UFC 30: Battle on the Boardwalk was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship at the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, New Jersey on February 23, 2001. UFC 30 was also the first UFC event since UFC 22 to see a home video release.

The card was headlined by two Title Bouts, a Middleweight Championship Bout between Tito Ortiz and Evan Tanner, and the first UFC Bantamweight Championship Bout between Jens Pulver and Caol Uno. Following UFC 31, Bantamweight was renamed "Lightweight" under the new Unified Rules of Combat, defined by the Nevada State Athletic Commission. Bantamweight fighters would not again appear in the UFC until after the UFC-WEC merger in 2011. The event featured the first UFC appearances of Phil Baroni, Sean Sherk and Elvis Sinosic.

UFC 30 marked a major turning point for the UFC, as it was the first UFC event held by new owners Zuffa LLC. Headed by Station Casinos owners Frank and Lorenzo Ferttita, and managed by Dana White, Zuffa acquired the UFC in January 2001 from former owners SEG, who were on the brink of bankruptcy.

Lyoto Carvalho Machida (Portuguese pronunciation: [liˈotu maˈʃidɐ]; born May 30, 1978) is a Japanese-Brazilian mixed martial artist from Salvador, Bahia, Brazil who fights as a light heavyweight in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. He is a former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion and is currently ranked as the #6 light heavyweight fighter in the world by Sherdog, MMAWeekly and Yahoo! Sports.

Machida was born in the city of Salvador as the third son of the highly ranked head of the Brazilian branch of the Japan Karate Association, Shotokan karate master Yoshizo Machida. Yoshizo moved to Brazil from Japan when he was 22 years old. There he met and married Lyoto's mother, Ana Claudia. Growing up in Belém, Lyoto began training in karate at the age of three and earned his black belt at the age of thirteen. He also began training in sumo at twelve and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu at fifteen. He won a number of amateur karate tournaments, including the 2001 Pan American Karate tournament.

He was the runner-up in the 2000 Brazilian Sumo Championships in the 115 kg division. As an adult, he became Brazilian Champion twice under Taylor Swanson, and placed second in the South American Championship. He defeated American black belt Jiu-Jitsu fighter Rafael Lovato Jr. at L.A. Sub X. In addition to his sumo and karate achievements, he has a college degree in Physical Education. Lyoto's brother, Chinzô, is a Shotokan vice-champion (Australia 2006), losing only to number-one ranked Shotokan master Koji Ogata. Lyoto and Chinzô fought in a Karate Final 10 years ago in which Lyoto gave Chinzô a cheek scar that still exists today. His other brothers include Kenzo Machida, a TV journalist for one of Brazil's biggest TV stations, Take Machida and adopted brother Francisco Machida.

Michael Gavin Joseph Bisping (born 28 February 1979) is an English mixed martial artist. He fights in the middleweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship and is the former Cage Warriors Fighting Championship Light Heavyweight Champion, former Cage Rage Light Heavyweight Champion and The Ultimate Fighter 3 Light Heavyweight Tournament winner. As of March 2012, Bisping is ranked the No. 4 middleweight in the world by Sherdog.

Bisping was born in manchester UK in 1979, but moved to Bridlington, East Yorkshire, England when he was a child. Taking an early interest in martial arts, Bisping began training in a traditional form of jiu-jitsu known as Yawara Ryu under Paul Lloyd Davies when he was 8 years old. In 1994, at the age of 15, Bisping competed as an amateur in England's first "no holds barred" competition, a precursor to modern MMA, called Knock Down Sport Budo (KSBO), organised by Davies.

At the age of 18, Bisping decided to abandon his martial arts training in order "to pursue real life". But less than a year later Bisping began training kickboxing and karate on the advice of Alan Clarking, owner of Black Knights gym, who saw potential in the young fighter. Bisping enjoyed a short, but successful kickboxing career, winning the North West Area title and later the Pro British light heavyweight kickboxing title. After again briefly quitting competition in 1998, Bisping returned to kickboxing to take the Pro British light heavyweight title for a second time. Soon after winning his second kickboxing title, Bisping was forced to abandon his full-time training for a "real job". Bisping worked in factories, slaughterhouses, as an upholsterer, a postman, a tiler, a plasterer, a double-glazing door salesman,production line operative making barbecues at Rectella in Clitheroe and also a relatively successful DJ around the north-west club scene.

Alessio Sakara (born September 2, 1981) is an Italian mixed martial artist and boxer, who currently competes in the Ultimate Fighting Championship's Middleweight Division. Sakara is also a Former World Junior Boxing Contender. He holds notable wins over Elvis Sinosic, Thales Leites, James Irvin.

Sakara was born in Rome on September 2, 1981. When Sakara was five he began to play soccer as a midfielder. Sakara began training in boxing at the age of 11, and at 18 he began training with Roberto Almeida in Brazilian jiu-jitsu. Before becoming a mixed martial arts fighter Sakara competed both as an amateur and professional boxer.

In 2008 he signed with American Top Team in Coconut Creek, Florida. Due to his boxing background, Sakara is primarily a striker.

Sakara was on the Undercard at UFC 55: Fury fighting against Ron Faircloth. The bout was ruled a No Contest due to an inside leg kick to Sakara's groin. Sakara was part of UFC 80 in Newcastle, England, where he won via TKO in the first round against veteran James Lee. Following his victory over Lee, Sakara announced that he would be moving down to the middleweight division. Sakara lost by TKO to middleweight Chris Leben at UFC 82.

Ronda Rousey (born February 1, 1987) is an American judoka and mixed martial artist and the current Strikeforce Women's Bantamweight Champion. She has finished all of her opponents by armbar in the first round. She formerly trained at the Olympic Training Center in Wakefield, Massachusetts under guidance of Jimmy Pedro and is now part of Team Hayastan in Santa Monica, California.

Rousey trains under Gokor Chivichyan and Edmond Tarverdyan of the Glendale Fighting Club in Glendale, CA. Rousey also trains with Leo Frincu and Gene Lebell, along with Team Hayastan fighters such as Manny Gamburyan, Karen Darabedyan, Sako Chivitchian and Sevak Magakian. She is managed by Darin Harvey of Fight Tribe MMA.

Rousey is currently the #1-ranked pound-for-pound female MMA fighter in the world by MMARising.com, and is ranked #1 at 135 pounds and #2 at 145 pounds according to the Unified Women's MMA Rankings.

At just 17, Rousey qualified for the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, becoming the youngest judo player in the entire Games. Also in 2004, Rousey won a gold medal at the 2004 World Junior Judo Championships in Budapest, Hungary.