UFC 19: Ultimate Young Guns was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on March 5, 1999 at the Casino Magic in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. The event was seen live on pay per view in the United States, and later released on home video.

UFC 19 featured the first appearance of collegiate wrestler Kevin Randleman, as well as the first televised appearance of former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion and Hall of Famer Chuck Liddell, who had fought at UFC 17 in an alternate untelevised bout.

In the main event, Guy Mezger fought Tito Ortiz in a rematch of their first fight in the finals of UFC 13, which Mezger won by submission. Ortiz was a late replacement for Vitor Belfort, who was scheduled to face Mezger but was forced to withdraw. The post-fight disrespect shown by Tito Ortiz to Guy Mezger and the Lion's Den led to the long-running rivalry between Ortiz and Lion's Den leader Ken Shamrock.

UFC 19 was part three of what the UFC called "The Road To The Heavyweight Title", a four-part tournament of sorts, held to determine the Heavyweight Champion after the title was vacated by Randy Couture. It was determined that the winner of Kevin Randleman vs. Maurice Smith would face Bas Rutten at UFC 20 for the Undisputed UFC Heavyweight Championship Title.

Vítor Vieira Belfort (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈvitoʁ viˈejɾɐ bɛwˈfɔʁ]; born April 1, 1977) is a Brazilian mixed martial artist and former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion. Belfort was born in Rio de Janeiro and studied jiu-jitsu with the Gracie family, namely Carlson Gracie. He received a black belt under Carlson and currently trains with Xtreme Couture, fighting in the middleweight division. He is currently ranked as the #3 middleweight in the world by MMA Weekly.

Vítor was born on April 1, 1977 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to a French father and a Greek mother. Belfort is married to Joana Prado and together they have three children, a son named Davi (born February 5, 2005), a daughter named Victoria (born October 31, 2007), and a daughter named Kyara (born June 7, 2009).

Belfort also had a small part in a reality show on Brazilian television and appeared next to his wife when she was photographed for the Brazilian edition of Playboy.

On January 9, 2004, Vítor's sister, Priscila Belfort disappeared and the relatives received no information about her. In August 2007, a woman (identified as Elaine Paiva) confessed that she participated in her kidnapping and killing and that she was kidnapped to pay off a four thousand dollar debt Paiva had with drug dealers. Paiva was arrested along with three others alleged to be involved in the kidnapping. The group allegedly buried her body in the woods in Rio de Janeiro where police conducted searches but her remains have never been found. Her family however do not accept this version and believe that Priscila is still alive somewhere. Vítor still maintains a missing sign in the Brazilian version of his website.

Joseph James "Joe" Rogan (born August 11, 1967) is an American martial artist, stand-up comedian, actor, writer and color commentator. He is best known for playing Joe Garrelli on the NBC sitcom NewsRadio, commentating for the Ultimate Fighting Championship, hosting the NBC reality show Fear Factor and The Joe Rogan Experience podcast.

Rogan was born in Newark, New Jersey. His paternal grandfather was Irish and the remainder of his ancestry is Italian.

In 1981, at age fourteen, he became a practitioner of Kenpo Karate before transitioning to Taekwondo. He eventually gained a 2nd dan black belt. A four-time state champion in Massachusetts, in 1987 he was the USA Taekwondo U.S. Open Champion. In 1996, he began training in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu under Jean Jacques Machado, eventually earning his brown belt. In addition, he holds a brown belt in 10th Planet Jiu-Jitsu under Eddie Bravo.

He also practiced and competed in kickboxing.

In 1994, he co-starred on the Fox comedy Hardball as Frank Valente, the young, ego-centric star player on a fictional professional baseball team. From 1995 to 1999, he co-starred on the comedy NewsRadio. He portrayed Joe Garrelli, the electrician at WNYX, a news radio station in New York City. In 2002, he appeared on the episode "A Beautiful Mind" of Just Shoot Me as Chris, Maya Gallo's boyfriend. In 2011, Rogan played his first major character in a movie in the Kevin James movie Zookeeper. He is slated to play himself in an upcoming action-comedy starring Kevin James called Here Comes the Boom, set to be released in the summer of 2012.

Cain Velasquez Ramirez (born July 28, 1982) is a Mexican American mixed martial artist fighting in the Ultimate Fighting Championship where he is a former UFC Heavyweight Champion. He is a two-time All-American collegiate wrestler from Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona, and a Junior College National Champ at Iowa Central Community College. He is a two-time 5A state champion in Arizona, compiling a record of 110–10 for Kofa High School in Yuma, Arizona. Cain Velasquez is ranked #2 in the heavyweight division.

Velasquez, a Mexican American, was born on July 28, 1982 in Salinas, California to Efrain and Isabel Velasquez. Velasquez's father, Efrain, came from Mexico to the United States illegally. Efrain met his wife Isabel, married her, and gained US citizenship. Velasquez has two siblings, Efrain, Jr., and Adela. He was raised in Yuma, Arizona. He graduated from Kofa High School, where he compiled a record of 110–10 in four years of wrestling, including winning the 5A Arizona Wrestling Championship twice. Velasquez also played football for three years. As a senior, he served as Captain of both his wrestling and football teams.

Junior dos Santos Almeida (Brazilian Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈʒũnjoʁ dus ˈsɐ̃tus]), also known as Junior Cigano ("Gipsy"; born September 12, 1984), is a Brazilian professional mixed martial artist and the current UFC Heavyweight Champion. He is ranked as the number one heavyweight fighter in the world by numerous media outlets.

Dos Santos started training Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu under Yuri Carlton for fitness reasons. After some time he was invited to join an MMA practice, where he met his boxing coach Luiz Carlos Dórea, and after roughly a year he made his debut fight.

Dos Santos became professional in 2006 at the age of 21. He fought in small promotions in Brazil, such as Demo Fight, Extreme Fighting Championship, Minotauro Fights and Mo Team League. He won 6 out of his first 7 bouts, suffering his only loss to Joaquim Ferreira, a fighter he'd previously beaten.

Dos Santos debuted for the UFC on October 25, 2008 at UFC 90. Considered a major underdog, dos Santos knocked out top contender Fabricio Werdum at a minute and twenty-one seconds of the first round with a strong uppercut, earning himself a "Knockout of the Night" award.