| UFC 78: Validation | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 The poster for UFC 78: Validation | ||||
| Promotion | Ultimate Fighting Championship | |||
| Date | November 17, 2007 | |||
| Venue | Prudential Center | |||
| City | Newark,New Jersey | |||
| Attendance | 14,071 | |||
| Total gate | $2,100,000 | |||
| Buyrate | 400,000 | |||
| Event chronology | ||||
| ||||
UFC 78: Validation was amixed martial arts event held by theUltimate Fighting Championship (UFC), that took place on November 17, 2007, at thePrudential Center inNewark,New Jersey.[1]Validation was the firstUFC event held in New Jersey sinceUFC 53: Heavy Hitters inAtlantic City on June 5, 2005.
This was the 100th event in UFC's history.
The main event featuredTUF 2Heavyweight winnerRashad Evans againstTUF 3Light Heavyweight winnerMichael Bisping in a light heavyweight contest. This was Bisping's last fight before dropping to Middleweight.[2] Originally, Evans and Bisping were set to rematch their previous opponentsTito Ortiz andMatt Hamill at this event after their bouts ended in a draw and a controversial split decision atUFC 73 andUFC 75. However, Ortiz's commitments to filmingCelebrity Apprentice forced his fight with Evans to be cancelled and an injury to Hamill forced him to withdraw from his fight with Bisping.
PRIDE veteran and Cuban judokaHector Lombard was also scheduled to debut on the event but did not participate due tovisa issues.[3] Lombard ended up signing afterUFC 145. Lombard's original opponentKaro Parisyan instead facedRyo Chonan, while Chonan's previous opponentThiago Alves foughtChris Lytle.
Additionally,PRIDE veterans Ryo Chonan andAkihiro Gono both made their UFC debuts. Both fighters fought at 183 pounds inJapan, but with the UFC's inclusion of the 170 pound division each fighter moved down to fight atwelterweight.
| Main card (PPV) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weight class | Method | Round | Time | Notes | |||
| Light Heavyweight | Rashad Evans | def. | Michael Bisping | Decision (split) (29–28, 28–29, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Light Heavyweight | Thiago Silva | def. | Houston Alexander | TKO (punches) | 1 | 3:25 | |
| Welterweight | Karo Parisyan | def. | Ryo Chonan | Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–27, 30–27) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Middleweight | Ed Herman | def. | Joe Doerksen | KO (punch) | 3 | 0:39 | |
| Lightweight | Frankie Edgar | def. | Spencer Fisher | Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–27, 30–26) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Preliminary card | |||||||
| Welterweight | Thiago Alves | def. | Chris Lytle | TKO (doctor stoppage) | 2 | 5:00 | |
| Lightweight | Joe Lauzon | def. | Jason Reinhardt | Submission (rear-naked choke) | 1 | 1:14 | [a] |
| Lightweight | Marcus Aurélio | def. | Luke Caudillo | TKO (punches) | 1 | 4:29 | |
| Welterweight | Akihiro Gono | def. | Tamdan McCrory | Submission (armbar) | 2 | 3:19 | |
At the end of this event, $55,000 was awarded to each of the fighters who received one of these three awards.
