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PRIDE Fighting Championships (FC), leader in mixed martial arts mma, holds “The Real Deal,” PRIDE’s first United States fight in Las Vegas at the Thomas & Mack Center on October 21.

A legendary event in Japan, PRIDE FC matches the world’s fiercest fighters in mixed martial arts competitions of strength and honor, featuring an intense mix of combative sports such as wrestling, boxing, jiu-jitsu, karate, judo, kickboxing and others. Originating in 1997, PRIDE FC has quickly earned a reputation for creating a fight experience that trumps most rock concerts, with its mind-blowing action and theatrical and cultural spectacle. Boasting an enormous fan following, PRIDE Fighting Championships events consistently sell out arenas around the world of up to 74,000 seats.

Tickets to PRIDE FC’s “The Real Deal,” go on sale Sunday, August 20 and are available at http://www.pridefc.com or 1-866-US FIGHT. Ticket prices range from $50 to $700. PRIDE’s first U.S. card will also be featured on Pay-Per-View for $39.95. Check your local cable or satellite provider for details.

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World Fighting Alliance MMA Rampage Jackson win over Matt Lindland. The Los Angeles Forum hosted about 8,000 people, I saw Jason “Mayhem” Miller choke his opponent into submission, then show love to his followers (he dubs them “Mayhem Monkeys”) by shouting: “Woo-WOO!” I saw a Dutch man with a Spanish nickname — Bas “El Guapo” Rutten. “El Guapo” means handsome, and when the bald-headed Rutten was asked where he ranks among the fighters, he said: “The best-looking one, that’s for sure.”

Finally, in Quinton “Rampage” Jackson’s split decision victory over Matt Lindland in Saturday night’s main event, I saw one of the most amazing feats of strength I’ve seen in sports. With Lindland trying to choke him into submission, Jackson was somehow able to get to his feet and toss Lindland off. When asked in the ring if he’d be down for a rematch, Jackson said: “As long as I get paid. Cha-ching!”

As Jackson explained, “A lot of people in my sport are crazy. You’ve got to be crazy to get locked in a cage.”

Among the faces in the crowd: Shaquille O’Neal and Bruce Willis. O’Neal, in town to fulfill his duties as a reserve member of the Los Angeles Port Police, said he was in his hotel room when he heard about the World Fighting Alliance event and decided to come over. O’Neal likes to consider himself a martial arts expert, well versed in his own discipline of Shaq Fu, but he said you won’t find him in the ring.

If you’ve heard of mixed martial arts — in which everything short of eye-gouging, rabbit punches and kicks to the groin are legal — you’re probably familiar with UFC Ultimate Fighting Championship, which pulled an almost $3-million gate and $24-million pay-per-view haul for an event at Staples Center in May and is selling out the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. One sign that mixed martial arts is gaining legitimacy is that one of the most familiar faces in boxing, Marc Ratner, whom you might remember from the Mike Tyson hearings, left his job as executive director of the Nevada Athletic Commission to become Ultimate Fighting Challenge vice president of government and regulatory affairs.

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UFC Ultimate Fighting Championship 62 light heavyweight champion Chuck “The Iceman” Liddell takes to the Octagon to defend his crown against Brazil’s Renato “Babalu” Sobral as the main event for the Ultimate Fighting Championship organization’s UFC 62: LIDDELL vs. SOBRAL live from the Mandalay Bay Events Center Saturday, August 26, 2006.

One of the UFC’s true superstars, Chuck Liddell has defended the crown he won from Randy Couture in April of 2005 twice, most recently with a second round knockout of Couture in their February rubber match. Sidelined since then due to a toe injury, Liddell knows that a victory on August 26 will set-up perhaps the most anticipated matchup in MMA this year with the San Luis Obispo resident taking on Brazilian superstar Wanderlei Silva.

Renato Sobral has had a ten fight winning streak since the first bout between the two, won by Liddell in November of 2002. In that almost four year period, Sobral has truly fought his way to the number one contender’s slot, submitting Travis Wiuff,

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UFC Ultimate Fighting Championship is the world’s best-known mixed martial arts organization, but now has competition of the WFA World Fighting Alliance. The UFC no longer has a stranglehold on the best fighters.

The WFA World Fighting Alliance, co-owned by Las Vegas attorneys Louis Palazzo and Ross Goodman, will host a pay-per-view card July 22 from the Great Western Forum in Los Angeles that features several fighters who have defeated the UFC Ultimate Fight Challenge best.

Goodman, the son of Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, said the WFA World Fighting Alliance plans to be a direct competitor with the UFC, an organization so popular that its May 27 pay-per-view show reportedly sold more than 600,000 subscriptions.

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