UFC 74: Respect was a mixed martial arts (MMA) event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). The event took place on August 25, 2007 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The main event was a UFC heavyweight championship bout which featured UFC Heavyweight Champion Randy Couture defending his title against Gabriel Gonzaga, who knocked out Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipović at UFC 70 to become the number one contender.

Former UFC and TKO welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre, in his first fight since losing his title to Matt Serra at UFC 69, was matched up against The Ultimate Fighter's Josh Koscheck.

The card also featured former heavyweight champion Frank Mir against K-1 veteran Antoni Hardonk; The Ultimate Fighter 3's winner Kendall Grove; the UFC debut of PRIDE veteran Marcus Aurélio; The Ultimate Fighter 2 welterweight winner Joe Stevenson; and former light heavyweight challenger Renato Sobral.

Fighters were awarded $40,000 bonuses.

Christopher Nicholas Sarantakos (born December 19, 1967), better known by the stage name Criss Angel, is an American magician and illusionist. He is best known for starring in the television show, Criss Angel Mindfreak and his live performance illusion show Criss Angel Believe in artistic collaboration with Cirque du Soleil at the Luxor casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. Angel is also the creator of the MagicPlace.com.

Angel's childhood interest in magic grew as he aged and by the time he graduated from East Meadow High School, he decided to pursue a career as a professional magician instead of attending college as his parents wanted. Angel is of Greek descent.

Criss Angel was the creator, director, and executive producer of the A&E Network show Criss Angel Mindfreak. Seasons 1 and 2 were filmed at The Aladdin in Las Vegas, with Season 3 at the Luxor Las Vegas. Premiering on July 20, 2005, the show's illusions have included walking on water, levitating, walking up the side of Luxor Hotel (in the light of 39 focused lamps that can be seen from space), floating between two buildings, causing a Lamborghini to disappear, surviving in an exploding C4 Crate, cutting himself in half in full view of an audience and getting run over by a steamroller while lying on a bed of broken glass. While making season 3 Angel was injured jumping out of a moving car and stopped production for 2 weeks.

Josh D. Koscheck (born November 30, 1977) is an American mixed martial artist from Waynesburg, Pennsylvania, a former collegiate wrestling champion and is currently fighting at welterweight for the Ultimate Fighting Championship. He made his debut with the organization on the first season of the reality television show, The Ultimate Fighter. Koscheck has fought for the company a record 19 times since 2005. Koscheck is often ranked among the top ten welterweights in the world by leading mixed martial arts publications. Sherdog currently ranks Koscheck at No. 7.

Josh Koscheck has a strong, well-documented base in collegiate wrestling, dating back to his years at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania, where he attended the university on an athletic scholarship. In 2001, during his Junior season, Koscheck won all 42 of his wrestling matches and went on to become the NCAA Division I Champion in the 174 lb weight class.

In addition to being a four-time NCAA Division I All-American (placing 4th, 2nd, 1st and 3rd respectively), Koscheck is a three-time recipient of the PSAC Wrestler of the Year award and earned the Eastern Wrestling League Achievement Award twice.

Jason L. Lambert (born September 23, 1977) is an American mixed martial artist from Victorville, California, who fought in the light heavyweight division for the Ultimate Fighting Championship prior to being released from the company. He fights out of North County Fight Club and is represented by NCFC Fight Management.

Lambert made his debut in the UFC at UFC 58: USA vs. Canada as a late replacement for The Ultimate Fighter 2 cast member Seth Petruzelli, who suffered a concussion while training and had to withdraw from the bout. Lambert's debut was successful, submitting his opponent, Rob MacDonald, early in the first round.

Lambert fought again at UFC 59, defeating Terry Martin by technical knockout at 2:37 of round two. This was a preliminary fight that did not air on the pay-per-view broadcast. His next fight, against Branden Lee Hinkle at Ultimate Fight Night 5, marked Lambert's third consecutive UFC victory. Despite this initial win streak, he was not seen on a live UFC pay-per-view broadcast until UFC 63, where he lost to Rashad Evans by knockout in the second round. At UFC 68, Lambert defeated veteran and former title challenger Renato "Babalu" Sobral in a stunning upset by second-round knockout.

Randy Duane Couture (pronounced /koʊˈtʊər/; born June 22, 1963) is an actor, retired American mixed martial artist, collegiate and Greco-Roman wrestler. During his tenures in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), Couture became a three-time UFC Heavyweight Champion, two-time UFC Light Heavyweight Champion, an Interim UFC Light Heavyweight Champion, and was the UFC 13 Heavyweight Tournament Winner. Couture is the first fighter to hold two UFC championship titles in two different divisions (heavyweight and light heavyweight). Couture has competed in a record 15 title fights. He holds the most title reigns in the UFC with five. His last fight with Lyoto Machida marked his 24th fight in the UFC, the third most amount of fights in the UFC (Tito Ortiz is first with 26 and Matt Hughes is second with 25). Couture is one of the first members of the UFC Hall of Fame. He is the only person over the age of 40 to have won a UFC championship fight, having done so four times.^{[citation needed]}

Couture was an Olympic wrestling alternate and has lived in Corvallis, Oregon, throughout much of his career, where he served as an assistant wrestling coach and a strength and conditioning coach for Oregon State University. He established Team Quest with Matt Lindland and Dan Henderson, a training camp for fighters, based out of Gresham, Oregon, and headed by coach Robert Folis. In 2005, Couture moved to Las Vegas, where he opened his own extensive chain of gyms under the name Xtreme Couture. He currently trains at his Las Vegas-based gym. Couture partnered with Bas Rutten in the opening of Legends Gym in Hollywood, California.