| UFC 53: Heavy Hitters | |
| Promotion: | Ultimate Fighting Championship |
| Date: | June 4, 2005 |
| Venue: | Boardwalk Hall |
| City: | Atlantic City, New Jersey |
| Attendance: | 12,000 |
| Gate: | $1,100,000 |
| Buyrate: | 90,000 |
| Previousevent: | UFC 52: Couture vs Liddell 2 |
| Followingevent: | UFC Ultimate Fight Night |
UFC 53: Heavy Hitters was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on June 4, 2005, at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The event was broadcast live on pay-per-view in the United States, and later released on DVD.
This event was originally scheduled to take place at the Yokohama Arena in Japan with an Interim Heavyweight Championship bout between Andrei Arlovski and Mirko Filipović serving as the main event. However the lack of sponsorship for the event forced the event to be moved to Atlantic City.[1]
Initially, former champion Ricco Rodriguez was slated to contend for the Heavyweight Championship, but withdrew from the bout, citing complications with his training camp.[2] Headlining the card opposite of Interim Heavyweight Champion Arlovski, instead, was Miletich protégé Justin Eilers. Although there was some criticism directed at the UFC for giving Eilers a title shot after coming off a knockout loss to Paul Buentello at UFC 51, the UFC explained that Buentello was not medically cleared to fight when the main event was originally scheduled.This was Forrest Griffin's first fight after winning The Ultimate Fighter show.