UFC 20: Battle for the Gold was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on May 7, 1999 at the Boutwell Auditorium in Birmingham, Alabama. The event was seen live on pay per view in the United States, and later released on home video.

UFC 20 was the final event of what the UFC called "The Road to the Heavyweight Title", a tournament of sorts spanning four events, held to determine the Heavyweight Champion after Randy Couture vacated the title (due to contract disputes with the UFC). Referees for the event were Mario Yamasaki (first time for UFC pay-per-view) and John McCarthy.

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

Anderson da Silva (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈɐ̃deʁsõ ˈsiwvɐ]; born April 14, 1975) is a Brazilian mixed martial artist. He is the current UFC Middleweight Champion and the promotion's longest reigning champion. With 14 consecutive wins and 9 title defenses, Silva holds the longest winning streak and title defense streak in UFC history.

Silva is ranked as the number one Middleweight in the world by multiple publications, and is the consensus No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world according to ESPN, Sherdog, Yahoo! Sports, MMAFighting.com and other publications. UFC president Dana White has proclaimed Silva as "the greatest mixed martial artist ever."^{[undue weight? – discuss]} Silva is also the last Cage Rage Middleweight Champion and a former Shooto Middleweight Champion. Besides the UFC and Cage Rage, Silva has fought for a number of other MMA promotions including the Pride Fighting Championships, Shooto and Rumble on the Rock.

Although known primarily for his mastery of Muay Thai striking, Silva is also a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu blackbelt, a rank he earned in 2006 from Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira who follows Gracie Lineage through Carlson Gracie, like Murilo Bustamante and the Brazilian Top Team. He began martial arts training at the age of 14, training Tae kwon do and earning a black belt by the age of 18. He is also a black belt in Judo and a yellow rope in Capoeira.

Royce Gracie (Portuguese: [ˈʁɔjsi ˈɡɾejsi], English: /ˈrɔɪs ˈgreɪsiː/; born December 12, 1966) is a Brazilian professional mixed martial artist, a UFC Hall of Famer and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioner. A legend and pioneer in the sport of mixed martial arts, he is widely considered to be the most influential figure in the history of modern MMA.

Gracie gained fame for his domination in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. He became known for beating opponents much larger than he was, and between 1993 and 1994, he was the tournament winner of UFC 1, UFC 2, UFC 4, and fought to a draw with Ken Shamrock in the championship match in the Superfight at UFC 5. Gracie popularized Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and revolutionized mixed martial arts with his results contributing to the movement towards grappling and cross-training in the sport.

He holds the most submission victories in UFC history with 11, which he earned between UFC 1 and UFC 4.

Royce is a member of the Gracie family. He is the son of Hélio Gracie (Helio along with his older brother Carlos Gracie are the originators of Gracie Jiu-Jitsu—Modern Brazilian Jiu Jitsu) and spent his childhood in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. As a toddler, Gracie learned Jiu-Jitsu from his father and his older brothers Rorion, Relson, and Rickson Gracie. He began competing at the age of 8 and by the time he was 16 had attained the level of blue belt.

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.