Three thousand people showed up for the UFC's first ever public press conference at the Mall of America, and when the camera pans, you can see people all along the rails on all three floors. Dana White also offers kind words for Minneapolis: "Fans here are awesome. The first time I had to come here, I was like, I'd rather stick a fork in my eye than come to Minneapolis, Minnesota. And I landed her about midnight and I told my buddy, I said, 'You wanna go kick around the city a little bit to see what's like: We were out till 4 o'clock in the morning and I swear to God, I had the best time ever. This is a really cool city, seriously, no bullshit, it's America's best kept secret."

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Things couldn’t be better for Roger "El Matador" Huerta. The Augsburg College business major is rising up through the ranks of Mixed Martial Arts. And after appearing on the cover of Sports Illustrated, people are starting to recognize him on the streets.

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Last Saturday night, Nick Thompson lost his mixed martial arts fight on CBS. He lasted just 63 seconds against Jake Shields, one of the top middleweight fighters in the world. It was fast and disappointing for the University of Minnesota law student, who is also one of the top fighters around. But Thompson doesn’t have much time to mope around about the loss. He has to fly back from Stockton, CA, the site of the fight, and take the bar exam this week. Instead of worrying about elbows, he’ll have to endure essay questions on things like legal principles, trusts, wills and community property.More >>

The UFC announced four more fights for UFC 87: Seek and Destroy, the event slated to take place August 9 at the Target Center.

One addition to the lineup is Cheick Kongo, a heavyweight up-and-comer who was recently defeated by Heath Herring, who will face Minnesotan Brock Lesnar on the same card. There will also be a lightweight contest between Hermes Franca and Frankie Edgar.

Probably the most exciting is the battle of Ultimate Fighter alums Ben Saunders and Jared Rollins. Let's home it finds its way onto the PPV broadcast.

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Although MMA purists may be loathe to admit it, Kimbo Slice is a major household name. The other day at Best Buy, the cashier noticed me buying a DVD with Kimbo on the cover, and launched into a detailed story about watching the fight with her younger brothers. When's the last time a young, female store clerk asked you about George St. Pierre or B.J. Penn?

This despite the fact that Kimbo's last fight, broadcast on CBS, was absolutely awful. In a tailor-made matchup against a tomato can whose famous for charging at his opponents with his chin out, Kimbo barely survived to the third round, where he managed to eke out the win thanks to a controversial early stoppage.

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Speculation has been swirling about an upcoming major announcement from UFC president Dana White.

White has said he wanted to tell UFC employees first and that what he is going to announce will have a major impact on the direction of the sport.

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The UFC officially announced this week that Brock Lesnar will face Pride veteran Heath Herring at UFC 87: Seek and Destroy.

Lesnar was originally scheduled to face Mark "The Hammer" Coleman, but the UFC Hall of Famer went down with a knee injury during training.

Herring has been something of a mixed bag since coming to the UFC from Japanese arch-rival Pride. He lost an absolutely awful fight to relative no-name Jake O'Brien at UFC Fight Night 8, but looked close to finishing heavyweight champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira at UFC 73 before foolishly allowing Big Nog back on his feet, where he was able to control the action for the next two rounds and win via unanimous decision.

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Minnesota native and former UFC champion Sean Sherk was defeated in a dominating performance by "The Prodigy" B.J. Penn last night.

Sherk looked tentative all fight and surprisingly seemed content to keep it on the feet even though he has never been known for his striking and had a significant reach disadvantage to Penn, who was able to jab from a distance. Although Sherk's strategy was to try to drag the fight into the championship fourth and fifth rounds to put Penn's cardio to the test, the Prodigy stopped him at the end of the third with a devestating knee followed by strong ground and pound that left Sherk unable to continue.

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After much speculation, the UFC has announced the match that will headline UFC 87 at the Target Center: a welterweight title fight between George St. Pierre and Jon Fitch, a wrestler with an eight-fight win streak.

“He’s a very, very tough guy,” said St-Pierre of Fitch. “I’m gonna have to train hard and be very well prepared because he may be my toughest fight yet.”

“The whole goal is to get the belt and be in the position where guys can’t duck me, run away, or say they don’t want to fight me,” said Fitch. “If I have the belt, there’s no excuse, and if you say you’re the best, then we’re gonna fight. This is gonna be a tough fight, but I’m gonna make sure I’m sharp that night, and wherever the fight needs to go, that’s fine with me.”

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When the UFC announced it was coming to the Target Center, a lot of fans thought that the Brock Lesnar vs. Mark "The Hammer" Coleman fight would be the main event. There was even some criticism about putting a relative rookie like Lesnar in a headlining position while at the same time dissing the competition for employing Internet streetfighting legend Kimbo Slice. Well, it turns out that there's a main event yet to be announced, as was made clear by this just-released promotional material:More >>