UFC 1 Lowlights and Highlights

I just watched YouTube footage of UFC 1, with former PKA champion kick boxer and movie star Bill "Superfoot" Wallace in the broadcast booth. Royce Gracie tapped out pro boxer Art Jimmerson, who looked a little out of his element being smothered by a Brazilian in a gi.

Wallace's botched introduction more than made up for it. Watch and enjoy as dinner makes a break for it at the 13-second mark:

UFC 113: Rua's Rock Beats Machida's Scissors

Former PRIDE legend Mauricio "Shogun" Rua seized the UFC light heavyweight title in stunning fashion Saturday night, bringing dramatic closure to months of debate and speculation.

Rua's title challenge last October gave the heretofore unbeaten Lyoto Machida his most competitive fight to date in the Octagon, a five-round war that left "The Dragon" battered and exhausted. With an unscathed Rua smiling in anticipation of having his hand raised in victory, Bruce Buffer instead announced Machida as the winner by unanimous decision to a chorus of boos.

Many fans, analysts, and fighters felt Rua's relentless pace, physical conditioning and barrage of devastating kicks did more to score him points, an opinion shared even by outspoken UFC head Dana White. White immediately called for a rematch, while Rua returned home, unscathed, to quietly formulate a plan to improve upon apparent perfection.

Rua returned to face Machida for the second time this past weekend, and brought with him an unwavering determination to decide the outcome of the fight without involving the judges. Both fighters clearly did their homework; Machida began timing Rua's leg kicks to set up a counter immediately and also took Rua down early in the fight, while Rua showed excellent scrambling in anticipation of a ground fight. The fight looked to be every bit as active and competitive as their first.

It was Rua, however, who won the high-stakes strategic gamble that has been described by MMA writer Darren Wong as "rock, paper and scissors." Machida, who after October's title defense was left with broken ribs, welts and deep bruising, wagered that Rua would again rely on the kicks he had so much success with in their first fight. It seems that Rua, on the other hand, anticipated this adjustment on the part of the Machida camp and instead used those expectations to set up his boxing. Rua gambled that Machida would be so focused on timing and countering his kicks that he'd leave himself vulnerable, and that is precisely what happened.

As Machida delivered his trademark straight left, Rua slipped the punch and came over the top with a hard overhand right on the side of Machida's head that buckled the champ's knees. Rua wasted no time and pounced, finishing the champ with four or five clean strikes from the full mount position before Yves Lavigne could step in to yank him off his motionless opponent.

After a slow start which included lackluster performances against Forrest Griffin and Mark Coleman, Mauricio Rua has been born again hard as the UFC's undisputed light-heavyweight champion of the world. The division's belt has changed hands five times in the past three years, but after Saturday night's dominating and aggressive performance by Shogun, I can't see him going anywhere for a while. Rua looks every bit the part of the best 205-lb fighter in the world.