refers to Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz's long-running negotiations leading up to the fight.

Ortiz claims that as friends and former training partners, he and Liddell had made a pact never to fight.

A match-up between Tim Sylvia and Andrei Arlovski for the then-vacant UFC Heavyweight Championship was scheduled for the event, but Sylvia was pulled due to a recurrence of positive drug samples just a day before the event.

Wes Sims stepped in on a day's notice to face Mike Kyle at this event as well.

This was the first card to feature "On The Mat" with Marc Laimon, a brief instructional video demonstrating the triangle choke.