | |
| Lightweight | Joe Lauzon | def. | Jens Pulver | KO (punch) | 1 | 0:48 | |
| Preliminary Card | |||||||
| Lightweight | Roger Huerta | def. | Jason Dent | Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–27, 30–27) | 3 | 5:00 | [b] |
| Heavyweight | Eddie Sanchez | def. | Mario Neto | KO (punches) | 2 | 0:17 | |
| Lightweight | Jorge Gurgel | def. | Danny Abbadi | Decision (split) (28–29, 29–28, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | [c] |
| Lightweight | Tyson Griffin | def. | David Lee | Submission (rear-naked choke) | 1 | 1:50 | |
At the post-fight interview, after Penn left the cage, St-Pierre stepped into the ring to hype up his upcoming title bout against Hughes, stating that he was glad that Hughes won his fight, but that he was "not impressed by [Hughes'] performance".[6]
According to both commentatorJoe Rogan and Hughes' own autobiography, Hughes was unhappy with St-Pierre's statement. Hughes said that they "had words" off-camera shortly after, at which time St-Pierre apologized, saying he had misunderstood something Hughes had said on the microphone and did not mean to offend him.
