Muse Machine rehearsal
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Celebs come out for TV's '24'
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Stars turn out for film gala
UFC 82 attendees arrive early and in bunches
Lightweight Gurgel struggles in first bout, defeats Halverson by unanimous decision.
Sunday, March 02, 2008
COLUMBUS — If executives from the Ultimate Fighting Championship had any concerns about Ohio's ability to pack Nationwide Arena for a second year, the doubts were put to rest before UFC 82 even began.
"UFC 82: Pride of a Champion" took place Saturday, March 1, in front of an obviously soldout crowd.
Extras
The UFC first visited the venue for last year's UFC 68 event, which set a UFC attendance record and shattered Nationwide Arena's previous bests for attendance, live gate and merchandise sales.
With a main event between UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva and top contender Dan Henderson, Saturday's show boasted what was appropriately billed as one of the most meaningful middleweight fights in mixed martial arts history.
The Las Vegas-based UFC has ventured outside Sin City for a growing number of events over the past year, and no state has been more welcoming than Ohio. While a nine-fight card can be five or six fights deep before a Vegas crowd really shows up, Nationwide Arena has been at near-capacity for the night's first bout for two straight years.
In Thursday's pre-UFC 82 press conference, UFC President Dana White said a well-known photograph of UFC 68, taken from the rafters in Nationwide Arena and showing a packed house, can still be found as desktop wallpaper on many UFC employees' computers.
"There's something about Ohio," White said. "You guys know how to pack 'em in."
A big reason for the early arrivals this year was Jorge Gurgel, a UFC lightweight who runs an MMA training facility in West Chester. Gurgel struggled his way to a tough-fought unanimous-decision victory against Iowa fighter John Halverson in the night's first bout.
"Ohio, you guys have been like family and a second home to me for the last 10 years," the Brazilian-born Gurgel said after the fight. "Thank you so much for sharing with me the happiest moment of my career."
For more updates from UFC 82, check out DaytonDailyNews.com/mma.
Coleman Inducted
Mark Coleman, a former NCAA national wrestling champion at Ohio State and the UFC's first-ever heavyweight champion, was formally inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame.
"If I had my choice between being a Super Bowl champion, a World Series champion, an NBA titlist or a UFC champion, my personal choice would be UFC champion," the Columbus native said.
Coleman, who finished his fighting career with a 15-8 record (6-3 in the UFC), joins Ken Shamrock, Dan Severn, Royce Gracie and Randy Couture in the hall.
'The Governator' visits
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the namesake of this weekend's Arnold Sports Festival, was among the thousands of fitness and sports buffs who met UFC fighters at the expo.
"The Governator" met and took photos with UFC fighters Chris Lytle, Houston Alexander, Jason MacDonald, Sam Stout, interim heavyweight champ Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, as well as the WEC's Brian Stann.
Dann Stupp is editor-in-chief of MMAjunkie.com, a content partner site of Yahoo! Sports. For more on UFC 82 and other MMA events, go to www.mmajunkie.com.
