Matthew John Serra (born June 2, 1974) is an American mixed martial artist and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt. He is a former UFC Welterweight Champion and an ADCC Submission Wrestling World Championship silver medalist. He began practicing martial arts at an early age, first studying kung fu. In the 1990s, he began studying Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu under Renzo Gracie and on May 23, 2000 he obtained his black belt, the first American to do so under Gracie. He is one of only two people in MMA to defeat Georges St-Pierre, the other being UFC Hall of Famer Matt Hughes.

Serra won first place at the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Pan American games in 1999 and won third place at the 1999 World Championships in Brazil as a brown belt. Continuing his Martial Arts career, he competed in the ADCC Submission Wrestling World Championship choking out Takanori Gomi, winning a decision over Jean-Jacques Machado, and placing 2nd in the 66–76 kg division. Serra was invited to compete in Pride 9 against Johil de Oliveira but the bout was called off at the last minute when Oliveira was burned in a pyrotechnics accident backstage. Soon after, Matt began to compete in the UFC organization where he built up a record of four wins and four losses. One of the losses was a close decision fight with future Welter and Lightweight champ B.J. Penn which would have earned him a title shot in the failed Lightweight tournament.

Forrest Griffin (born July 1, 1979) is an American mixed martial artist. Since 2005, he has been signed to the Ultimate Fighting Championship where he is a former UFC light heavyweight champion.

Griffin, a former Georgia police officer, first rose to prominence after winning the first season of The Ultimate Fighter. In the tournament finals, he fought and defeated Stephan Bonnar in an exciting brawl that is widely credited as sparking the current success of the UFC. He went on to serve as a coach on the 7th season of the reality series opposite Quinton Jackson, whom he later defeated at UFC 86 to become the Undisputed UFC Light Heavyweight Champion. He and Rashad Evans are the only fighters to go from winning The Ultimate Fighter to winning the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship.

Griffin graduated from Evans High School in Evans, Georgia, a suburb of Augusta. He then graduated with an A.B. in Political Science from the University of Georgia. While attending school, Griffin served as a law enforcement officer for the Richmond County Sheriff's Office in Augusta, Georgia. He also served as a patrol officer with the University of Georgia Police.

Chael Patrick Sonnen (pronounced /ˈtʃeɪl ˈsʌnən/; born April 3, 1977) is an American mixed martial artist who competes as a middleweight in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. He was an NCAA Division I All-American wrestler at the University of Oregon, a silver medalist at the 2000 Greco-Roman World University Championships, as well as a two-time Dave Schultz Memorial International Greco-Roman winner.

As of October 2011^[update], Sonnen is ranked as the No. 2 middleweight in the world by Sherdog.

Sonnen was born Chael Patrick Sonnen on April 3, 1977 in West Linn, Oregon.

Sonnen started his MMA career at the age of 19 in 1997 by defeating Ben Hailey in Vancouver, Washington. His second fight was against future ICON Sport Middleweight Champion and Strikeforce Middleweight contender Jason "Mayhem" Miller. Sonnen went 6–0 in his first six fights, until his loss to Trevor Prangley, which he later avenged in 2006 at UFC Ultimate Fight Night 4. He also fought The Ultimate Fighter winner and former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Forrest Griffin.

Chris Weidman (born June 17, 1984) is an American mixed martial artist and former collegiate wrestler. He is currently signed as a Middleweight with the UFC. Weidman attended Baldwin high school on Long Island where he was a Nassau County and New York State wrestling Champion. Weidman earned All-American wrestling honors at NCC before transferring to Hofstra where he became a Two-Time Division I All-American, placing 3rd at the NCAA tournament his senior year. Weidman graduated from Hofstra University with a Bachelor's Degree in Psychology.

Weidman trains and competes as part of the Serra-Longo Fight Team under the tutelage of Ray Longo and Matt Serra; Weidman currently competes in the middleweight division. In just his 3rd fight, Weidman fought a highly touted Uriah Hall for the Ring of Combat middleweight title in what was billed as a striker vs wrestler matchup; Weidman showed his striking prowess by knocking Hall out in dramatic fashion. Weidman qualified for and competed at the 2009 ADCC Submission Wrestling World Championship (with just 1 year of formal Jiu-Jitsu training) in Barcelona where he lost to world renowned Jiu-Jitsu practitioner André Galvão. As of 2010, multiple MMA ranking panels had Weidman ranked as high as the #1 ranked prospect in the world at 185 lbs. Weidman was also listed as the number one prospect in all of MMA in the 2011 Top 50 Prospects piece put out by MMARanked.com