MAIN Recreation Sports Ultimate Fighting

UFC's "Ultimate Bad Boys"
Andrei Arlovski
Chuck Liddell
Tito Ortiz
Ken Shamrock
Wanderlei Silva

Looking for a fight?

A mixed martial arts (MMA) combination of boxing, wrestling, judo, jujitsu and karate, Ultimate Fighting has skyrocketed in popularity ever since its brutal "two men enter, one man leaves" debut in 1993.

A bit more regulated today, the sport in which ultimate fighters enter the ring barefoot are still seen to be wearing little else but shorts, a mouthpiece, and cup.

UFC fighters also must wear fingerless gloves (that allow for more incredibly powerful punches) and adhere to a strict set of rules by which fights are judged.

Prohibited moves include biting, eye-gouging, head-butting, bending of fingers and toes - and hits to the groin, throat or spine. Other than that, anything goes including the infamous guillotine choke.

Ultimate fighting machines are paired in competitions inside an octagon-shaped cage. Matches consist of three rounds each lasting five minutes requiring almost superhuman attributes of speed, strength and stamina.

UFC mixed martial arts is admittedly a young man's game. So it remained all the more amazing when UFC pioneer and fighting legend Randy Couture only finally decided to call it quits in May 2011. This, after a devastating knockout by 31-year-old Lyoto Machida. At the time of his retirement, Couture was 47.

The ultimate audience

Ultimate fighting continues to deliver the goods among a growing hotbed of rabid 18-34 fans who are drawn to what they see as the anti WWE real unstaged deal. And, the UFC Octagon Girls certainly don't hurt the cause one bit.

For now, viewership of cable channel Spike TV's UFC Unleashed and Ultimate Fight Night continues to skyrocket as organizers continue to gain inroads into hugely popular live venues in Las Vegas, New York and Texas as well as international venues in the UK.

On the Web, get in on the action with video clips, photos, fighter profiles, busy fan forums, news and announcements on championships and grudge matches, rules & regulations plus more about the history of a sport that millions have come to tag as the ultimate in unstaged combat ...

More about the UFC around the Web:

UFC Ultimate Fighting Championship - The official site featuring the complete pay-per-view and TV schedules, the latest news & results, picture galleries, video clips, fighter bios, Octagon Girls profiles, official rules, ticket information, free newsletter with registration, online shop.

Sherdog.com - Serving Up Heaping Fistfuls of Mixed Martial Arts - Like it says, with the latest on ultimate fighting in live blog results, play-by-plays, feature stories, reports & interviews, plus picture galleries & video clips, searchable database of fighter stats, online forum.

UFighting Forum - Join the fray at this busy message board with discussions on favorite fighters, championship matches and mixed martial arts news.

Love UFC - Huge fan site offering a daily blog, news & results, interviews, forum, fight recaps, fighter pictures & bios.

UFC - Fights, previews, promos & related news at YouTube.com with dozens of visitor-submitted UFC videos.

Ultimate Fighting Championship - Extensive background on the sport from Wikipedia, including its history, rules & regs, judging criteria, fouls, current champs and notable fighters, related pictures and resources

also see -> Boxing | Judo | Karate | Taekwondo

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