UFC 16: Battle in the Bayou was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on March 13, 1998 in New Orleans, Louisiana. The event was seen live on pay per view in the United States, and later released on home video.

UFC 16 featured the first ever UFC Lightweight tournament (for fighters under 170 lb), as well as a Middleweight Championship bout, a Heavyweight and a Middleweight Superfight, and two alternate bouts in case of tournament injury.

UFC 16 marked the first appearance of the influential fighter Pat Miletich, who would go on to create Miletich Fighting Systems. Tank Abbott is a guest commentator for the Heavyweight Superfight.

The Middleweight Championship bout, was billed to be champion Frank Shamrock's biggest test, in Battlecade star, Igor Zinoviev. This would end up being the final match of Zinoviev's career, as he suffered a career-ending collarbone injury from Shamrock's victorious KO slam.

Kimo Leopoldo returned to the UFC at UFC 16 and fought top Japanese fighter Tsuyoshi Kohsaka. Kimo dominated the first portion of the fight but began to fatigue and eventually lost the fight by decision. He did not carry the cross into the ring this time like he did at UFC 3.

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.

Geghard Movsesian (Armenian: Գեղարդ Մովսեսյան, August 1, 1985 - ), better known as Gegard Mousasi, is an Armenian mixed martial artist and kickboxer. He is fighting out of Team Jurojin in Leiden, Netherlands and is a member of Russian Red Devil Sport Club and Netherlands' Golden Glory. He is the current Dream Light Heavyweight champion, former Dream Middleweight Champion, Cage Warriors Middleweight Champion and the former Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Champion. Mousasi is currently ranked as the #8 light heavyweight fighter in the world by MMAWeekly.

In February 2010, Mousasi left M-1 Global Management. Mousasi was quoted as saying "After careful consideration, I have decided that it is in my best interest to part ways with M-1 Global," Mousasi wrote in the e-mail. "During the time I spent under their wing, M-1 Global, as a promoter and management company, allowed me to achieve many great things. I appreciate all they have done for me. My management is being taken care of by someone close to me."

Jahmal Ara 'Johny' Hendricks (born September 12, 1983) is an American mixed martial artist and an accomplished former collegiate wrestler. He currently fights in the Ultimate Fighting Championship's Welterweight division. As of March 2012, Hendricks is ranked as the #4 welterweight fighter in the world by Sherdog.

While competing for Oklahoma State University, Hendricks won the 2005 and 2006 NCAA Division I wrestling title at 165-pounds, and he finished second in 2007 after falling to Mark Perry from the University of Iowa. The loss to Perry was Hendricks' only one suffered during his senior year at OSU, during which he had compiled a 56-0 record coming into the bout.

In addition to his two national championships, Hendricks was a 4-time All-American at OSU and a three-time Big 12 Conference champion (2005, 2006 & 2007). During his high school wrestling career at Edmond Memorial High School, Hendricks won three Oklahoma state titles and the 160-pound high school national championship.

After graduating from OSU in 2007, Hendricks moved to Las Vegas and signed with Team TakeDown, along with two other former OSU wrestlers, Shane Roller and Jake Rosholt. Hendricks began training for an MMA career and made his professional MMA debut on September 28, 2007, in which he scored a third round TKO (punches) over Victor Ratcliff at Masters of the Cage 16 from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Hendricks fought once more in 2007, and defeated Spencer Cowley with a second round TKO (punches) at Snakebite Fight Night from Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Robert Glen "Robbie" Lawler (born March 20, 1982) is an American mixed martial artist Lawler was the EliteXC middleweight champion before EliteXC filed for bankruptcy. Lawler has recently signed with Strikeforce. He is a member of Team Hughes fighting out of H.I.T. Squad, a Granite City, Illinois gym, which he co-owns with teammate and former UFC welterweight champion Matt Hughes. MMAWeekly ranks Lawler as the #8 middleweight in the world.

On March 31, 2007, he fought Frank Trigg for the ICON Sport middleweight championship and won by KO in the fourth round. On September 15, 2007, he fought PRIDE Fighting Championships veteran Murilo "Ninja" Rua for the EliteXC middleweight championship and won by TKO in the third round.

Lawler was scheduled to fight Hawaii's Kala Hose for the ICON Sport Middleweight Championship on December 15, 2007 in Honolulu, Hawaii, he however pulled out of the fight due to an injury. Icon Sport stripped Lawler of the middleweight title on February 9, 2008 for failing to defend the title.