The Ultimate Guide to Ultimate Fighting

Ultimate Fighting or mixed martial arts (MMA) is a real sport contested in an octagonal cage. The fighters bring their backgrounds in karate, boxing, wrestling, Muay Thai, Jiu Jitsu and other disciplines. Winning fighters must be skilled enough to attack and defend against any kind of fighter. Whoever can knock his opponent out or make him submit (tap out) is the winner. The referees generally do a good job of stopping a fight before someone gets seriously injured.

TOP PROMOTIONS

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC)

This is the top MMA promotion in America, and it is doing just about everything right these days. UFC is giving away a small dose of action on Spike TV with its occasional Fight Night specials, while hyping its big pay-per-view fights to the moon. Also, UFC has launched new stars with its popular reality show called The Ultimate Fighter, also on Spike TV.

The next pay-per-view is UFC 67: All or Nothing at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. The winner of the fourth season of The Ultimate Fighter, Travis Lutter, will get a title shot against middleweight champ Anderson Silva. That's another good thing about UFC. All of the weight classes are important - not just the heavyweights. UFC's last pay-per-view was an enormous success, as Chuck Liddell turned back the challenge of Tito Ortiz for the light heavyweight title.

UFC is also touting the debuts of Mirko Cro Cop and Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, a pair of accomplished fighters who should provide UFC with big-money matches for the next few years. UFC will come back on March 3 with another pay-per-view in Columbus, Ohio. Tim Sylvia, Matt Hughes and Rich Franklin will compete on this show.

Pride Fighting Championships

The Japan-based group will present its next pay-per-view, Pride 33:The Second Coming on Feb. 24. "The Axe Murderer" Wanderlei Silva (now that's a nickname!) will defend his middleweight championship against "America's Best" Dan Henderson. The show will take place at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas.

International Fight League (IFL)

This is a team competition, with a best-of-five format. This the third season of competiton. The season began on Jan. 19 in Oakland, Calif. with Seattle vs. Southern California and Nevada vs. San Jose.

The next two IFL shows, which will each feature two team battles, will take place on feb 2 in Houston and Feb. 23 in Atlanta.

K-1

Like Pride, K-1 is a large Japanese group that airs its pay-per-views in the U.S. The last one, Dynamite 2006, took place on Dec. 31 and aired here on Jan. 12. In the main event, Yoshihiro Akiyama knocked out Kazushi Sakuraba.

Fightfest

This group runs in Ohio and is on TV every Friday night at 7:30 p.m. on SportsTime Ohio. I'm one of the announcers, along with Channel 19's Chuck Galeti, morning radio host Rover and martial arts trainer Steve Hindman. Our next show is at the Canton Civic Center on Feb. 3 with musical guest Drowning Pool.

WEIGHT CLASSES

Lightweight - 145

Middleweight - 155

Welterweight - 170

Light Heavyweight - 185

Heavyweight - 205

Super Heavyweight - 235

IMPORTANT HOLDS
Triangle Choke - Wrap your legs around your opponent's neck and choke him out.

Rear Naked Choke - Get behind your opponent and rear back on his windpipe.

Armbar - Hyperextend your opponents arm.

Anklelock - Grab your opponent's ankle and twist it.

BIG NAMES in ULTIMATE FIGHTING

Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic - The former Croatian policeman (hence the nickname) became a star in K-1 and Pride before joining the UFC in 2007.

Chuck Liddell - Probably the top star in UFC right now. The Iceman is the king of the UFC's very competitive light heavyweight division.

Tito Ortiz - Another dynamic UFC light heavyweight, he fell short in his attempt to dethrone Liddell on Dec. 30.

Georges St. Pierre, Matt Hughes and BJ Penn - These three have dominated the UFC's welterweight division.

Tim Sylvia - Won his first 12 fights and steamrolled his way to the UFC heavyweight champion.

Ken Shamrock - He was the first King of Pancrase in Japan and one of the top early stars of the UFC. He went on to have a strong stint in World Wrestling Entertainment. Shamrock attempted a one-shot comeback in 2006, but he lost to Ortiz.

Royce Gracie - Won the tournaments at UFC 1, 2 and 4. He popularized his family's style of Brazilian jiu-jitsu, which is still one of the most successful fighting styles in MMA today.

Pat Miletich - He was the first lightweight champion and is currently one of the IFL coaches.