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Los Angeles, California – January 10, 2007 Blood splatters, bones break. Beautiful women glimmer in the stands, giddy men roar. Championships will be won, titles defended, millions of dollars paid and legends made. The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) has fast become a spectacle unlike any other, and with the power of a Matt Hughes slam and the ferocity of a Chuck Liddell overhand right, the sport has begun to overwhelm the athletic world. On Saturday, Dec. 30, Liddell stopped Tito Ortiz for the second time - this time as the main event of the biggest mixed-martial arts (MMA) pay-per-view in history. With the blockbuster fight, the UFC ended a 2006 more successful than any prior campaign - it also began a 2007 sure to top it. Much like its modern-day warriors, Ultimate Fighting refuses to take a step back - continually leading the MMA revolution, defusing its competition and growing in popularity with every knockout, submission and decision. You see, the big-fight atmosphere is one that cannot be duplicated. It's why boxing roared through the 1920s as America's most popular sport and captivated the country throughout the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. Boxing, in particular, has long been remiss in providing such unmatched electricity. Promoters, too many titles, not enough good fighters and high prices for low-quality events have led to boxing's all-time low.  In packed arenas and full living rooms by the TV, America is in love with Ultimate Fighting. Enter a company in the UFC, which boasts the infant sport of mixed-martial arts. It is one, unlike boxing, kickboxing or wrestling, which bids its combatants to use any and all fighting styles. Many still scoff at the sport that has more and more viewers submitting to its appeal day by day. Of course, like most of us, those critics were likely part of the circle gathered around the impromptu fistfight during recess at grade school. In that deep, dark part of our psyche - the place we don't talk about at parties - everyone likes a good fight. Whether it's on Spike TV, live on pay-per-view or with a cash ticket for an Octagon-side seat, the Ultimate Fighting Championship provides that schoolyard thrill. The approach is really nothing new, but the sport of mixed-martial arts and its most recognized body are. That's the first thing to consider. Along the same lines of Q-Tips, Coke and Kleenex, the UFC is seen by many as a sport itself, the brand inseparable from the product. Instead, the UFC is the most recognizable Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) body going today. It has evolved drastically from its 1993 debut to where it is today: A phenomenon that is grabbing the American viewer in person, on cable television, on the Internet and on pay-per-view. So new to the sports landscape is the UFC that only four fighters - Royce Gracie, Ken Shamrock, Dan Severn and Randy Couture - are recognized as Hall of Famers. Heading into the new year, the UFC showcases an Iceman, a Spider, a Muscle Shark and a Maine-iac as champions. There's Georges “Rush” St. Pierre, a French Canadian known as much for being a gentleman and all-around nice guy as he is for being one of the world's most talented fighters. He just recently ended Hughes’ reign of welterweight dominance with a stunning KO victory on Nov. 18. Indeed, the UFC presents a cavalcade of characters: Big and small, black and white, strikers and submission specialists. Just like boxing, these characters and their game will always have detractors, people who lambaste the sport for its danger and violence. Unlike boxing, nobody in the UFC has ever died as a result of fighting, though. And, unlike some of boxing's most revered heroes of yesteryear who stumble through their words, the UFC boasts the recent retirements of Couture and Shamrock. Both are every bit as charismatic in their current roles as commentators and coaches as they were as fighters who said good bye to their beloved sports in their 40s. And in their absence, the UFC hasn't missed a step. Spike TV's "The Ultimate Fighter" continues to produce new stars like crowd-favorites Forrest Griffin and Michael Bisping. Liddell, the light heavyweight champion, is likely the poster boy, known for his Mohawk, easy going "Iceman" attitude and perhaps the most devastating striking skills in all of combat sports. There's others of course: Ortiz, Rich Franklin, the UFC’s newest acquisitions - Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Mirko Cro Cop - and even Dana White, the UFC President and Co-owner, who many compare to Vince McMahon and Don King. He's been controversial and brash; he even had a boxing match with Ortiz scheduled before the Nevada State Athletic Commission put the kibosh on it.
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