Rich Franklin must despise the Nogueira brothers.

If not for their interference, reigning Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva might have retired before ever stepping foot inside the Octagon, where he demolished "Ace" in just his second fight under the ZUFFA banner.

"The Spider" explains to UFC Tonight:

"The Nogueira brothers are part of my family. I love t...

Eugene S. Robinson (the S. stands for something) hosts his MMA webcast, formerly of Combat Music Radio.

In this first edition of Knuckle Up: Apostate host Eugene S. Robinson flees the collapse of CombatMusicRadio.Com and joins Bloody Elbow in an effort to lower the quality of BOTH organizations simultaneously.

Eugene S. Robinson author of Fight: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Ass-Kick...

The UFC's annual Independence Day card will go down on July 6th in Las Vegas and like last year, the UFC middleweight title will be up for grabs in the main event. Champion Anderson Silva will defend his belt against top contender and undefeated Chris Weidman. Most of the other top-level bouts that have been added to the card so far are in the middleweight or featherweight divisions. Besides...

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Yesterday, Dave Melzter released a rumored list of the 16 female fighters selected for the upcoming co-ed season of The Ultimate Fighter. Though the cast list hasn't been confirmed by the UFC or FOX, it includes such well-known veterans as Tara LaRosa, Shayna Baszler, Tonya Evinger, Roxanne Modafferi, and up-and-coming talent like Jessamyn Duke, Colleen ...

Via Wrestling Observer (subscription only), Dave Meltzer has released what appears to be the rumored female cast for the upcoming season of 'The Ultimate Fighter.' UFC women's bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey will appear opposite Cat Zingano as the program's first ever female coaches. The pair will coach teams consisting of men and women, bantamweights all.

While Meltzer makes clear that this ...

Las Vegas, Nevada – The Ultimate Fighting Championship is once again taking over Fourth of July weekend in Las Vegas. The organization formally announced today that UFC® middleweight champion and undisputed pound-for-pound king Anderson Silva will return to the Octagon® on Saturday, July 6 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena to face undefeated No. 1 contender Chris Weidman. That’s not all: this week in...

Our sources are cited at the bottom of this post.

Rank Fighter Points Promotion Last Rank

1

Anderson Silva

225

UFC

1

2

Chris Weidman

212

UFC

2

3

Vitor Belfort

207

UFC

3

4

Yushin Okami

187

UFC

5

5

Michael Bisping

183

UFC

4

6

Luke Rockhold

168

UFC

6

7

Mark Munoz

161

UFC

8

8

Constantinos Philippou

159

UFC

9

9

Tim Boetsch

114

UFC

13

10

Ronaldo...

Chris Leben is no stranger to new beginnings. In July, he'll put his latest one to the test and so far, it seems to be working out just fine with a change in scenery at Alliance MMA in San Diego.

Event: UFC 162 : "Silva vs. Weidman"Date: Sat., July 6, 2013, at 10 p.m. ET on pay-per-view (PPV)Location: MGM Grand Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada

UFC 162 Main Event:

185 lbs.: UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva vs. Chris Weidman

UFC 162 Main Card Bouts On PPV (10 p.m. ET):

145 lbs.: Ricardo Lamas vs. Chan Sung Jung185 lbs.: Tim Boetsch vs. Mark Munoz145 lbs.: Frankie Edgar vs...

MMAjunkie.com Radio kicks off at noon ET (9 a.m. PT) with UFC fighters Pat Healy and Chris Leben, as well as cutman/in-studio guest host "Stitch" Duran.

Multiple upsets, two fight-ending eyepokes, one dislocated thumb, and one circus match-up of a main event. It's safe to say UFC 159 was a strange night.

In the end, UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones did exactly what he was supposed to, finishing Chael Sonnen via TKO with 27 seconds left in the first round to match Tito Ortiz's record of five successful 205-pound UFC title defenses. Yet in...

Two highly ranked middleweights will battle for supremacy this Saturday night (April 27, 2013) as Alan Belcher takes on Michael Bisping in the co-main event of UFC 159 in Newark, New Jersey.

Alan Belcher

Record: 18-7 overall, 9-7 in the UFC

Key Wins: Rousimar Palhares (UFC on Fox 3), Ed Herman (UFC Fight Night 15), Jason MacDonald (UFC Fight Night 25)

Key Losses: Yushin Okami 2x (UFC 155, UF...

Two top lightweight contenders from rival promotions will square off this Saturday night (April 27, 2013) as Jim Miller takes on Pat Healy in the opening bout of the UFC 159 main card in Newark, New Jersey.

Miller nearly was in position to vie for the title, but stumbled against current champion Ben Henderson and recent title challenger Nate Diaz along the way. He had a "Fight of the Year" candi...

Before Anderson Silva became one of the most dominant champions in UFC history, his rise to success was a bumpy one. Growing up as an impoverished youth in Brazil, Muay Thai was an outlet and a way to make money. It was only a matter of time before MMA caught his attention, and Silva began racking up wins in Brazilian Vale Tudo events. These humble beginnings led him to where he is today, wearing...

If everything stays intact, the UFC is going to hold a pretty damn good card on July 6th. UFC 162 is headlined by Anderson Silva's middleweight title defense against Chris Weidman, one year after Silva's last title defense against Chael Sonnen. The meat of the PPV is surely the three FW fights, particularly Ricardo Lamas against Chan Sung Jung and Cub Swanson vs. Dennis Siver.

The bout order isn...

Another Ultimate Fighter is in the books, and now we know who will be coaching against Ronda Rousey in the next season of the show. We also have an underdog TUF champion, a couple of bantamweight fighters that are in strange positions, and a bunch of middling middleweights that will get to fight at least once more in the UFC. We'll ignore the last item on this list though, and just concentrate on...

The UFC hosted their 17th finale for an Ultimate Fighter season this Saturday. It has been eight years since the dramatic first season, hosted by legends of the sport and filled with future title contenders. That provisional season had its problems, from fighters being eliminated due to Survivor style games rather than fighting, Sam Hoger being able to advance to the final four without actually f...

By Rich Hansen, MMA Torch Columnist

The Ultimate Fighter first aired in 2005. It was designed to save the UFC, and to create stars. And of course, it did both. And for several seasons, the show continued to create stars. Not just good fighters, but legitimate stars. Fighters from four of the first five seasons have fought for UFC gold, wi...

By: Dan Moore, MMATorch UK Contributor

One year after their first visit, the UFC returns to the Ericsson Globe Arena in Stockholm, Sweden, for UFC on FUEL 9 this weekend. After a whirlwind week that ultimately took Alexander Gustafsson out of the event, Gegard Mousasi now takes on Ilir Latifi in the main event on the night whilst our main even...

The Régie des alcools des courses et des jeux, Quebec's regulatory body, screened six of the 24 fighters who competed earlier this month at UFC 158. All six passed their post-fight drug tests.

Jonathan Tweedale, Nick Diaz's legal representative, confirmed on Thursday that Diaz was among the six fighters tested.

With step one now out of the way, Diaz's camp requested additional information from ...