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Heavy Weight Champion – Randy Couture * Technically a vacant title now

Randy Couture’s professional MMA career has been a series of title fights. His professional MMA debut was May 30th 1997 at UFC 13: Ultimate Force where he won the Heavy Weight Tournament. Later that year in UFC Japan: Ultimate Japan he wins the Heavy Weight title. After this title win he takes break from UFC over a contract dispute.

Eventually Couture returned to the octagon in November of 2000 to defeat Kevin Randleman at UFC 28: High Stakes for the Heavy Weight title. Randy Couture was again the Heavy Weight Champ and defended his title twice both times against Pedro Hizzo. After Hizzo, Couture lost two more times, both times with the title on the line.

After the two losses at heavy weight he dropped to light heavy weight and fought Chuck Liddell for the interim light heavy weight title and won. He defended against Tito Ortiz, but then Couture lost the in the very next title defense to Vitor Belfort because of a cut in the first 20 seconds of the fight. His next fight was against Belfort and he won his light heavy weight title again. In his first defense after Belfort he fought Liddell and was knocked out and Liddell became the new champion. After a victory against Mike van Arsdale he was again the number one contender. He fought Chuck Liddell for the title but lost and then retired in the ring after the fight.

A little more than a year later Randy Couture came out of retirement March 3, 2007 to fight the lackluster flop of a champion Tim Sylvia. He beat Tim Sylvia in a very impressive five round decision. He now reigns as the Heavy Weight Champion again and now waits to defend his title once again versus Gabriel Gonzaga.

Light Heavy Weight Champion – Quinton “Rampage” Jackson

Quinton “Rampage” Jackson’s UFC career is short, in fact it is only two fights deep including his shocking title win over Chuck Liddell. Most of his MMA career has been spent in Japan fighting in PRIDE. He is very well known and respected as one of the best in the PRIDE circles. What made his fights in the UFC so significant is that both of them were rematches.

Rampage Jackson’s first fight in the UFC was at UFC 67: All or Nothing. In this fight he fought Marvin Eastman. Eastman was Jackson’s 3rd MMA fight and first loss in his career back in 2003. Since that loss, as stated above, he went on to a very successful PRIDE career with notable wins over Chuck Liddell, Kevin Randleman and the spectacular power bomb slam knock out over Ricardo Arona. At UFC 67 Rampage got his chance for revenge against Eastman and got it when he knocked out Marvin in the second round.

After the successful debut the UFC setup the fight that everyone wanted to see including the two fighters, Rampage vs. Liddell 2. Liddell, up until UFC 71: Liddell vs. Jackson, had been on a tear beating everyone that stood in his way. In that time span he had avenged two of the three losses he had ever suffered, Jeremy Horn and Randy Couture. Unfortunately for Chuck Liddell, in his fight against Rampage he threw an ill-fated body shot at Rampage early in the first round and received a pin point right hook to the face in return from Jackson. Rampage pounced on an incoherent Liddell and solidified himself as the new UFC light heavy weight champion.

Rampage is now set to fight a fellow PRIDE superstar in the octagon, Dan Henderson. Dan Henderson is the Middle and Light Heavy Weight champion in PRIDE and is now thirsty for the UFC light heavy weight crown.

Middle Weight Champion – Anderson Silva

Anderson Silva’s rise in the UFC is similar to Rampage Jackson’s. His reputation and legitimacy as a fighter proceeded him as he entered the UFC. He debuted as an unknown to UFC fans against Chris Leben. In Silva’s debut he managed to stop the thick chinned Leben dead in his tracks after Leben’s five consecutive wins. Anderson Silva’s impeccable striking ability shone through and sent a clear message that he was an extremely tough and talented fighter.

His impressive debut and past credentials earned Anderson Silva a title shot in his very next fight against Rich Franklin. Rich Franklin returned from a vicious fight against David Loiseau, in which he broke his left hand. It is debatable whether or not Rich Franklin came back too soon, but it isn’t debatable how much Anderson Silva dominated Franklin to win the middle weight title. Anderson Silva locked Rich Franklin in a tight Thai clinch and knocked Franklin out while breaking Franklin’s nose. It was a stomach churning fight but proved that Silva deserved his quick title shot.

His next fight and first title defense was supposed to be against Ultimate Fighter winner Travis “The Quitter” Lutter, but Lutter “had a hard time getting motivated” and didn’t make weight. The fight was deemed a non-title fight and Anderson Silva beat the “Jiu-Jitsu expert” with a triangle choke and sent Travis Lutter into obscurity.

Anderson Silva now is to face Nate Marquardt at UFC 73: Stacked.

Welter Weight Champion – Matt Serra

It is surprising that Matt Serra is the current UFC welter weight champion. He is a very experienced fighter and has been fighting in the UFC every year to present since 2001. He is very strong in Jiu-Jitsu and wrestling and apparently has some decent power in his hands, just ask Georges St. Pierre. The reason why it is so surprising that he is the Champ is that he has struggled to beat anyone notable in the UFC until his most recent fight.

In all his major tests in the UFC he has failed. He has been beaten by Shonie Carter, Din Thomas, BJ Penn and Karo Parysian. With the exception of Yves Edwards those are all the notable people on his bout list up until St. Pierre. His legitimacy as a champion is unquestioned though. He really is a great fighter and is really tough. He showed up to fight against Georges St. Pierre at UFC 69: Shootout, and managed to catch GSP and achieve a life long goal of his, to win the UFC welter weight championship.

Dana White recently announced that Matt Serra and Matt Hughes are going to be coaches on the upcoming season of the Ultimate Fighter and will fight in the finale. I understood that to mean that that fight is going to be a title fight and Serra’s first title defense. Matt Serra has a big fight on his plate now if Matt Hughes is his next opponent and we will all see if he his ability to beat notable fighters is a staying one.

Light Weight Champion – Sean Sherk * Technically a vacant title now

Sean Sherk is a very experienced fighter but only has a handful of fights in the UFC spreading over almost 40 UFC pay-per-view events. His first UFC appearance was February 23, 2001 at UFC 30: Battle on the Boardwalk. He won this fight and then disappeared from the UFC for almost a year.

Sherk was busy in his time off winning fights, and when he returned, continued to do so in the UFC. He had victories in UFC 36: Worlds Collide and UFC 39: The Warriors Return. After those victories Sean Sherk was away from the UFC for another 7 months until he returned to face Matt Hughes at UFC 42: Sudden Impact and suffered his first loss. After the loss Sherk was away from the UFC for 2 years until he returned to face Georges St. Pierre at UFC 56: Full Force. Against St. Pierre he suffered his second loss.

After this loss Sherk came back to the UFC in his very next fight months later to face Nick Diaz. He defeated Nick Diaz in 2006 at UFC 59: Reality Check to get his first win in the UFC since 2002. At the end of 2006 in UFC 64: Unstoppable the light weight title was brought back and Sean Sherk dropped down to a more natural 155 lbs. and soundly beat up Kenny “Let Go” Florian despite a nasty cut on Sherk’s head and Florian holding the cage in desperate fear before Sean Sherk slammed him.

Sherk is now up to fight at UFC 73: Stacked to defend his title for the first time against a very skilled and heavy right handed Hermes Franca.