UFC 39: The Warriors Return was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on September 27, 2002, at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut. The event was broadcast live on pay per view in the United States, and was the first UFC event to be released on DVD.
| UFC 39: The Warriors Return | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 The poster for UFC 39: The Warriors Return | ||||
| Promotion | Ultimate Fighting Championship | |||
| Date | September 27, 2002 | |||
| Venue | Mohegan Sun Arena | |||
| City | Uncasville, Connecticut | |||
| Attendance | 7,800 | |||
| Buyrate | 45,000 | |||
| Event chronology | ||||
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History
editHeadlining the event was a Heavyweight Title bout between Randy Couture and Ricco Rodriguez for the vacant title. Originally Ricco Rodriguez was scheduled to fight Josh Barnett for the UFC title but Barnett was stripped following a positive test for steroids.
The event marked the octagon debut of future UFC Heavyweight Champion Tim Sylvia. This fight saw Sylvia's opponent, Wesley Correira, take several straight punches, knees, and kicks to the head without ever falling before his corner eventually threw in the towel.
Results
edit| Main Card | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weight class | Method | Round | Time | Notes | |||
| Heavyweight | Ricco Rodriguez | def. | Randy Couture | TKO (Submission due to elbows) | 5 | 3:04 | [a] |
| Heavyweight | Tim Sylvia | def. | Wesley Correira | TKO (corner stoppage) | 2 | 1:43 | |
| Lightweight | B.J. Penn | def. | Matt Serra | Decision (unanimous) | 3 | 5:00 | [b] |
| Lightweight | Caol Uno | def. | Din Thomas | Decision (unanimous) | 3 | 5:00 | [c] |
| Heavyweight | Gan McGee | def. | Pedro Rizzo | TKO (corner stoppage) | 1 | 5:00 | [d] |
| Middleweight | Phil Baroni | def. | Dave Menne | KO (punches) | 1 | 0:18 | |
| Preliminary card | |||||||
| Middleweight | Matt Lindland | def. | Ivan Salaverry | Decision (unanimous) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Welterweight | Sean Sherk | def. | Benji Radach | TKO (doctor stoppage) | 1 | 4:16 | |
- ^ For the vacant UFC Heavyweight Championship.
- ^ Lightweight Tournament Semifinal bout.
- ^ Lightweight Tournament Semifinal bout.
- ^ Rizzo took a straight right hand to the nose with twelve seconds left in the first round. After examining Rizzo's nose between rounds, his corner decided to throw in the towel.
Lightweight tournament bracket
edit| Semifinals | Finals (UFC 41) | ||||||||
| B.J. Penn | UD | |||||||
|
| Matt Serra | 3 | |||||||
|
| B.J. Penn | D1 | |||||||
| Caol Uno | 15:00 | |||||||
|
| Caol Uno | UD | |||||||
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| Din Thomas | 3 | |||||||
1 At UFC 41, B.J. Penn vs. Caol Uno ended in a split draw. (48-46, 47-48, 48-48). The title remained vacant.