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It promises to be a stacked card at UFC 263 tonight as Israel Adesanya takes on Marvin Vettori in a long-awaited rematch, while Nate Diaz makes his highly-anticipated return to the octagon. The action goes down in a special pay-per-view event streaming exclusively on ESPN+.

When is UFC 263? Date, Time, Location

UFC 263 takes place tonight, Saturday, June 12 at Gila River Arena in Glendale, Arizona.

The main card starts at 10pm Est / 7pm Pst, with prelims at 8pm Est / 5pm Pst. The early prelims have a start time of 5:15pm Est / 2:15pm Pst.

How freakin' bad does Ufc star Kamaru Usman Hate Colby Covington? "If I see this beady-eyed, snake-head-lookin' dude in any room, my heart rate goes up. I just want to punch a hole through his head." Yeah, that bad. We talked to Usman -- the 7th ranked welterweight in the world -- the day before his headlining Ufc Fight Night against Demian Maia in Chile. Kamaru says the whole division knows he's the best fighter...

[[tmz:video id="0_55zdmdp3"]] Tyron Woodley says Georges St-Pierre is ducking him because he "doesn't want to come in and take the concussion" -- in other words, "He's Scared." Woodley called out Gsp after his Ufc 214 title defense against Demian Maia ... but Dana White shot the fight down, saying St-Pierre will face Michael Bisping instead.  Tyron says the politics have nothing to do with it -- it comes down to Gsp being too afraid to get in the...

Seems the war between Tyron Woodley and Dana White has cooled off ... with the Ufc president telling TMZ Sports they finally talked things out after blasting each other in the media.  It all started after Ufc 214 -- White ripped Tyron's performance against Demian Maia. Woodley fired back demanding a public apology from White or else he would "start leaking some sh*t that people don't want to be out in the wind." We reached...

[[tmz:video id="0_9dqzzt7l"]] Jorge Masvidal has a pretty violent prediction for his Ufc 211 clash with Demian Maia -- "Imma f**k him up, man." Masvidal is coming off a pretty dominant victory over Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone -- and says he's "betting the house" on Another big victory when he fights in May.  Jorge tells our guy the fight will Not be the classic "striker vs. grappler" matchup because he's a beast on the mat ... "I can wrestle my ass off.

David Becker/AP/Press Association Images

Whether it’s a 90th minute penalty or a buzzer beating three-pointer, every sport has those blockbuster flashes of brilliances, those hair raising events that mark a moment in history, but few compare to a devastating knockout in the cage.

Maybe it’s our animalistic origins, for some reason fighting is relatable in every corner of the globe, humans just get it, and it doesn’t get much bigger than the Ufc. Founded in 1993, the holy grail of Mma organisations has showcased the best fighters from around the world since its humble beginning.

Hundreds of Ultimate Fighters have come and gone, and of course, there can only be one winner, but in what is without a doubt the most unpredictable sport known to man, some people still lean towards certain fighters as the so called favourites. However, time and time again history has proven...

Stipe Miocic was in a lose-lose situation heading into tonight’s main event against light heavyweight Fabio Maldonado of The Ultimate Fighter Brazil 3 Finale. If he doesn’t smash the Brazilian in the first round, people will doubt how good Miocic really is. If Miocic loses the fight, he plummets in the Ufc heavyweight rankings and won’t get a title shot for a very long time. The number seven ranked heavyweight in the Ufc chose the first option as Miocic defeated Maldonado by first round Tko in 0:35.

To begin the fight, Maldonado went right at Miocic. The Ohio native though kept his cool and hit Maldonado with a left hand that dropped the Brazilian. Miocic let him up and then dropped Maldonado with a right hand. A couple hammerfists later and referee Mario Yamasaki stopped the fight.

In the co-main event, Antonio Carlos Junior defeated Vitor Miranda to...

Reed Saxon/AP/Press Association Images

Despite the numerous controversies which still exist in the sport of Mma and more specifically its premier promotion the Ufc today, anybody who has been a fan since the days of Royce Gracie, Don Fry and Ken Shamrock will know just how far the sport has come. Gone are the days of the post-fight battle royals between the trainers, the plans to have the Octagon surrounded by a moat filled with crocodiles and when the rules didn’t prohibit Keith Hackney from smashing Joe Son’s testicles. Now all bouts are sanctioned by a governing state athletic commission, all fighters are required to take part in thorough random drugs tests and a unified set of rules prevent potentially dangerous attacks like kicking the head of a grounded opponent. Since those early days the Ufc has transformed from a spectacle to a legitimate, bona fide sport.

After the Ufc icon suffered a horrible, leg-bending injury on Dec. 28, stars and fans rushed to Twitter to express their shock over seeing such a gruesome incident, and also to send their prayers to the ailing fighter.

At almost the exact same time Anderson Silva hit the ground after breaking his leg during his Ufc title fight against Chris Weidman, stars, athletes, and fans took to Twitter to post their reactions. And because Anderson’s leg-bending break was the worst sports injury since Kevin Ware‘s bone-protruding injury in March, there were too many reactions of shock, horror, and sadness to count.

Anderson Silva’s Injury: Stars & Athletes React

Though some celebrities were tweeting about the gruesome injury, most of the notable reactions came from fellow athletes — including Joe Theismann, who suffered a horrific leg break of his own in the ’80s – who wanted to wish Anderson a fast and safe recovery:

Oh Wow!

The Ufc returns to Japan this weekend with another Fuel TV card and, in truth, this one is pretty freaking stacked from top to bottom. For the complete preview of the card, including Facebook prelims, fellow WhatCulture.com columnist, Mitchell Stucky, joined me on the Getting Lucky Mma Podcast (E030). Main card preview below.

Main Card Preview

Dong Hyun Kim (16-2-1, 1) vs. Siyar Bahadurzada (21-4-1), Ww: Kim is a world class grappler and judoka, which was evident in his utter dismantling of Paulo Thiago, Bjj black belt, on the ground back at Ufc: Macao. The only people to defeat Kim are Demian Maia, the best Bjj master in all of mixed martial arts, and Carlos Condit, a fighter that is surprisingly effective in his offense from the guard and extremely well rounded in all areas.

Siyar makes a great story as an Afghan fighter with tremendous power, 11 KOs.

Ufc 156 started fast with the prelims and ended with the Super Fight between Aldo and Edgar. The card was loaded from top to bottom with headliners in each fight on the PPV card. The Fb and FX cards were probably the best set of prelims we’ve seen in the Ufc in years. Mitchell Stucky joins me on the Getting Lucky Mma Podcast (#023) to review all of the action.

Part 1: Prelims

Part 2: Main Card

Summary: In match-ups at the top level of talent and skill, the difference comes down not to meters or centimeters, but often millimeters. Jose Aldo had just enough speed to land first in all of the exchanges in rounds 1 and 2, particularly with his brutal leg kicks forged on the football pitch as an semi-professional player in Brazil.

The narrative changed as Aldo started to tire and Frankie’s timing adjusted to the champion’s style.

In terms of pre-fight greatness and potential, the upcoming main event on Ufc 156 could perhaps be the greatest fight in the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s history. Reigning Featherweight Champion Jose Aldo defends his title against Frankie Edgar. It’s the #4 P4P fighter against #7.

Mitchell Stucky joins me on the Getting Lucky Mma Podcast (#022) to preview the upcoming event.

Main Card Overview

Joseph Benavidez (16-3) vs. Ian McCall (11-3-1): The first fight on the main event is a Flyweight match-up, the bridesmaids of the championship tourney that ended with Demetrious Johnson as the titleholder. Both fighters have good power with 4 KOs each and superior wrestling, but we expect Benavidez to grind out a decision victory with his superior work ethnic and dedication to the sport. “Uncle Creepy” has been far too inconsistent in his last few fights.

Jon Fitch (24-4-1, 1) vs. Demian Maia (17-4): While ground...

There can be no doubt that Anderson Silva is the greatest Mixed Martial Arts fighter of all time. He may very well be the greatest fighter that combat sports has ever seen. At Ufc 153 Anderson Silva was simply breathtaking. The ease with which he dispatched of Stephan Bonnar was truly remarkable. Let’s not forget that Bonnar was the larger fighter and had gone the distance with elite level fighters such as Rashad Evans and Jon Jones. In fact Bonnar had never been stopped in his entire career from either a submission or due to strikes; Anderson Silva destroyed him in the first round.

What is even more impressive is that for most of the first round it appeared as if he wasn’t even trying. Most agreed that Bonnar’s best chance of success was to get Anderson against the cage and use his superior size to rough him up.

Ufc 153 takes place on Saturday night on what promises to be a night of great fights. There literally isn’t a bad fight on the card and it also gives fans another opportunity to see a living legend in Anderson Silva. There will be stoppages, there will be submissions and there will be some excellent martial arts on display. Ufc 153 will be big. Don’t miss it.

Demian Maia vs. Rick Story

Demian Maia has all the tools to be a top contender at welterweight. I think his main problem has been is that he seems to have forgotten what propelled him to the top of the middleweight division. It was his devastating Jiu Jitsu that got him a shot at Anderson Silva and whilst he has made himself a more well-rounded fighter he needs to get back to what it is that makes him so dangerous. Not so long...

After Jose Also and Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson both pulled out of Ufc 153, another card looked in serious danger of being scrapped. However in stepped the middleweight champion Anderson Silva (30-4-0) who will be moving up a weight class to face ‘The American Psycho’ Stephan Bonnar (17-7-0) in the new main event. After the debacle of Ufc 151 it is refreshing to see a champion stepping in at late notice to save a card and to have the greatest fighter ever step in to do it is even better.

This fight is sure to deliver and if it is anything like Silva’s last bout at light heavyweight then fans are in for a magnificent spectacle of martial arts. For Bonnar this is a once in a lifetime opportunity to test himself against the greatest fighter in Ufc history. He is expected to get annihilated by the vastly superior Silva...

Who's Da Mastah??? Ufc middleweight badass Demian Maia ... because his new trainer is none other than Bruce Leroy from the 80s cult classic "The Last Dragon."Leroy -- real name Taimak (right) -- tells TMZ, he met Maia during a recent training session in New York ... and they immediately hit it off.According to Taimak -- an accomplished martial artist in his own right -- Maia approached him in the gym, claiming he was a...

“Sugar” Rashad Evans (16-1-1) headlines the Ufc on Fox event this weekend, January 28, 2012. His opponent is the new Mma prototype of young, hyper-athletic, next generation fighter, Phil Davis (9-0), a fighter cut from the same cloth as current champion Jon Jones.

Evans has been the number 1 contender to reclaim his old belt for nearly two years now and is the consensus #2 light heavyweight in the world by every reputable poll. He is an athletic, powerful collegiate wrestler with quick hands and good power. By every measure, including his phenomenal record with wins over Rampage, Liddell, Bisping, Thiago Silva, and Tito Ortiz, Evans is a top tier fighter. One of the elites.

Or so you would think, but Rashad Evans has a dirty, little secret. A secret that he’s been able to conceal with lucky timing, wrestling, and quickness. A secret that the casual Mma fan would never know...

Anderson Silva, the man many call the top pound for pound fighter in the world, won his eleventh fight in a row in the Ufc Octagon Saturday night in Abu Dhabi.  It was his sixth defense of his middleweight title, a Ufc record. There's no question that he's on another level, miles ahead of his opponents in skill and athleticism. So, why is everyone so angry?

"I don't think I've ever been more embarrassed in the 10 years of being in this business and first time I've ever walked out on a main event and given the belt to the guy's manager and told him to put it on," Ufc President Dana White said at the post fight press conference. 

White, who has sat through horrible fights between the likes of Tim Sylvia and Andrei Arlovski actually got up and walked out of the arena in the fourth round.  "... A lot...

Anderson Silva Doesn't Care What You Think

Something happened during the third round of the Anderson Silva-Demian Maia middleweight title fight that pushed the main event into the Twilight Zone.

For the next 10 minutes Silva juked, jived, danced, ran, hid behind the referee and generally mocked Maia all the while fans rained down boos. Anderson was a predator, playing with his wounded prey and the crowd demanded that he finish the fight out of common decency, or at least act like he cared about being there. 

At one moment, I fully expected Rod Serling to step out from behind the curtain with a cigarette in his hand to pass along a wise parable of a man destroying his reputation through his own hubris.

Depending upon who you read, Anderson is either a horrible jerk for "clowning around" or Silva is a supremely talented, yet woefully misunderstood martial artist.

Ufc 112: Invincible marks the Middle Eastern debut for the Ultimate Fighting Championship. As with the promotion’s previous invasions of new markets there is more at work than simply who is fighting in the cage.

Huge Favorites and Big Underdogs

When Manny Pacquiao fought Joshua Clottey no one gave the fighter from Ghana much of a chance to defeat boxing’s reigning pound-for-pound king. The fight was unbearably one-sided (it may have been the diarrhea causing Banku and Okra stew that Clottey ate the night before) but that didn’t stop the fans from buying over 700,000 pay-per views.

Ufc 112 finds itself in a similar situation. Two pound-for-pound kings in Anderson Silva and B.J. Penn plus a fading legend in Matt Hughes provide the card big star power. Yet, according to the odds-makers, their collective opponents have a snowball’s chance in hell of winning.

The most competitive fight, at least according to the bookies,...

Anderson Silva is just like you. Oh, I'm sure there are some key differences. He can bend over and touch his toes for one. He's also stunningly handsome and you probably look like 250 pounds of Play Dough stuffed in a wrinkled up trash bag. At least I do. And, by the way, he's the baddest man on the planet. But at heart, the Ufc middleweight champion is just a big old dorky Mma fan like you, downloading torrents and checking out the the classic fights at Ufc.com.

"A big part of my life is watching fights. I watch all of my opponents’ fights, my own fights, my friends’ opponents’ fights," Silva told the press at a recent Ufc media event. "I just watch fights all day long. And I feel that it’s an internal studying. And if I want to keep on this road that I'm on, then...