Mir met UFC matchmaker Joe Silva at a school Silva was visiting.

* Joe Veres, former UFC fighter

* Joe Lauzon, professional MMA fighter, currently fighting in the UFC lightweight division

* Joe Rogan on his UFC career

The show was hosted by comedian and UFC commentator Joe Rogan, executive produced by Matt Kunitz and David A. Hurwitz and directed by J. Rupert Thompson.

In a conversation with Joe Rogan, he confirmed he would face Tim Sylvia for the UFC Heavyweight Championship at UFC 68, on March 3, 2007.

Gomi was expected to face Joe Stevenson on August 1, 2010 at UFC Live on Versus: 2.

At UFC 110, announcer Joe Rogan emphatically stated that Wanderlei looked like a totally different person in the wake of his recent facial reconstructive surgery.

In 2006 he founded C3Fights, a professional MMA company, and still personally trains C3Fighters at the USA Stars Training Center in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma and coaches and corners UFC Fighters Joe " Daddy " Stevenson and Melvin " The Young Assassin " Guillard at UFC events.

* The Joe Rogan Experience-Syndication of comedian and UFC color commentator Joe Rogan's podcast, with co-host Brian Redban, began in May 2011.

Silva, who is the reigning UFC Middleweight Champion, went on to knock out Vitor Belfort with a kick, in their fight at UFC 126 in February 2011, and Machida also credited him for helping him perfect the crane kick that he used to knock out Randy Couture at UFC 129 in May 2011.

Notable UFC fighters to emerge in this era include Hall of Famers Mark Coleman, Randy Couture, Chuck Liddell, Matt Hughes and Tito Ortiz, as well as notables Vitor Belfort, Mark Kerr, Pedro Rizzo, Murilo Bustamante, Pat Miletich, Frank Shamrock, Mikey Burnett, Jeremy Horn, Pete Williams, Jens Pulver, Evan Tanner, Andrei Arlovski and Wanderlei Silva, among others.

However, after purchasing Pride, Dana White felt that the Pride model was not sustainable and the organization would likely fold with many former Pride fighters such as Antônio Rodrigo " Minotauro " Nogueira, Maurício " Shogun " Rua, Dan Henderson, Mirko " Cro Cop " Filipović, Wanderlei Silva and others already being realigned under the UFC brand.

Fighters exposed to the UFC audience — or who became prominent — in the post-Pride era include the likes of Anderson Silva, Jon Fitch, Lyoto Machida, Cain Velasquez and Jon Jones, among others.

However, the momentum gradually began to pick up in the first quarter of 2010 after victories from defending champions Georges St-Pierre and Anderson Silva, as well as Lyoto Machida's first career defeat to " Shogun " Rua for the UFC Light Heavyweight title.

After a dramatic fifth round, last minute victory by UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva over Chael Sonnen at UFC 117, Lesnar finally surrendered his belt to the undefeated Cain Velasquez via 1st round TKO at UFC 121.

In 2006 DSE announced it would showcase Pride alongside the Ultimate Fighting Championship, North America's largest MMA event, and would be integrating their fighters, including Wanderlei Silva and Kazuyuki Fujita, at a UFC MMA show in November.

UFC champion Anderson Silva wrote: " The ultimate goal in fighting is to utilize footwork to acquire a dominant angle of attack.

* UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva

" Silva added, " When I think back and remember all the cool things, all the exciting and crazy things in the UFC, that night is definitely burned into my memory.

Belfort was expected to face Anderson Silva for the UFC Middleweight Championship on January 2, 2010 at UFC 108.

Belfort was again slated to fight Silva on February 6, 2010 at UFC 109 and April 10, 2010 at UFC 112, respectively, but both fights were canceled because of a surgery for Silva and an injury suffered by Belfort.

However, Dana White tweeted Belfort would instead challenge Silva at UFC 126 for the belt.

The rematch between Belfort and Silva was expected to take place on June 23, 2012 at UFC 147.

However, due to an injury to headliner Vitor Belfort, Franklin is now scheduled to face Wanderlei Silva in a 190 lb catchweight rematch on June 23, 2012 at UFC 147.

Wanderlei César da Silva ( ; ; ; born July 3, 1976 ), nicknamed " The Axe Murderer " and " Cachorro Louco ", is a Brazilian mixed martial artist, who has competed in Japan's Pride Fighting Championships and the American based Ultimate Fighting Championship ( UFC ), and is widely considered to be one of the greatest fighters of all time.

" And I said ` What you don't understand is I'm getting the most valuable thing that I could possibly have, which is those three letters: UFC.

Long time UFC referee " Big " John McCarthy said that he felt UFC 40 was the turning point in whether or not the sport of MMA would survive in America.

Though Cage Rage promoter Andy Geer said that the UFC show would not affect ticket sales for CR21, the signing of Sapp was a clear sign that the company knew it would need a superstar draw in order to successfully compete with the American promotion.

When asked about the Croatian's current contract status with the UFC and whether it would interfere with his participation in ' Dream ' events, Dream producer and front man Keiichi Sasahara said, " Though I can't share specific details about his contract, there will not be any foreseeable problems arising.

" Well, as you all know, I had a bad period in my last two fights, which I'd lost in the UFC ," Filipović said.

Frye said: " I saw Ken Shamrock whoop him ( Dan Severn ) at UFC 6 and I thought, " That's a guy I gotta fight.

White said, " the reason we did so well on UFC 40 was because of Ken Shamrock and the fact that everyone knew who he was.

" Long time UFC referee " Big " John McCarthy said that he felt UFC 40 was the turning point in whether or not the sport of MMA would survive in America.

UFC President Dana White said ;

Former UFC owner Bob Meyrowitz said ;

UFC President Dana White said the day after Shamrock's fight with Ortiz, " Last night was a turning point for the UFC.

UFC President Dana White said in 2008 ; " Ken Shamrock was in a beef with us over his contract.

UFC President Dana White said ;

Le has said that it ’ s basically the UFC or bust for him at this point in his fighting career.

I would love to fight in San Jose for the UFC ....” said Le.

In an interview, UFC president Dana White said:

Regarding the success of the show, UFC president Dana White said, " It's amazing to think .... how close we came to not being here today.

At a UFC Fan Expo, Mir said he briefly considered dropping down to the Light Heavyweight division, although he later confirmed he will remain at heavyweight.

After the fight, UFC President Dana White said of Miller's performance, " It was bad.

The UFC alleged irregularities in vote counting and, following the confirmation of the results by the Constitutional Court, UFC Secretary-General Jean-Pierre Fabré, described the results as " neither credible nor acceptable " and said that they did not represent the people's will.