Donald Frye (born November 23, 1965) is an American mixed martial artist, professional wrestler, and actor. Frye rose to fame fighting in early Ultimate Fighting Championship events, winning the UFC 8 and Ultimate Ultimate 96 tournaments. He holds notable victories over Ken Shamrock, Gary Goodridge (2x), Tank Abbott, and Gilbert Yvel.

Don Frye began wrestling at Buena High School in Sierra Vista, Arizona then in college (for Arizona State) in 1984, where he was trained by fellow future Ultimate Fighting Championship legend, then assistant wrestling coach, Dan Severn. In 1987, he won the freestyle and Greco-Roman events during an Olympic qualifier. A year later, he transferred to Oklahoma State, where he encountered another future UFC star amongst his teammates: Randy Couture.

On August 28, 1989, Frye made his professional boxing debut against Luis Mora in Phoenix, Arizona and won via first round knock out. This was to be his final pro boxing bout.

In 1995, Frye helped train his old friend Dan Severn for the Ultimate Ultimate 1995, accompanying Severn's entourage to Denver. Severn returned the favour in 1996, when he acted as Frye's manager for UFC 8. Fighting three times in one night, Frye dispatched all of his opponents in just under a minute total, winning the tournament with relative ease. At this event Frye set the record, since broken by Duane Ludwig, for fastest KO in the UFC at just 8 seconds. However, due to the controversial nature of the event, Frye was barred from both firefighting, his previous occupation in Sierra Vista, Arizona, and from training in the Buena High School gym he had used since his ASU days. Along with Marco Ruas, Frye is considered one of the original "cross trained" MMA competitors who had a background in multiple disciplines. Along with his collegiate wrestling experience, Frye holds a 2nd degree black belt in Judo and a professional boxing record.

Gilbert Ramon Yvel (born June 30, 1976) is a Dutch light heavyweight mixed martial artist associated with the Vos Gym training camp in the Netherlands. He has competed in the Pride Fighting Championships, Affliction Entertainment and Ultimate Fighting Championship promotions. He holds notable wins over Tsuyoshi Kohsaka (2x), Gary Goodridge, Pedro Rizzo, Cheick Kongo, Valentijn Overeem(2x), Kiyoshi Tamura, and Semmy Schilt but is perhaps better known for his three blatant disqualifications in mixed martial arts competition.

Gilbert Yvel was one of the first Dutch fighters who successfully applied the Muay Thai striking style to mixed martial arts. Unlike many other Dutch MMA fighters, Yvel started out doing MMA from the onset, without transitioning from kickboxing or another striking art. Gilbert possesses an arsenal of strikes and kicks as befitting his Muay Thai training and is famous for his signature "flying knee" strike. In addition to his striking base, Yvel also holds a Brazilian jiu-jitsu purple belt under John Lewis. His grappling style is mainly defensive and he is often praised for his toughness and ability to do damage from the guard.

Cheick Guillaume Ouedraogo (born May 17, 1975), more commonly known as Cheick Kongo, is a professional French heavyweight mixed martial artist and kickboxer currently fighting in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. He currently trains with Quinton "Rampage" Jackson and formerly Michael Bisping at the Wolfslair MMA Academy, and holds notable wins over Mirko Filipović, Paul Buentello, Antoni Hardonk, Matt Mitrione, and Pat Barry. He is also the only fighter to have ever gone to a decision with former heavyweight champion, Cain Velasquez. Kongo is ranked the 10th best heavyweight in the world by ESPN.

Born to a Burkinabé father and a Congolese mother with his brother, Ben Millard, Kongo began training in martial arts when he was 5 years old, learning Kendo and Karate. As he grew older, he began to expand his repertoire and trained in Muay Thai, kickboxing and Greco-Roman wrestling. At age 19, he learned of Pencak Silat, an Indonesian martial art, and was coached by Charles Joussot, Franck Roppers and his brother Ben. He's also a cousin of rugby star Fulgence Ouedraogo, the French back-rower. Cheick is also a columnist for the French MMA magazine, Top Fight.

Yoshihiro Takayama (高山 善廣, Takayama Yoshihiro^?, born September 19, 1966) is a Japanese professional wrestler and mixed martial artist. Takayama is well known for his ability to endure massive amounts of punishment, especially after his fight at PRIDE 21 against Don Frye. He is the second of two men to hold all 3 of puroresu's major heavyweight titles (the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, the AJPW Triple Crown Championship, and the GHC Heavyweight Championship), the other being Kensuke Sasaki.

Takayama started in UWF International, but due to the focus of the promotion on star Nobuhiko Takada, he wasn't able to go past the mid-card level. In 1995-96, with the interpromotional feuds with New Japan Pro Wrestling and WAR, he formed the "Golden Cups" stable with Yoji Anjo and Kenichi Yamamoto to compete in tag team and six-man matches. In New Japan he and Anjo assumed masks as the "200% Machines" to mock "Super Strong Machine" Junji Hirata. In WAR, they feuded with Gedo, Jado and Hiromichi Fuyuki.

Brock Edward Lesnar (/ˈlɛznər/; born July 12, 1977) is an American professional wrestler, actor, former mixed martial artist and amateur wrestler, signed with WWE and appearing on its Raw brand. He is also a former UFC Heavyweight Champion and former #1 ranked mixed martial arts (MMA) Heavyweight by Sherdog; he was ranked #5 before he announced his retirement at the end of 2011. Lesnar is an accomplished amateur wrestler, winning the 2000 NCAA heavyweight wrestling championship and placing second in 1999, losing in the finals to 1999 world freestyle wrestling champion and future New England Patriots offensive lineman Stephen Neal.

He gained prominence in World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) from 2002 to 2004, where he is a former three-time WWE Champion, becoming the youngest WWE Champion at age 25 with his first reign. Lesnar was the 2002 King of the Ring and the winner of the 2003 Royal Rumble. After leaving WWE, Lesnar pursued a career in the NFL. He played during the preseason for the Minnesota Vikings, but ended up being a late cut. Lesnar returned to professional wrestling at the end of 2005, and joined New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW), where he won the IWGP Heavyweight Championship in his first match. He was officially stripped of the title by NJPW in July 2006, and took the physical belt with him to Inoki Genome Federation (IGF), where he was still recognized as IWGP Champion until June 2007.