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Among mixed martial arts followers during the sport's darkest period lived a maxim: If they can watch it, they will. "They" were likely you, the guy or gal who'd heard of Royce Gracie and maybe even saw UFC photos on a tattered VHS slipcover. The stars of the late 1990s, more cult heroes than celebrities, probably needed six months to sign as many autographs as UFC light heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell will this Memorial weekend. Through no fault of their own, great, charismatic mixed martial artists toiled in obscurity, dreaming of nothing more than earning enough money to … train...

Eulogies were written for Buster Douglas before he ever stepped off the plane in Tokyo in 1990. A mid-card athlete with several KO losses on his record against mediocre competition, his résumé didn't seem to hint he could be a threat to America's bogeyman, the in-prime and seemingly indefatigable Mike Tyson. Ten rounds later, a concussed Tyson was scrambling for his mouthpiece and getting consoled by an uncomfortably emotional referee, who seemed to be hugging the dazed ex-champ more to alleviate his own shock than Tyson's. As a 42-1 betting prospect, Douglas was likely the most successful underdog in the...

The Ultimate Fighting Championship has officially announced the main portion of the UFC 73 event scheduled for July 7th at the Arco Arena in Sacramento, Calif. Entitled “Stacked” the moniker couldn’t be more appropriate. UFC 73 is the most talent-laden fight card in recent memory, not only for the UFC, but any promotion. Not only does UFC 73 feature two title fights – Anderson Silva defending his UFC Middleweight Championship against Nate Marquardt and Sean Sherk defending his lightweight belt from Hermes Franca – but UFC drawing card Tito Ortiz and light heavyweight contender Rashad Evans will battle it out...

The De La Hoya-Mayweather fight feels like a trip down memory lane, back to the days when boxing still mattered and people asked questions like "Where are we watching the big fight this weekend?" Before May 5, most every group of pals will force the one guy with the biggest TV to host a pay-per-view party, either by guilting him into it or by going through the charade of pretending someone else with a much crummier TV is hosting, knowing full well the buddy with the giant plasma will step up in the end. Sounds just like the old days,...

This is what the Oscar De La Hoya-Floyd Mayweather fight, one of the most important events in recent sports history, really means: It's boxing's last stand. Boxing is fighting for its life, and in some ways the largest obstacle to its rebirth is its greatest competitor -- the worst league ever invented, the UFC. Which means it is good vs. evil, Halle Berry vs. Courtney Love, true sport against the mosh pit of sweat and bloodied skull fractures known as ultimate fighting. De La Hoya and Mayweather can single-handedly save their sport from deteriorating into dust while simultaneously stopping the...

(CP) - Upsets are in vogue in the UFC these days but, not surprisingly, light-heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell doesn't see the trend continuing when he takes on Quinton (Rampage) Jackson at UFC 71 on May 26 in Las Vegas. In the UFC's three most recent cards, Randy Couture toppled heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia (UFC 68), Matt Serra took the welterweight title from Montreal's Georges St. Pierre (UFC 69) and Brazilian Gabriel Gonzaga knocked out Mirko (Cro Cop) Filipovic (UFC 70). Will normal service resume when The Iceman faces off against Jackson at the MGM Grand? "I've been getting that question...

There seems to be a trend here, a trend that Nick Diaz resurrected. Lately, it seems that the underdogs in the grand world of mixed martial arts have a much better chance of winning their fights than ever before. Now, I know that those underdogs have always had the same exact chance of winning as they do today, but there has just been a wave of humongous upsets in the sport and they have occurred at a much more frequent rate than ever before. Back on Feb. 24, former UFC pitbull Nick Diaz recovered from a clean knockdown to steamroll...

MANCHESTER, ENGLAND – Randy Couture started the wave. Matt Serra carried it through UFC 69. And now Gabriel Gonzaga picks up where they left off by crushing the #2 heavyweight in the world, Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic, stunning him with a devastating high kick to win by knockout at UFC 70 in the United Kingdom on Saturday night. Stepping into the Octagon, Gabriel Gonzaga seemed very confident in his skills and looked ready to compete with Cro Cop from the opening of the round. Just about everybody counted Gonzaga out of this bout before it even started, but he...

The Octagon skips across the pond for just the second time in UFC history. That first trip was a memorable one. We saw the impressive UFC debuts of Genki Sudo and Mark Weir (you may recall the lightning fast KO of Eugene Jackson). Then an overconfident Frank Mir was torn apart by a heavy-hearted and -fisted Ian Freeman (battling at home for his ailing father who unknowingly passed away before the bout). And in the rematch of their infamous welterweight title bout, Matt Hughes and Carlos Newton fought for nearly 20 minutes before Hughes finished "The Ronin" with strikes. Could...

UFC 70: NATIONS COLLIDE MIRKO “CRO COP” vs. GABRIEL GONZAGA MICHAEL BISPING vs. ELVIS SINOSIC ANDREI ARLOVSKI vs. FABRICIO WERDUM DAVID HEATH vs. LYOTO MACHIDA ASSUERIO SILVA vs. CHEICK KONGO MATT GRICE vs. TERRY ETIM JUNIOR ASSUNCAO vs. DAVID LEE VICTOR VALIMAKI vs. ALESSIO SAKARA DENNIS SIVER vs. JESS LIAUDIN EDILBERTO CROCOTA vs. PAUL TAYLOR LIVE FROM MEN ARENA SATURDAY, APRIL 21 Las Vegas - The Ultimate Fighting Championship® (UFC®) organization announced today the full fight card for UFC 70: NATIONS COLLIDE live from Manchester, England at MEN Arena Saturday, April 21, 2007. Headlining UFC 70 is Croatian superstar Mirko...

HOUSTON, Texas, April 7 -- Matt Serra was the proverbial snowball and UFC welterweight ace Georges St. Pierre was supposed to be Hell if you listened to most mixed martial arts fans and pundits in the weeks leading up to their championship match. Serra defied the odds and sent the Toyota Center crowd of more than 15,000 into a state of disbelief when he knocked out St. Pierre with a barrage of punches and elbows from the mount at 3:25 of the first round. The 25-year-old Canadian looked stiff from the start, throwing one punch at a time while Serra...

I hate to disagree with boxing's best pound-for-pound fighter, but I've got a bone to pick with Floyd Mayweather Jr. Last week, during a press conference to publicize his upcoming bout with Oscar De La Hoya, Floyd took a shot at the Ultimate Fighting Championship -- which has been near and dear to my heart since I caught my first whiff of The Octagon. Think Mayweather would get in the ring with Chuck Liddell, the UFC light heavyweight champ? "UFC ain't s---," Mayweather said. "It ain't but a fad. … These are guys who couldn't make it in boxing. So...

March 27, 2007 by Jake Rossen (jrossen@sherdog.com) "We're going to get everybody" was the prototypical restraint on display from UFC President Dana White in response to constant badgering from the media about his plans for 2007. The phrase has taken on greater meaning as the biggest combat news story of the year continues to evolve: the acquisition of the PRIDE brand by Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta. White's proclamation is only partially true: if "we" is to indicate the Zuffa regime, then he was slightly off base. PRIDE's assets would technically fall under the ledgers of the casino magnate brothers, not...

The way Chuck Liddell has dominated recent opponents Tito Ortiz and Randy Couture, it appears the Ultimate Fighting Championship's light-heavyweight champion is unbeatable. Irvine's Quinton "Rampage" Jackson knows that's not true. In a PRIDE Fighting Championships tournament in 2003, Jackson pounded the fatigued Liddell with a flurry of second-round punches that prompted Liddell's corner to stop the fight. Now, less than four months after Jackson joined UFC, he's getting his shot to take Liddell's belt. UFC will officially announce today that the fighters have signed contracts to headline a May 26 pay-per-view card, UFC 71, at the MGM Grand Garden...

The rumors swirling around the sale of Pride FC have been ongoing for quite some time, but things flared up again on Monday when Sherdog.com started talking about strong rumors from some of their sources, who said that the deal has finally been struck. MMAWeekly has confirmed with our own sources, including sources in Japan that are extremely close to the situation, that the deal has indeed been reached. From what we understand, Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta have come to an agreement that would put Pride in their hands. But remember, that is an agreement, not a finalized transaction....

With a star-studded line-up that includes top ten heavyweights Mirko Cro Cop, Andrei Arlovski, and Fabricio Werdum, the UFC's April 21st show in the United Kingdom is an event that many fans in the United States would have gladly bought on pay-per-view. Instead, due to an unforeseen chain of events, U.S. audiences will be able to watch the event for free on Spike TV. The news, which was previously listed on MMAWeekly's Rumors page for UFC 70, has been confirmed in media interviews by UFC president Dana White, who told the Boston Herald that the event "will" air on Spike...

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The president of UFC would kick your ass. His name is Dana White, he's a former amateur boxer and he's planning soon to fight one of Ultimate Fighting Championship's baddest men -- former light heavyweight champ Tito Ortiz -- in a private sparring session. Why? Just because. The lead referee of UFC would kick your ass. His name is "Big John" McCarthy, he goes 6-foot-4 and 260 pounds, and in his spare time he's an LAPD officer who trains other officers how to kick ass. If this is the president and a referee of UFC, then you...

Randy Couture hasn’t walked on water yet but after dismantling Tim Sylvia for all 5 rounds of their UFC Heavyweight title fight on Saturday night it just seems like “The Natural” is capable of just about anything. In the opening moments of the bout it was quite obvious that Randy Couture was more than ready for the challenge of the 6’8” champion when he landed a big shot that put Sylvia on the canvas and 19,000+ fans on their feet in the Nationwide Arena. Couture moved in for the kill, taking Sylvia’s back, then pursued a rear naked choke while...

UFC 68: The Uprising is coming around this weekend and the card is full of interesting match ups that will answer a lot of questions. UFC 68 has some solid names on the card and some former champions looking to start their road back to victory. It also marks the return of Randy “The Natural” Couture from a brief retirement. He will be in for possibly his toughest challenge yet against the 6’8”, 265 lbs. UFC Heavyweight Champion Tim Sylvia. Randy Couture vs. Tim Sylvia Randy “The Natural” Couture is making a comeback at 43 years old. He hasn’t fought...

LAS VEGAS, Feb. 24 — It is undoubtedly a turbulent period for the PRIDE Fighting Championships. Constantly rumored to be in financial peril and thus on the verge of sale, the Japanese mixed martial arts organization made its second trek to the backyard of the UFC on Saturday in a desperate search for stability. The steadiest of all PRIDE assets have been its fighters, chief among them middleweight champion Wanderlei Silva , the Brazilian mauler who first captured the 205-pound belt against Kazushi Sakuraba before capturing the hearts of fight fans across the globe. Under the umbrella of a teetering...