Date December 29, 2007 Attendance 11,075 (10,968 paid) | Total gate $4,994,000 | |
Venue Mandalay Bay Events Center | ||
UFC 79: Nemesis was a mixed martial arts (MMA) event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), that took place on December 29, 2007 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Contents
Background
The main events featured the long anticipated fight between Chuck Liddell and Wanderlei Silva, as well as the highly anticipated rubber match between former UFC Welterweight Champions Georges St-Pierre and Matt Hughes for the interim Welterweight championship.
Additionally, Pride Light Heavyweight sensation Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou made his UFC debut against undefeated Lyoto Machida.
The main event was originally schedule to have The Ultimate Fighter 6 coaches Matt Serra and Matt Hughes for Serra's UFC Welterweight Championship, which Serra won at UFC 69: Shootout on April 7, 2007 in an upset victory over Georges St-Pierre. Serra, however, withdrew from the fight due to a back injury, Serra was replaced by St-Pierre, though the fight would now be contested for the Interim Welterweight Championship, with the winner facing Serra afterwards.
Bonus awards
At the end of this event, $50,000 was awarded to each of the fighters who received one of these three awards.