Heading into his UFC 119 bout with Sean Sherk, Evan Dunham was considered one of the best lightweight prospects the UFC had to offer. Guys like B.J. Penn, Kenny Florian and Sherk had dominated the lightweight division since UFC President Dana White decided to bring it back into the fold in 2006, but Dunham was [...]

Vitor Belfort’s middleweight title dreams started and ended with Anderson Silva.
Ever since arriving back on the UFC scene in 2009, Belfort had his sights set on Silva and the UFC middleweight strap. He made quick work of Rich Franklin in his return to the Octagon at UFC 103 and was named the No. 1 contender [...]

Looking back almost nine years later, the cast of the first season of The Ultimate Fighter is quite remarkable. The list of fighters that competed on that inaugural season reads as a collection of some of the UFC’s biggest stars over the last decade and features a former UFC champion, along with a handful of [...]

There isn’t a more thankless role in the UFC than becoming a gatekeeper. The contenders get more high-profile bouts, the prospects get more media attention and the aging stars get more main events. In effect, a good gatekeeper will get a few opportunities over the course of their career, but they’ll never quite be able [...]

It’s time for the UFC to embrace the grind. The promotion always makes time to showcase the highlight-reel knockouts and submissions that take place at any given UFC event, but while the UFC is showcasing the most exciting and entertaining parts of the sport, some of the most important fall by the wayside.
Fighters like Yushin [...]

It hasn’t always been pretty, but Benson Henderson is slowly becoming one of the greatest champions in lightweight history.
Since winning the 155-pound strap from Frankie Edgar back at UFC 144, Henderson has quietly built up a solid resume in title fights. He has won three straight decisions—over Edgar (again), Nate Diaz and Gilbert Melendez—to solidify [...]

In a perfect world, the UFC would be headed to Madison Square Garden this fall.
There’s no venue in the world that UFC President Dana White and company covets more than MSG, and with the UFC’s 20th anniversary show coming up this November, it’s not surprising that the promotion is doing everything in its power to [...]

Almost 20 years ago, Royce Gracie showed up at UFC 1 and dominated the competition with his top-notch Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu game and little else. Despite being one of the smaller men in the tournament that night, Gracie proved that the grappling art that later became synonymous with his family’s name can be one of the [...]

Sometimes, when a fighter has been as dominant as Georges St-Pierre has been over the last five years, it leads to an entire division of fighters getting overlooked due to the achievements of one champion. No matter how much talent appears in a certain weight class, the supremacy of the champion ends up hurting the [...]

Every so often a prospect debuts in the UFC and subsequently sets the Internet on fire after wowing the MMA world with his or her performance. We’ve seen this happen time and time again, and whether it was the raw potential shown by Jon Jones in his win over Andre Gusmao or the extremely violent [...]