Marco Antônio de Lima Ruas (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈmaʁku ˈʁuɐs]; born January 23, 1961) is a retired mixed martial arts fighter and instructor. Most notably, he was the UFC 7 Tournament Champion and is considered one of the earliest examples of the complete mixed martial artist, highly skilled in both striking and grappling.

Ruas is famous for being the founder of Ruas Vale Tudo, a hybrid of Brazilian submission fighting and kickboxing. He also used to train in the art of capoeira with renowned Mestre Camisa in Rio de Janeiro at the Santa Luzia club, downtown Rio. He has instructed fighters such as Pedro Rizzo and Renato Sobral.

Some would regard him as one of the earliest pioneers of the now established MMA paradigm of a complete fighter - being able to strike, takedown and finish with submissions as his UFC 7 record indicates.

Ruas competed in early Ultimate Fighting Championship events, winning UFC 7 in a classic fight against 6'8", 330 lb Paul Varelans. He also faced down opponent Oleg Taktarov in UFC's Ultimate Ultimate, but lost via unanimous decision. Ruas would go on to a draw with Taktarov a year later, winning the WVC Super Fight belt in the process. He returned briefly to fight former heavyweight champion Maurice Smith in UFC 21, but lost by TKO. Ruas suffered an injury in the first round and could not continue.

Oleg Nikolaevich Taktarov (Russian: Оле́г Никола́евич Такта́ров; born August 26, 1967) is a retired Russian mixed martial artist and actor. He is a practitioner of Sambo and Judo and has competed in the Ultimate Fighting Championship and Pride Fighting Championships. Taktarov was the UFC 6 tournament champion and holds notable wins over Marco Ruas and David "Tank" Abbott. Taktarov is known for being exceptionally calm during fights and for using a variety of rarely seen, acrobatic Sambo take-downs. All of Taktarov's losses were by knockout or decision, Taktarov was never submitted in an MMA fight.

Taktarov was born in the closed city Arzamas-16 (today known as Sarov), USSR, before his family moved to Gorky, an industrial centre of Russia. Oleg’s father, a construction worker, wanted his son to become involved in sport, and so took him to a gymnasium at the nearby city of Sarov, with the intention of enrolling Oleg in ice hockey or weightlifting. But the twelve-year-old Taktarov had other ideas after observing athletes practicing judo. At first it appeared his father would have his way because the Sarov judo division had a policy of not accepting people from outside their city, but the instructor was impressed by the bright and well-mannered Oleg, and took him under his wing. "I liked judo and stuck with it. Then I found that there were similarities between judo and sambo (Russian unarmed self-defense system), and as Sarov was the only Sambo gymnasium specializing in leg locks, I decided to compete in both styles," says Taktarov.

Gary Goodridge (born January 17, 1966), nicknamed "Big Daddy", is a retired Canadian super heavyweight kickboxer and heavyweight mixed martial artist fighting out of Barrie, Ontario. Goodridge is known for his hard-hitting fighting style and showmanship. Prior to kickboxing and MMA, he was also one of the top ranked contenders in the world of professional arm wrestling.

Goodridge was born in Saint James, Trinidad and Tobago before moving to Barrie, Ontario, Canada. Prior to his career in combat sports, he worked as a welder at the Honda factory in Alliston, Ontario.

He was a world champion in arm wrestling, and was able to defeat the likes of greats Sharon Remez and John Brzenk in 1991 and again in 1994. He was also the super heavyweight amateur boxing champion of Canada.

In 1996, he was offered status of 4th degree black belt in kuk sool won, and a free dobak, if he would represent their school at the Ultimate Fighting Championship. He took two classes in kuk sool won before making his MMA debut in the eight-man tournament at UFC 8: David vs. Goliath in San Juan, Puerto Rico. In the quarter-finals, he faced wrestler Paul Herrera (whom Goodridge outweighed by nearly 80 lbs) and won in violent fashion by using a "goose neck", the only submission hold he had learned before the event. After Herrera attempted a fireman's carry, Goodridge trapped both of his arms in a crucifix hold and proceeded to deliver multiple elbow blows to the helpless Herrera's head, ending the bout in 13 seconds. The second elbow strike knocked Herrera unconscious, but the fight was not stopped until after Goodridge landed six more strikes. He then went on to faced Jerry Bohlander in the semis, and again won by knockout. In the finals, he took on future legend Don Frye who was trained in boxing, judo and wrestling. After Frye gained dominant position two minutes into the match, Goodridge submitted.

Steve Jennum (born c. 1961) is a retired American mixed martial artist and Nebraska police officer. He was the winner of the UFC 3 tournament in 1994.

Jennum entered the UFC 3 tournament as an alternate. Ken Shamrock made it to the finals of UFC 3 but withdrew. Jennum then stepped in as a replacement and subsequently won his fight, winning the tournament. Therefore, Jennum only needed one fight to win the UFC 3 tournament (normally a fighter would have had to participate in three matches to win). This anomaly prompted the UFC to change its rules, requiring alternates to win a preliminary fight to balance the advantage of being an alternate.

After UFC 3, Steve Jennum would go on to win only one more fight in his career, defeating Melton Bowen in UFC 4, who was 31-6 as a professional boxer going into the bout. Jennum performed a high profile O goshi hip throw on the boxer, much to the delight of the crowd, eventually forcing him to submit to a straight armbar. Jennum could not continue in UFC 4 due to swelling of his hands after hitting Bowen repeatedly in the head when Jennum was on full mount.

Carlson Gracie, Sr. (August 13, 1932 – February 1, 2006) was a practitioner of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. He was the eldest son of Carlos Gracie, founder of the system with his uncle Hélio Gracie, and learned the art from his uncle and his father. He was a member of the legendary Gracie family.

Carlson Gracie would later split from Hélio Gracie's group. He founded one of top mixed martial arts teams, which spawned many champions. In 2000, following a financial dispute, many of Carlson Gracie's students would split from him to form another MMA team, the Brazilian Top Team, which would remain respectful to the master.

Carlson fought a total of eighteen vale tudo fights, with only one loss to Euclides Pereira in a fight that was held in Bahia. His first fight was against Capoeira practitioner Luiz "Cirandinha" Aguiar in this March 17, 1953. Carlson won after over an hour of fighting. His second match was a draw against Wilson "Passarito" Oliveira in May 1953. Carlson had a rematch in March 1954 in the longest fight of his career, which he won in the fifth 30 minute round. Most notable are his four matches with Valdemar Santana, who had defeated his uncle Hélio Gracie in a fabled match in May 1955. He beat Santana in the first fight avenging his family. In October 1955 Carlson fought Santana to a draw in a Jiu-Jitsu match. In 1956 and 1957 Carlson won two fights and in 1959 they fought to a draw.