Regardless of all the criticism Matt Hughes has received lately, you really have to hand it to him this time. Basically the UFC offered Hughes a number of fights and he decided to pick the number one dog out of the list, Georges St. Pierre. No, that was not a typo. YES, Matt Hughes asked [...]

Matt Hughes isn’t such a bad guy after all.  The former Welterweight Champion was all class when he responded to Serra’s withdrawal from UFC 79.  Seems like Hughes is taking this very professionally and is patiently waiting to see what plans the UFC has in store for him.  Here’s Hughes’ reaction taken from his official [...]

Just earlier we posted that in a new interview, Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou stated that he will be competing in a “cage” on “Dec. 29th in Vegas.”  By the process of simple deduction, the only mixed martial arts event scheduled for December 29th in Las Vegas happens to be UFC 79: Nemesis.  Ryoto “Lyoto” Machida was [...]

The UFC’s future on television has been in the news lately with the collapse of negotiations with HBO, reports of a $100 million Spike extension in the works, and Dana White’s statement that the company is “going to make another big announcement about (TV) that is going to blow people away.” Speculation is widespread that [...]

Randy Couture appeared via phone on last night’s edition of Sports Center on ESPN. Audio of the segment is available here. Couture largely repeated his previous statements, however, he did expand his critique of the UFC’s management, saying “I think there are a lot of other fighters maybe a little further down in stature in [...]

Yesterday Xyience announced a $12 million dollar funding effort as well as a three year extension of its exclusive sponsorship with the UFC. Xenergy is the official energy drink of the UFC. Quotes from the key players:
“XYIENCE has been a long time sponsor of the UFC(R) and we look forward to our future endeavors together [...]

Rolling Stone’s 2007 Hot List is on news stands now. The UFC’s own Quinton “Rampage” Jackson makes an appearance as the year’s hottest pugilist:
Quinton “Rampage” Jackson’s first bout was in kindergarten. “A kid broke my Hot Wheel, so I decided to break off my foot in his ass,” recalls Jackson, 29. “I won. I don’t [...]

Last night’s episode of The Ultimate Fighter 6: “Team Hughes vs. Team Serra” did a 1.2 rating, up from a 1.1 rating last week. The show appears to be building some momentum with two straight weeks of growth.
For more coverage of the sixth season of The Ultimate Fighter check out these articles:

Episode 1 Recap
Episode 2 [...]

October 10, 2007 may be remembered as a historic day in the business of mixed martial-arts. Randy Couture has resigned from the UFC in a move that could prove to have lasting and far reaching effects. Couture’s resignation seems to be the first fruit of the growing tension between the UFC’s management and it’s top [...]

After consulting a pair of accounting professionals, we now have a better understanding of the actual financial structure in place at Zuffa as detailed in two separate Standard & Poor’s reports released this year. The company has secured two loans, totaling $350 million, which should provide a sound financial footing through at least 2015. Zuffa [...]

It’s easy to lose sight of the forest for the trees in the information age. So I thought I’d take a quick look at the big picture, where the industry was last year, where it is this year, and where it looks like its heading next year:

2006 – GROWTH – UFC buyrates triple; EliteXC, IFL, [...]

The honeymoon may be ending for the UFC and its top fighters. Dave Meltzer reported this week on two separate situations that suggest emerging tensions between Zuffa and its top stars. The first, touched on earlier this week, is the reliability of the pay-per-view estimates the company gives its top fighters. The second is the [...]

Forecasting the UFC’s pay-per-view revenue for the rest of the year is much more of an art than a science given the limited information that is available. It is believed that the company posted roughly 5,220,000 buys last year. Based on a 35 percent increase in buys through June 30 as compared to the same [...]

As a privately held company, Zuffa is under no public reporting obligations. As a result very little financial information is made public. The numbers that do see the light of day are carefully screened and released only when convenient to tout the growth and success of the UFC brand. As result the company’s financial status [...]