The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is the largest Mixed Martial Arts promotion company in the world, which hosts most of the top-ranked fighters in the sport and produces events worldwide. Based in the United States, the UFC has eight weight divisions and enforces the Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts.Dana White serves as the president of the UFC while Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta control the UFC's parent company, Zuffa, LLC.

The first UFC event was held in 1993 in Denver, Colorado. The purpose of the event was to identify the most effective martial art in a real fight between competitors of different fighting disciplines, including Boxing, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Tae Kwon Do, Wrestling, Muay Thai, Karate and other styles. In subsequent competitions, fighters ventured outside their base style to utilize effective techniques from other disciplines, which indirectly helped create an entirely separate style of fighting known as present-day mixed martial arts.

With a cable-television deal and expansion into Canada, Europe, Australia the Middle East,Asia and new markets within the United States, the UFC as of 2011^[update] has gained in popularity, along with greater mainstream-media coverage. As of 2001^[update] viewers can access UFC programming on pay-per-view television in the U.S., Brazil, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Italy. UFC programming can also be found on FX, Fuel TV, and Fox in the U.S., on ESPN in the United Kingdom and Ireland, as well as in 150 countries and 22 different languages worldwide. UFC also carries a mobile site for on-the-go users and a Sports Bars page for fans to find places showing the pay-per-view. It is also available on the Roku streaming player.

Joseph Rolando Benavidez (born July 31, 1984) is an American mixed martial artist. After fighting in smaller shows while working as a screen printer in Las Cruces, New Mexico, he joined up with Urijah Faber's Team Alpha Male in 2007. He has since fought in Dream and most recently the World Extreme Cagefighting promotion. He currently fights as a flyweight in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. His fighting style has drawn comparisons to training partner and former WEC Featherweight Champion Urijah Faber.He is currently the #2 ranked flyweight in the world by Sherdog.

Benavidez attended Las Cruces High School where he played varsity football, winning two State Championships, and wrestled varsity for 4 years (1999–2002). In 2000 Benavidez became the State Wrestling Champion of New Mexico at 103 lbs during his sophomore year. Benavidez also wrestled one year (2001–02) at William Penn University in Iowa before moving back to Las Cruces, New Mexico.

Benavidez has been competing for several years in mixed martial arts. The exact number of underground or unsanctioned fights he participated in is unknown, but he was undefeated in all of his professional fights until his first loss to Dominick Cruz via decision in 2009. The fight turned out to be a #1 contenders match for the WEC Bantamweight (135 lb) Title. His next fight was on March 6, 2010 at WEC 47 where he defeated his opponent former WEC Bantamweight champion Miguel Torres, who dominated the division with 17 consecutive wins. Both Benavidez's first loss and Torres loss of the Bantamweight title occurred on August 9, 2009 at WEC 42. Benavidez's next fight was at WEC 52 where he submitted world renowned submission specialist Wagnney Fabiano in the second round via guillotine choke. Benavidez has used Ted Nugent's "Stranglehold" (or a similar version of the song) as his entrance music throughout his career, which alludes to his preferred method of finishing a fight.

Jon Tucker is a Canadian screenwriter, film maker and journalist and was named "Best Local Filmmaker" by the Montreal Mirror in 2000. Tucker is a graduate of the Canadian Film Centre, produced plays for the Montreal Fringe Festival, and worked as co-screenwriter for the Showcase situation-comedy The Foundation. Tucker currently performs script coverage for Movie Central.^{[citation needed]}

Tucker has also written book and film reviews for the Montreal Mirror, Hour and Vice. In 2012, Tucker published his debut novel, Putz of the Century with Fast Hands Press.

Since 2004, Tucker has made regular appearances on CBC Radio One's comedy program WireTap.

Chris Vincent Cariaso (born May 27, 1981) is an American mixed martial artist who currently competes as a bantamweight in the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

Since turning professional in 2006, Cariaso has competed in several organizations, obtaining wins in large MMA promotions such as Strikeforce and EliteXC, with all of his fights taking place in his native Northern California.

Cariaso made his WEC debut against Rafael Rebello on June 20, 2010 at WEC 49. He won the fight via unanimous decision.

Cariaso next faced Renan Barão on December 16, 2010 at WEC 53. He lost via submission in the first round.

On October 28, 2010, World Extreme Cagefighting merged with the Ultimate Fighting Championship. As part of the merger, all WEC fighters were transferred to the UFC.

In his first UFC fight, Cariaso faced Will Campuzano on January 22, 2011 at UFC Fight Night 23. He won the fight via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28).

Cariaso was expected to face Norifumi Yamamoto on May 28, 2011 at UFC 130. However, Yamamoto was forced out of the bout with an injury and replaced by Michael McDonald. Cariaso lost a hard fought decision to McDonald.

Eddie Alvarez is an American mixed martial artist, and former Bellator Fighting Championships lightweight champion. Alvarez also competes for the Japanese DREAM promotion, and fought once for ProElite's EliteXC promotion. On his way to proclaiming himself the best lightweight outside of the UFC, Alvarez has beaten the likes of Roger Huerta, Josh Neer, Pat Curran, Toby Imada, Shinya Aoki, Joachim Hansen and Tatsuya Kawajiri.

Of Puerto Rican and Irish descent, Alvarez was born and raised in Kensington, Philadelphia, a rough neighborhood with a reputation for violent crimes and an abundance of street narcotics.

Known in MMA for his boxing prowess, Alvarez was a wrestler at Northeast Catholic High School. He was a two-time National Prep All-American, and placed 6th in both 2000 and 2001 at the National Prep School Wrestling Championships in the 145 lb weight class. After high school, Alvarez immediately pursued a professional career in MMA with his first fight coming after only eight months of formal training.