Thomas Gerbasi, UFC - In 2003, Brandon Vera saw the September issue of Muscle & Fitness on a newsstand, pointed to the cover of soon-to-be UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir, and said, “that’s the guy I want to be.” Three years later, Vera faced Mir and put on what is still his career-defining performance, knocking Mir out in just 69 seconds.

Thomas Gerbasi, UFC - Practically all fighters visualize how an upcoming fight will go, walking themselves through everything from their entrance into the arena to the final bell or the moment when their hand is raised. Yet few will actually go on the record with such thoughts.

Dan Hardy, who faces Mike Swick in the UFC 105 co-main event on Saturday night, is one of those few.

Las Vegas, NV (USA) – Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira is a heavyweight legend looking to climb to the top of the mountain one more time following his win over Hall of Famer Randy Couture in August. Unbeaten rising star Cain Velasquez has moved rapidly up the ranks, but he needs one more win to get a shot at the belt. On Saturday, January 2nd, the main event of UFC 108 will see these two heavyweight standouts meet to determine a future challenger for the title. Also, former UFC light heavyweight champion ‘Suga’ Rashad Evans begins on his road back to the title as he attempts to avenge his teammate Keith Jardine’s loss against Brazilian knockout artist Thiago Silva at UFC 108: Nogueira vs Velasquez, presented by “Bayonetta” and live on pay-per-view from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Thomas Gerbasi, UFC - For Aaron Riley, a veteran’s veteran in the sport of mixed martial arts, the road to stability in this hardest of games has been a bumpy one filled with 12 years of fights, wins, and losses before he finally found his home in the UFC the third time around.

Thomas Gerbasi, UFC - “Obviously my last fight didn’t go as planned, and that’s a bit of an understatement.”

When Michael Bisping discusses his knockout loss to Dan Henderson in July, he doesn’t do it with a sense of detachment, doesn’t airbrush what happened, and doesn’t come up with a laundry list of excuses for being stopped in the second round by the former two-division PRIDE champion.