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Vitor Belfort, in a file photo from '01.

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In mid-2008, Vitor Belfort called up an old friend, Randy Couture in hopes of training with him.
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Jeff Monson in a less controversial moment.

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Jeff Monson was in North Carolina last Thursday. By Saturday, he was facing down jail time.
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UFC head man Dana White with Mandy Moore.

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A 20-minute interview with UFC president Dana White (bonus: watch this) usually yields roughly 20 news items. This one? No exception.
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Is he the fighter of the year?

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Years from now, MMA fans should look back on 2008 as the second-most important year in the sport's history. The first season of The Ultimate Fighter made 2005 the year that will always be remembered as the launching point for MMA. We had the network TV debut of MMA (which, of course, involved the phenomenon of Kimbo Slice), the implosion of the UFC's most serious competition (the IFL) and, of course, the most lucrative year yet for the UFC.

In honor of a big year, we are handing out ESPN The Magazine/MMA Submission Blog's first batch of annual awards—call them the MMaggies.
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"What's that Frank Drebin line? We're gonna have to feel this one out?" "Yea, that's not it."

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Elite XC is done. No more MMA on CBS. Where will Kimbo Slice, Gina Carano and company end up?

Well, they may end up exactly where they started—in Elite XC, on CBS.
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This didn't go well for Koscheck, but the future undoubtedly will.

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In MMA, there's no question: it's good to be bad.

Take Brock Lesnar. He's the sport's biggest star because fans either love him or hate him, but they do choose a side. Pair him with a beloved hero type (i.e. Randy Couture), and you have a jackpot pay-per-view.

Josh Koscheck fights Yoshiyuki Yoshida on Dec. 10 in the UFC's Fight for the Troops on Spike TV. He's a perfect case study of a guy who has a following—both good and bad.
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