- Friday 09.26.2003
- U.S. Broadcast: Pay Per View
- Promotion: Ultimate Fighting Championship
- Ownership: Zuffa, LLC
- Venue: Mandalay Bay Events Center
- Location: Las Vegas, Nevada, United States
- Enclosure: Octagon
- TV Announcers: Mike Goldberg, Joe Rogan
- Ring Announcer: Bruce Buffer
- Post-Fight Interviews: Eddie Bravo
- Ticket Revenue (live gate): $1,127,985
- Attendance: 10,400
- PPV Buys / Buyrate: 94,000 | TV Ratings:
- MMA Bouts: 9
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Promotion Links:
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Fight Card
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UFC Light Heavyweight Championship
Decision, Unanimous
5 Rounds, 25:00 Total9Main Event
205
5 x 5 | Pro
Referees
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John McCarthy
Couture vs. Ortiz (9), Sylvia vs. McGee (7), Thomson vs. Strebendt (3) -
Larry Landless
Arlovski vs. Matyushenko (8), Rivera vs. Loiseau (6) -
Sean Brockmole
Franklin vs. Dewees (5), França vs. Uno (1) -
Steve Mazzagatti
Parisyan vs. Strasser (4), Diaz vs. Jackson (2)
Wiki
UFC 44 Wiki
Emerging as the UFC's biggest, most popular, and most marketable superstar following his drubbing of Ken Shamrock in the main event of UFC 40, Light Heavyweight Champion Tito Ortiz again lead the Zuffa, LLC-owned UFC to impressive Pay Per View numbers at UFC 44, with total buys coming in at 94,000.
The main event of the evening pitted Ortiz against Randy Couture. Although Ortiz was the dominant champion, Couture's size, strength, wrestling ability, and upset domination of Chuck Liddell in his last fight lead many analysts to pick him in the fight. Twenty five minutes later, Couture had completely dominated Ortiz to take the title with a Unanimous Decision, becoming the first fighter in UFC history to win titles in two different weight classes. Couture also arguably emerged from the fight as the promotion's biggest star, taking that mantle and “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy’s” title belt in one fell swoop.