Over the weekend, the televised line up for the UFC 91: “Couture vs. Lesnar” pay-per-view (PPV) event came into focus when several previously reported bouts slated for the 10-fight card were made official.
The promotion is already billing its main event between heavyweight champion Randy Couture and WWE professional wrestling sensation-turned mixed martial artist, Brock Lesnar, as “The Biggest Fight in UFC History.”
In addition, UFC officials have high expectations for tickets sales, as well as attendance figures at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, on November 15.
Here’s how the UFC 91 card appears today:
Main event:
265 lbs.: UFC Heavyweight Champion Randy Couture (16-8) vs. Brock Lesnar (2-1)
Main card (Televised):
155 lbs.: Kenny Florian (10-3) vs. Joe Stevenson (29-8)
185 lbs.: Amir Sadollah (1-0) vs. Nick Catone (5-0)
265 lbs.: Gabriel Gonzaga (9-3) vs. Josh Hendricks (14-4)
185 lbs.: Demian Maia (8-0) vs. Nate Quarry (10-2)Under card (May not be broadcast):
170 lbs.: Dustin Hazelett (11-4) vs. Tamdan McCrory (9–1)
155 lbs.: Jorge Gurgel (12-4) vs. Aaron Riley (26-10-1)
155 lbs.: Jeremy Stephens (13-3) vs. Rafael dos Anjos (11-2)
155 lbs.: Alvin Robinson (9–3) vs. Mark Bocek Record (5-2)
185 lbs.: Matt Riddle (1-0) vs. Ryan Thomas (9-2)
With little more than a month until showtime, it’s unlikely that another marquee bout will be added to the card. That means that the lightweight showdown between top contenders Kenny Florian and Joe Stevenson will perhaps serve as the co-featured bout of the evening.
Stay tuned to MMAmania.com for more information and the latest news leading up to UFC 91. Remember to also check out our UFC 91 archive for complete coverage of the PPV event to date. Click here.
112 Comments »
hope the fights are good because on paper thats one shit card.
Certainly not as imprssive as we all first expected.
I do wish that Hazelett and McCrory were being shown instead of Gabriel Gonzaga vs. Josh Hendricks.
rather see Hazlett instead of Amir vs. NOBODY!
VM, that’s exactly what I thought when I saw that card. I’d rather see two very exciting young guys than Gonzaga vs. a nobobdy.
At least Amir is a TUF winner and this is his first fight. It would be a disgrace to have him be untelevised. That was never the case for a winner of TUF’s first real fight. Some were on UFN’s, but they were always main card fights.
Guys, you will, GG will make quick work of him and there will still be time for an undercard fight. It’s like when Houston is on the main card, you don’t count that as taking up a spot, because it will only last a minute,lol.
UFC 91 is a freakshow. I’ll keep posting this on every announcement for it. Worst fight card ever. UWC this past weekend was better.
I dont see it as a freak show. You must be a Lesnar hater. He has got to be the most powerful as well as agile in the heavies.
The main event is a great start and then the card Peters out!
So I guess they should show it the other way around.
I dont think it is a bad card… maybe not the biggest in history (obviously), but solid. Not many real big names, but competeive fights and thats what I want to see. p.s. cant wait for gsp vs penn
john that nobody amir is fighting is a training partner of frankie edgar so if he wins it’ll be BORINGGGGGGGGG
Poor Quary doesnt stand a chance against Maia.
that where your wrong…Maia is an Awesome Grappler but we all have seen it in the past…any MMA fighter with good takedown defense and some descent jits defense and a good stand up game mixed into it can beat a guy like Maia…ala cote/almeida, gsp/fitch,fitch/sanchez/hughes/penn. now im not saying no one has no chance to win. Maia wil probaly pull of the Sub, but he will learn about what his trainers have told him his whole life that one day we will learn that his jits takedowns alone wont be enough to get him his win and he will really earn and work ridiculously on his cardio to get his takedowns. if it stays standing it quarry’s tko…if maia can take to the ground its maia’s for sure.
No one has enough submission defense to nullify maia except maybe BJ. He also doesn’t need takedowns since he’s just as dangerous from the bottom by pulling guard. We also haven’t seen anything from Quarry in terms of his sub game. The only factor is the stand up but Maia has never been dumb about playing other peoples game in any of his fights.
DUde Ed herman was smashing upon Maia up until the very second he got caught in the submission. Not very impressive at all. Wasnt winning the positioning, wasnt avoiding ground and pound, I would put Nate Diaz above this guy, im sure im the minority, but I honestly cannot understand the hype about this guys BJJ, at least not his BJJ in MMA.
Are u kidding me, he won Rd1. Tied up herman, had several submission attempts locked, full mount with decent strikes. Herman couldn’t mount any offensive. Second round he gassed but he subbed him so irrelevant.
Well it sure didnt look to me like Herman didnt mount any offense. Looked like he had some pretty good GnP, thwarted most sub attempts, and although he didnt pass guard that much if at all, he stayed on top and got soem shots in.
Not to mention that the fact it took Maia “several attempts” in your own words, to finsh “locked” sub attempts, is definently not a testimony in favor of Elite BJJ. If Ed herman was elite thats one thing, but he’s not.
Why do you think he had such a hard time submitting McDonald….Maia BJJ is light years ahead of J-Mac as well as Almeida and Crane. but they have limited success always. simple jits approaches will mostly lose you the fight as you escalate levels of fighter…Ask Bj penn. why do you think he has had such great success.
Remember he caught J-Mac in like 30 seconds. Most people would have tapped to that or the rear naked at the end of Rd1. His BJJ is unquestionably effective. He has always caught everyone in something in every round even if he didn’t finish them.
true he did catch him fast but j-mac was good enough to last 3 rounds with Maia in some pretty good scrambles. its really depends on quarry to win or lose this fight. Maia will come with the same approach he has in every fight..take it down then sub him. a plan that will ultimately cost him. i know he thinks his BJJ is great so great…he doesn’t need to fix it or tune it up.
Hardly the ‘Biggest event in UFC history’ or whatever Dana said.
To be fair think it is a bit of a weak card overall!
seriously
not to the casual fan it isnt.
this looks more like a fight night
Biggest main event for sure.
Swap the Gonzaga fight with McLovin & Barncat please!!!!
Agreed
Please…
yeah they needed some other big names
Like Rogan VS Goldberg…LOL
I agree… we can’t complain with all the great fights coming but this card should have more exciting fights….Ken vs Joe while a good fight, could easily be a UFN main event not co mainer with Randy vs Brock. This is such a big fight… I just don’t understand the very weak card along with it? anybody have any ideas as why?
The only reason why is because Randy is fighting Brock. That is more than enough to get the desired number of PPV buys so they are not putting any other top notch quality matchups on this card. The event could simply be Randy vs Brock with zero undercard and it would STILL get just as many buys as your average UFC event. They can save the other marquee matchups for events that have lackluster Main Events, like Silva/Cote or Bisping/Leben. I mean, look at those two main events compared to Lesnar/Couture.
Also, regaring Kenny vs Joe being UFN main event worthy, I’d have to disagree. Kenny has cememented himself as a Top 3 LW in the UFC and as long as he keeps winning, we will only see Kenny on PPV’s – just like all the other ELITE fighters.
i agree vm, they are cutting us short for the randy vs brock fight. i am sure they will do great numbers with just that fight and kenny vs joe is a great match up but no 3rd marquee fight on this one knowing they don’t have too.
Makes sense to me can’t disagree thanks
Anytime Robert!
Yo so how does everybody think this fight is going to play out? I personally think Randy will just try to use his wrestling to keep it standing, and box his way to a UD. What does everybody think?
i don’t care how he does it i just hope he wins
Amir Sadollah vs. Nick Catone will be a barn-burner…trust me!
randy is going to win
one of the worst cards of the year. just terrible! ufc 92 on the other hand, looks solid
one of the worst cards? you are crazy. it not a great card but a good one that all of you will watch…if anything…ufc 78 was the worst along with ufc 72 and ufc 67
That is of course ignoring the fact that none of the events you mentioned were in 2008…
my point isnt about what is in 2008..my point is you people ten to whine a whole lot over nothing…why dont you go and take joe silva place and make match ups and card that dont make any sense…in order for us to have some great cards we have to have some not so great ones. but i will never go as far as complianing about any card cuz i ill watch them all………
ufc 67 was solid! ufc debut of rampage and cro cop! frankie edgar/tyson griffin!
Laaaame! this card is packed with boring fighters, the only big names are Lesnar and Couture..
If you consider Lesnar a big name.
like him or not, he is as big a name in the UFC right now
Gotta’ go with Rob on that one… Lesnar = Big Name, nice pay per view profits.
bostonmmajunkie what part of mass are you from?
id say boston
LOLOLOL Really??
boring…only thing lame is what you consider a boring fighter? so tell me how all of them are boring…specially Quarry, Florian, Stevenson, Gonzaga, Hazelett, Sadollah? they all been in amazing fights and exciting one from what i remember.
on another note rob…most fighters get remembered by their fights not by how often he goes to shop at the same places i like to go shop…or how funny hes is…imagine us not caring about shogun…just because his english sucks..right?
you dont think florian vs stevenson is a good fight? thats a great matchup. i dont think the rest of the cards that good but you cant say they’re not a few big names.
I’ll tell you why santiago, cause they have no personality or starpower at all and that makes them boring and that’s why they don’t have a big name cause nobody cares to watch them fight..
good thing i don’t care about star power or personality right. i care about the fighters and their ability to fight. your the only one that doesn’t seem to care enough not to watch them although they may not be appealing they are certainly worth watching. man…i had no idea i had to like a guy in order fro me to like MMA events….thanx for the heads up…UFC Event analyzing…FAIL!
ok, obviously everyones not like you.. cause then why is UFC 66 the biggest card ever? they should have put another big name on this card to make it more interesting and ppl like myself more pumped about the card.. but sure i like the main event and i like the sport so there you have it i watch every UFC if you wondered but it’s always more fun to watch when the big names are fighting..
Santiago, Lyoto Machida is your favourite fighter right?
i still think ufc 92 is more of a beast card
but maybe im just saying that cause im a mir and rampage fan lol
very disappointing
I agree this card is pretty much shit, the only good fights are the main and co event and dustin vs tandom. Other than that shit. FTW i got quarry by ko
FTW, LOL
YFAD – Try to figure out that one!
Can’t figure…What does YFAD mean?
Randy has won plenty of times being the underdog, but for some reason I just dont see it happening this time.
It’s not so bad you have a ultimate fighter proving himself, lighweight, and a heavyweight contenders match, and a championship on the line, randy is my persoal hero, the guy is like a real life rocky, and i hope he beats brock, but can some one tell me whats up with this matt riddel kid i have been hearing a lot of hype about him and he’s only 1-0
he broke that guys jaw on TUF but hes boring really he just has heavy hands but he’s only like 22 years old so i think they’re keeping him for future reasons
i do agree with everyone the card seems to suck brock and randy will be boring to the max, the only fight that i see with excitement possibly being involved is the undercard with mclovin, then again idk much about jorge gurgel’s opponent but jorge sucks
Riddle also has a solid wrestling background, raw talent, and a great personality. Total that up and throw in a sprinkle of a broken Dan the Howler Simmler’s jaw and you got yourself a young fighter garnering himself some attention.
Did you watch TUF last season????
i caught a few shows, but missed that one, but thanks for the info
Sure thing Swizz!
The kid has a lot of power, potential and he’s dedicated to becoming a better fighter. I’d like to see this fight on the TV telecast. Hopefully they can fit it in. I’d also like to see Gurgel fight. He know he really needs a big win here and he’s going to bring it for his fight.
Very disappointing indeed. What a shitty card after the main event.
I dunno, the UFC has had shit cards since UFC 84 imo. This one does look better, but the next great looking UFC is the one in December.
You never know. Many times the cards stacked with big names end up not quite living up to the hype, while the ones with less of a WOW factor end up being all great fights.
Regardless of who wins Couture/Lesnar, I think it’s very likely to be a short fight and quite possibly disappointing. Either Lesnar will quickly overwhelm Couture with his size and power, or Couture will quickly outsmart Lesnar and catch him in a bad spot.
joe stevenson is overrated. all he does is catch his opponent in a guillotine which florian will not allow him to do. Kenny florian will easily win this fight. this card is truly terrible!
I see Stevenson overpowering Kenny and getting a LnP win like Sherk did. Kenny needs an early KO win because Joe is active just about enough so he doesn’t get stood up.
I’m from Quincy.
I think this card could have been alot stronger had they not decided to have two events in October and January.
As much as I appreciate the UFC trying to stage events regularly, by putting on two events in one month, it dilutes the standard of events in my . We could have had some really strong cards in the making if they stuck to one event per calendar month.
I would have just had a UFN in Chicago and just shuffled some of the UFC 90 main card fights onto the Bisping-Leben and Lesnar-Couture cards and then move some of the undercard fights from each onto a UFN broadcast, like shown below.
UFC 89 (10 fights)
Bisping-Leben, Sanchez-Alves, Sherk-Griffin, Werdum-dos Santos, Jardine-Vera, Sokoudjou-Cane, Taylor-Lytle, Kelly-Davis, Gono-Hardy, Liaudin-Bielkheden
UFN in Chicago (10 fights)
Gonzaga-Hendricks, Clementi-Maynard, Carwin-Wain, Franca-Aurelio, Burkman-Sell, Fisher-Gugarty, Robinson-Bocek, Eklund-Schiavo, Miller-Baron, Stout-Etim
UFC 90 (10 fights)
Lesnar-Couture, Silva-Cote, Florian-Stevenson, Quarry-Maia, Leites-TBA, Hazelett-McCrory, Sadollah-Catone, Stephens-dos Anjos, Riddle-Thomas, Gurgel-Riley
Everybody’s thoughts?
And also I’d scrap the 93 card in Dublin and just move those fights to the Superbowl weekend card.
UFC Superbowl Weekend card
St-Pierre-Penn, Machida-Silva, Henderson-Franklin, Shogun-Coleman, Serati-TBC….with more fights to be added
I just think some of these cards could be really strong if the UFC just stuck to one PPV event per calendar month.
Yeah. They should stop putting on so many shows. Also, they should start putting less fights on each card. We all only want to see about 8 fighters in action, so maybe the UFC should take a page out of Affliction’s playbook and have the same 8 fighters keep fighting each other?? One PPV every 3 months with 1 or 2 fights.
IS THAT REALLY WHAT YOU WANT??????????????????
That is just stupid. I want them to have as many events as possible so I can see as many fights and fighters as possible. The more the better!!!!! The UFC is by no means washed down. Its not like they are inviting Josh Rafferty and Brian Geraghty back to be on the main card of these events. These are UFC quality fighters at a UFC produced event.
I never thought I’d hear people whine about there being too many UFC events. And this next one is free. that must really tick you guys off. If you only want to watch a couple fights a year, I suggesty you become boxing fans.
PS) Chad Dawson looked superb against Tarver. And he reps New Haven, CT – right around the corner and where I went to college.
Also, if there was just 1 event per month, we would be seeing only 5 fights per month. The UFC would only be able to have about 30 fighters on thier roster and we would never be able to watch the young up and comers. In fact, the UFC wouldn’t be able to have the young up and comers on their roster and all of the smaller promotions would begin to pick up a ton of momentum
VM. well said. some people will use any excuse they can to hate on the ufc.
Haters!
The more UFC events the better. People who say the events are not stacked are idiots. Just because its not stacked with HUGE names, it doesnt mean the cards aren’t. I think ANY UFC event is stacked, they have most of the top talent of MMA, it doesnt matter if its a UFN or UFC PPV.
GO watch your Affliction or EXC!
VM, I’m only expressing my opinion. I don’t come on here & dismiss anyone else’s, so what makes you think you can dismiss mine? Fine you don’t agree, but you could have just put it across less aggressively. It’s about quality not quantity in my opinion. What’s wrong with wanting to get value for money and to see the best fight cards possible? I’d sooner see 12 great cards every year rather than 24 average ones. I don’t think that makes me any less of an MMA fan.
b.w, I don’t hate on the UFC whatsoever. I love it. If I just sat in my armchair whining and complaining, I’d agree. But I’ve been to a UFC event. I’ve spent my hard-earned money. If I hated it so much and was a casual fan, why would I bother doing that? My only criticisms are constructive. They only stem from the lack of strength of particular cards. All I’m saying is I would have structured the cards differently to ensure paying spectators and those who are paying for UFC by PPV get the best show possible, particularly when those paying for PPV only get to see 5/6 fights of the card. Whether you go to watch the event live or pay PPV, it isnt cheap and I think the quality of some events compared to others sells the paying fan short.
Fokman, did I say the events aren’t stacked? I’m just saying from a business perspective, besides the Lesnar-Couture fight, does that card look worth buying compared to the December card or even the Silva-Cote card? I wouldn’t say so. I just suggested how I would have organised the events differently. Please don’t tell me what I should go & watch. Just because I don’t subscribe to the UFC can do no wrong opinion, doesn’t mean I’m an idiot. Granted, UFC is the top MMA promotion, but they’re not perfect. There’s always room for improvement. And if they want to reach out to wider audiences, they need to put stronger cards together. MMA is still not in the mainstream and like it or not, they will have stack cards with huge names to sell out bigger venues and get more in front of the TV watching MMA.
Stacking this card with names wouldn’t sell one additional PPV buy. People will get this on Couture-Lesnar alone, or not at all.
damn randy looks tiny in thst picture, hope he puts some more muscle on before the fight or he will be weighing in for a middleweight title fight
How often does Lesnar look in the mirror and say “damn my sword on my chest looks more and more like a dick everyday.”
Hey Lesnar … Got Regret?
I am not even going to buy this PPV. You have to offer me more than just a main event to get my $45. This COULD have been the biggest event ever, but it won’t be. The UFC must think people are stupid trying to pass this as the biggest event ever. Worst card of the year.
As far as hype it might be. lesnars wwe fan base alone is huge and they WILL pay for it, same with randy fans, myself included will pay for it just in hopes he pulls another rocky perfomace like he has. i do however agree the biggest event ever is wwwaayyyy! off. What was the last biggest day in mma? chuck vs rampage and that went well, didn’t it.
the biggest day in MMA was Tito vs Chuck II..
Lots of people not liking this card. I know I’ll be watching. Just because there’s not a lot of big names doesnt mean there’s not going to be great fights.
I’m very curious to see how much they’re paying Randy now. Maybe his salary is so big they can’t budget in other big name fighters.
Lesnar by Decision
Florian By submission
Gonzaga by KO
Maia by submission
i honestly dont see a bad fight on here except Gonzaga. but you never know, he may show up to scrap.
i got:
Lesnar
Florian
Amir
Gonzaga
Maia
What a shitty card.
Just terrible.
For those that are happy with this card, I guess you guys like the Boxing PPV scheme of One Major Fight per PPV and throw in a bunch of people who are cheap as hell in the undercard.
what a shitty attitude. do you walk around in real life, thinking this way? most of the ufc’s undercards are better than what anyone else is doing right now.
Gotta agree with b.w., the undercard itself would make a great free TV card.
for real! florian/stevenson, barncat/mclovin,maia/quarry, plus the super fight of randy vs brock. anyone that doesnt watch this event isn’t a real mma fan imo (lol). if someone doesnt want to pay for it that’s their business, they can watch it the next day on the net for free, but to try and compare it to a boxing event is ridiculous.
Well,I have to agree for the most part.There could be a lot better fights here!I am a huge Couture fan.Always have been.He’s my favorite fighter.He’s facing a huge challenge here in Lesnar. I think Lesnar is Couture’s biggest challenge in the UFC at this time.This is only because of the styles of each fighter. Couture really has to do his homework on this one! If anyone can do it,Couture can! I hope he shuts Brock’s cocky a** up! On the other part,I like Gabriel Gonzaga.I wish he was facing a bigger name though.He should be fighting Lesnar.I don’t like Lesnar getting a title shot with only 1 win in the UFC. Its not fair to the other fighters.Brock is a bade dude! I will say that.He is a huge problem for any fighter.I just think he needs to pay his dues first!
Fight of the night: Jorge Gurgel getting knocked out and his face looking like hamburger meat, again!
I like the Gonzaga fight, because I’d like to see where Gonzaga is at.
Damian Maia Quarry fight is good,
K-Flo and Joe daddy is good fight, though Kenny should just be fighting BJ, but since he’s a bitch and doesn’t want to defend his title this is what we got.
If Joe daddy wins this they’re fucked, they don’t want to give him a rematch already.
This card def. could have used a good 205 fight.
Exactly man. The 205 pound division is so stacked there should be a top 10 205 pounder on every UFC card (or go to Japan and have a 205 pound tournament lol…I wish).
I want to see Florian and Stevenson and really want to watch Couture and Lesnar, but I won’t pay to watch those two fights. The other fights are ok, but the UFC has the fighters to put out GREAT cards every month, not ok cards.
And give Machida his title fight so people can stop ducking him.
Machida is danas worst nightmare, the guy is awesome, but pretty boring, the tito fight was a snoozer, as was sokoju (however you spell it) he is the last guy any one wants to fight. thiago is my guy and i was really looking foward to that fight but those two are on there way to the top and no one wants to fight them. he should be andersons next fight at 205.
He won’t ever fight Anderson, they train together. People always say that he is boring, but that is because he rarely strikes first. He has amazing take down defense, very good strikes and avoidance, but I have wanted to see him fight a brawler like Jardine, Vandy, Chuck, Rampage or Thiago. I want to see how he handles it. Wrestlers won’t beat him though. Sumo might be the best counter to wrestling there is lol.
I think Gonzaga vs steriod Lesnar would have been a better fight, Randy is to old and Lesnar is to strong for him. Yeah Randy beat Gonzaga I know but that was a year ago and Randy hasn’t fought just whined about his contract, he will be rusty.
so what about this beautiful theory.. Couture got busted up after beating Gonzaga, felt that he was getting old took the time off and has been juicing all the time so his body would keep up with him good enough to come back and take on this monster..
good main event. the rest of the card except the kenflo v stevenson fight doesnt interst me. lesnar rd 2 tko.
I’m very disappointed in this main event. In my humble opinion, Lesnar hasn’t earned the right to a title fight. Wasn’t Cheick Kongo up for the title fight originally? I wander how he feels about being replaced by Lesnar.
It bothers me that there doesn’t appear to be any consistency in the UFC with regards to their matchmaking, and determining who gets a title shot. Lesnar has only fought 2 fights, he hasn’t worked his way up, he hasn’t proven himself. The UFC is just using his popularity to make big money. I don’t think it’s fair to the other fighters.
I don’t know if it will happen, but I would love to see Randy win this one.
Off topic- why does BJ Penn get a title shot against GSP when he hasn’t even defended his own title in his own weight class yet??
Well in speaking about consistency look at how many of Couture’s title fights took place after losses. Almost all of them. It is a business and they of course are going to try to make the most money possible. Are you telling me this is just the UFC or should I say the word KIMBO.
After Lesnar mops the canvas with Couture are we going to say that Randy didnt deserve to be champ? Facts are Facts! Lesnar is the biggest strongest and fastest heavyweight in MMQ right now. His shot is second to none and I do not feel that there is anyone whom he cannot take down. His speed is that of a middleweight. Eventhough everyone seems to be avoiding this but the man hits a ton with his right hand. He is a world class wrestler. All of those things added up plus he trains for endurance and he is very driven make this a career ender for Randy.
Then what will people say about Lesnar deserving this shot?
Geez Randy looks crazy next to Lesnar.
Doesn’t Randy look the old man from Metallica’s Unforgiven video?
Hmm, that should be his entrance song come to think of it.
I hope Randy wins, this pic is just bad.
Lesnar represents an entirely different challenge for Couture than the one posed by Sylvia. Lesnar is quick and athletic. He also has wrestling skills on par with Couture’s.