Ultimate Fighting Championship

] and the UFC plans to continue expanding internationally, running shows regularly in Canada and the United Kingdom, with an office established in the UK aimed to expand the European UFC audience. [Pishna, Ken. [http://www.mmaweekly.com/absolutenm/templates/dailynews.asp?articleid=2493 UFC Announced European Expansion] . MMAWeekly.com. August 14, 2006.]

On March 27 2007 The UFC and PRIDE Fighting Championships announced an agreement in which the majority owners of the UFC, Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta, would purchase the PRIDE brand."Associated Press", [http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/news/story?id=2814235 http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/news/story?id=2814235] , March 27, 2007. ] "The Hot List", "ESPNEWS", air date March 27, 2007. ] Initial intentions were for both organizations to be separately run but aligned together and there were plans to co-promote supercards featuring champions and top contenders from both organizations. But recent comments by Dana White indicate that the Pride brand will likely be folded and many former Pride fighters are already being realigned under the UFC brand. Mark Coleman (UFC 10, UFC 11 Open Weight Tournament Champion & first UFC Heavyweight Champion)
*flagicon|Brazil Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (Current Interim UFC Heavyweight Champion)
*flagicon|USA Randy Couture (UFC 13 Heavyweight Tournament Champion, Current 3 time UFC Heavyweight Champion & former 2-time UFC Light Heavyweight Champion)
*flagicon|USA Frank Mir (Former UFC Heavyweight Champion)
*flagicon|USA Tim Sylvia (Former 2 time UFC Heavyweight Champion)
*flagicon|Belarus Andrei Arlovski (Former UFC Heavyweight Champion)
*flagicon|USA Josh Barnett (Former UFC Heavyweight Champion)
*flagicon|USA Kevin Randleman (Former UFC Heavyweight Champion)
*flagicon|USA Ricco Rodriguez (Former UFC Heavyweight Champion)
*flagicon|Netherlands Bas Rutten (Former UFC Heavyweight Champion)
*flagicon|USA Maurice Smith (Former UFC Heavyweight Champion)
*flagicon|Brazil Pedro Rizzo (UFC Ultimate Brazil Heavyweight Superfight Champion)
*flagicon|USA Dan Severn (UFC 5, Ultimate Ultimate 1995 Open Weight Tournament Champion & 2nd UFC Open Weight Superfight Champion)
*flagicon|Russia Oleg Taktarov (UFC 6 Open Weight Tournament Champion)
*flagicon|Brazil Marco Ruas (UFC 7 Open Weight Tournament Champion)
*flagicon|USA Don Frye (UFC 8 & Ultimate Ultimate #2 1996 Open Weight Tournament Champion)
*flagicon|USA Mark Kerr (UFC 14 and 15 Heavyweight Tournament Champion)
*flagicon|USA Steve Jennum (UFC 3 Open Weight Tournament Champion)

Light Heavyweights 186 to 205 lb (93 kg)
*flagicon|USA Frank Shamrock (First UFC Light Heavyweight Champion)
*flagicon|USA Forrest Griffin ("The Ultimate Fighter 1" light heavyweight winner & Current UFC Unified Light Heavyweight Champion)
*flagicon|USA Chuck Liddell (Former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion)
*flagicon|USA Tito Ortiz (Former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion)
*flagicon|Brazil Vitor Belfort (UFC 12 4-Man Tournament Champion, former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion)
*flagicon|USA Quinton Jackson (First UFC Unified Light Heavyweight Champion)
*flagicon|USA Ken Shamrock (Former 2 time UFC Superfight Champion)
*flagicon|USA Guy Mezger (UFC 13 Lightweight 4-Man Tournament Champion)
*flagicon|USA Rashad Evans ("The Ultimate Fighter 2" heavyweight winner)
*flagicon|USA Jerry Bohlander (UFC 12 Lightweight 4-Man Tournament Champion)

Middleweights 171 to 185 lb (84 kg)
*flagicon|USA Dave Menne (First UFC Middleweight Champion)
*flagicon|Brazil Anderson Silva (First & Current UFC Unified Middleweight Champion)
*flagicon|Brazil Murilo Bustamante (Former UFC Middleweight Champion)
*flagicon|USA Rich Franklin (Former UFC Middleweight Champion)
*flagicon|USA Evan Tanner (Former UFC Middleweight Champion)
*flagicon|Brazil Royce Gracie (UFC 1, 2 & 4 Open Weight Tournament Champion)
*flagicon|USA Dan Henderson (UFC 17 Tournament Champion)
*flagicon|Japan Kazushi Sakuraba (UFC Ultimate Japan 1 Heavyweight Tournament Champion)
*flagicon|UK Michael Bisping ("The Ultimate Fighter 3" Light Heavyweight Winner & First UK fighter to headling a Main Event)
*flagicon|USA Kendall Grove ("The Ultimate Fighter 3" Middleweight Winner)
*flagicon|USA Travis Lutter ("The Ultimate Fighter 4" Middleweight Winner)
*Flagicon|USA Amir Sadollah ('The Ultimate Fighter 7" Winner)

Welterweights 156 to 170 lb (77 kg)
*flagicon|USA Pat Miletich (First UFC Welterweight Champion & UFC Ultimate Brazil's Lightweight Tournament Champion)
*flagicon|Canada Georges St. Pierre (Current 2-Time UFC Welterweight Champion)
*flagicon|USA Matt Hughes (Former 2 time UFC Welterweight Champion)
*flagicon|USA Matt Serra ("The Ultimate Fighter 4" Welterweight Winner & Former UFC Welterweight Champion)
*flagicon|Canada Carlos Newton (Former UFC Welterweight Champion)
*flagicon|USA Diego Sánchez ("The Ultimate Fighter 1" middleweight winner)

Lightweights 146 to 155 lb (70 kg)
*flagicon|USA Jens Pulver (First UFC Lightweight Champion)
*flagicon|USA B.J. Penn (Current UFC Lightweight Champion & former UFC Welterweight Champion)
*flagicon|USA Sean Sherk (Former UFC Lightweight Champion)
*flagicon|USA Joe Stevenson ("The Ultimate Fighter 2" Welterweight Winner)
*flagicon|USA Nate Diaz ("The Ultimate Fighter 5" Lightweight Winner)
*flagicon|USA Mac Danzig ("The Ultimate Fighter 6" Welterweight winner)

In other media

Music

*"", an album of music featured in and inspired by the UFC.

Video games

*"Ultimate Fighting Championship"
*""
*""
*""
*""
*"UFC 2009 Undisputed" (upcoming)In January 2007, Zuffa and videogame developer/publisher THQ announced a license agreement giving THQ worldwide rights to develop titles under the UFC brand. The agreement gives THQ exclusive rights to current and next-generation consoles as well as PC and handheld titles. Also included are "certain wireless rights" which were not detailed. The licensing agreement is to expire in 2011. [cite news |first=iTZKooPA |url=http://tgnforums.stardock.com/?forumid=141&aid=141418 |title=UFC Pinned Till 2011 By THQ |publisher=Totalgaming.net |date=2007-01-16 |accessdate=2006-01-17] The first game to be released under this agreement is "UFC 2009 Undisputed".

Television

In the Friends episode ", Pete enters an Ultimate Fighting Championship competition and fights Tank Abbott as an opponent with Bruce Buffer as the ring announcer and "Big" John McCarthy as the referee.

Action figures

On June 10 2008 it was announced that UFC had signed an exclusive 4 year contract with Jakks Pacific to create action figures for UFC. Action figures include such fighters as Anderson Silva, Quinton Jackson & Matt Hughes.

ee also

*List of UFC champions
*List of UFC events

References

External links

* [http://www.ufc.com UFC.com] Official UFC site
* [http://www.ufc.com/index.cfm?fa=LearnUFC.Rules UFC Official Rules]