Didn't see any thread dedicated to MMA, so I'm making one.

First a very brief history about modern MMA.

In the early 90's a family that specialised in their own version of Jiu-Jitsu, arranged a no holds barred fighting event in Denver, Colorado. The first Ultimate Fighting Championship event, also known as UFC.
The entire event was basically an informercial about how effective Gracie Jiu-Jitsu (better known as Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ for short)) against other forms of martial arts.
Royce Gracie was selected to fight, because he resembled a more average looking guy, instead of his brother Rickson who was far more accomplished, but also looked far more athletic.
The event was a success as Royce defeated a boxer, submission wrestler and a kickboxer, by taking them down and choking them out.

The UFC started to take off. A short time later in Japan another organisation took off, named PRIDE Fighting Championship, also known as PRIDE FC or simply PRIDE. The Japanese could afford to pay a much higher pay grade than the UFC and soon many fighters around the world fought under the PRIDE banner.

Today: The UFC is now the biggest organisation in MMA, with smaller companies such as Bellator, Dream, ONE FC, World Series of Fighting, Rizing and Shooto competing against them. The UFC's parent company Zuffa also owns Strikeforce, as well as ECW and even PRIDE. PRIDE, Strikeforce and ECW are defunct now.

About the fighters.


A lot of people falsely think that MMA is just two guys hugging each other, this is not true, but it does happen when one of the fighter is a wrestler.
We're not talking about small amateur fighters here, that compete in barnshows, but actual elite level athletes.

Noteworthy fighters.

Heavyweights

Fabricio Werdum, Champion (UFC)
Cain Velasquez (UFC)
Frank Mir (UFC)
Alistair Overeem (UFC)
Antonio Silva (UFC)
Junior Dos Santos (UFC)
Stipe Miocic (UFC)
Fabricio Werdum (UFC)
Mark Hunt (UFC)
Fedor Emelianenko (Rizing)
Josh Barnett (UFC)
Daniel Cormier (UFC)
Sergei Kharitonov (UFC)
Ruslan Magomedov (UFC)

Light heavyweights

Daniel Cormier, Champion (UFC)
Jon Jones (UFC)
Mauricio Rua (UFC)
Dan Henderson (UFC)
Ryan Bader (UFC)
Quinton Jackson (UFC)
Rash Evans (UFC)
Alexander Gustaffson (UFC)
Tito Ortiz (UFC)
Forrest Griffin (UFC)
Anthony Johnson (UFC)
Antionio Rogerio Nogueria (UFC)
Thiago Silva (UFC)
Glover Teixera (UFC)

Middleweights

Chris Weidman, Champion (UFC)
Michael Bisping (UFC)
Ronaldo Souza (UFC)
Luke Rockholt (UFC)
Tim Kennedy (UFC)
Vitor Belfort (UFC)
Lyoto Machida (UFC)
Robert Whittaker (UFC)
Uriah Hall (UFC)
Gegard Mousasi (UFC)

Welterweights

Robbie Lawler, Champion (UFC)
Carlos Condit (UFC)
Nick Diaz (UFC)
Jon Fitch (UFC)
Jake Shields (WSF)
Matt Brown (UFC)
Rory McDonald (UFC)
Hector Lombard (UFC)
Kelvin Gastelum (UFC)
Benson Henderson (UFC)
Jorge Masvidal (UFC)

Lightweights

Raphael Dos Anjos, Champion (UFC)
Nate Diaz (UFC)
Anthony Pettis (UFC)
Donald Cerrone (UFC)
Khabib Nurmagomedov (UFC)
Tony Fergusson (UFC)
Michael Johnson (UFC)
Rashid Magomedov (UFC)

Flyweights

Jose Aldo, Champion (UFC)
Chad Mendes (UFC)
Connor McGregor (UFC)
Frankie Edgar (UFC)
Ricardo Lamas (UFC)
Dennis Bermudez (UFC)
Nick Lentz (UFC)
Max Holloway (UFC)
Daniel Straus (Bellator)
Patricio Freire (Bellator)
Pat Curran (Bellator)

Bantamweights

Tyler Jeffrey Dillashaw, Chamption (UFC)
Urijah Faber (UFC)
Renan Barao (UFC)
Norifumi Yamamoto (UFC)
Dominick Cruz (UFC)
Magomedrasul Khasbulaev (TBD)

Flyweights

Demetrious Johnson, Champion (UFC)
John Dodson, (UFC)
Kyoji Horiguchi (UFC)
Henry Cejudo (UFC)
Ali Bagautinov (UFC)
Joseph Benavidez (UFC)
Ian McCall (UFC)