There’s going to be some heavy hitting taking place on June 4 at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, NJ, when Andrei Arlovski puts his interim heavyweight belt on the line in UFC 53: Heavy Hitters. Tickets for the action-packed 8-fight event, priced at $350, $250, $150, $75 and $35, will go on sale Monday, April 18 at the Boardwalk Hall box office in Atlantic City, at all Ticketmaster locations, www.ticketmaster.com or by calling 1-800-736-1420. For general information, call 609-348-7000. Tickets are subject to transaction fees. Trump Plaza Hotel & Casino, Trump Marina and Trump Taj Mahal are the hosts of the event. UFC 53: Heavy Hitters will be available LIVE on pay-per-view at 10 p.m. EDT on iNDemand, DirecTV, Dish Network, TVN, Echostar, Bell ExpressVu and Viewers Choice Canada. The suggested retail price is $34.95. Arlovski’s opponent and the remainder of the card will be announced as the bouts become official.

Early news for UFC 53 and it's official, Andre Arlovski will be defending his UFC Interim HW title against Justin Eilers, yes the same Eilers who was KO'd by Paul Buentello at UFC 52. Ricco Rodriguez was offered the fight but turned it down stating he could not get a training camp together in time, but the rumor is that he was not offered an appropriate purse for the fight. On a better note, Rich Franklin coming off his big KO victory of Ken Shamrock on the SpikeTV Ultimate Fighter Finals show has been given a shot at UFC Middleweight Champ Evan Tanner, though a rematch it's a well deserved title shot for Franklin. The first time they fought was April 28, 2003 at UFC 42: Sudden Impact in Miami, Florida with Franklin stopping Tanner via TKO at 2:40 of the first round. Another exciting match-up will be Matt Serra vs Karo Parisyan at 170lbs, now that's an interesting match-up. Also Despite Rumors of injuries, Forrest Griffin will be making another UFC appearence to fight against Bill Mahood. UFC 53's fight card seems to be taking the form as a good one... see you in Altantic City for UFC 53.

Rumor has it that Zuffa is planning on matching up Ken Shamrock with Chuck Liddell in a future event. As it was explained, Ken was promised both a shot at the winner of Liddell/Couture II and a rematch with Ortiz in exchange for his participation in the TUF season finale. It was also explained to me that Ken is still viewed as the biggest ratings draw for Zuffa by far, and that Zuffa plans on having Liddell defeat Shamrock(if he can) to help build his star status among mainstream fans, much as Zuffa did with Rich Franklin. As it is currently planned, Ken and Chuck will face each other next and neither will fight another opponent first. Though as always, plans can be changed depending on future circumstances.