The card was headlined by two title bouts, a Heavyweight Championship bout between Randy Couture and Josh Barnett and a Welterweight title bout between Matt Hughes and Hayato Sakurai. UFC 36 marked the last UFC appearance of former 170 lb Champion Pat Miletich, and the last appearance of Pete Williams. Nine past or future UFC champions competed on this card (including at least one in each bout), more than any other event in UFC history.