While the ufc is the largest and most popular organization on the planet in the realm of mixed martial arts, other promotions are now giving the chance for the true veterans of the sport to either start all over again, or continue their way back to the top. Israel FC, an upstart promotion out of--you guessed it--Israel has began to take on a steady stream of veterans in for their promotional debut in what is turning out to be an all star cast of competitors. ...

By Steve Cha "I like the small guys.  They go at it," UFC President Dana White stated to TUF 8 coach Frank Mir (11-3). Lightweights Wesley Murch (3-2) and John Polakowski (2-1), who, in his words, “loves giving hugs to everyone”, didn’t disappoint White in the first fight of the night on Wednesday’s episode of The Ultimate Fighter 8. Both fighters were able to land strikes and take each other’s backs; however, at the end of the first round, British fighter Murch injured his shin on a low kick attempt.  Ouch! Murch braved the pain, but, early in the second round, collapsed; and, the ref was forced to stop the fight. True to his words, Polakowski hugged Fighters.com’s top heavyweight contender and TUF 8 coach “Minotauro” Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (31-4-1), White, and Mir, forcing an admission from Nog': " I don’t care, you know.  I like to hug too." ...

Ido Pariente (8-3) is an Israeli lightweight in the upcoming season of The Ultimate Fighter, premiering tonight.  He faced Fighters.com’s third-ranked welterweight and current EliteXC champion Jake Shields (21-4-1) in June 2007. Fighters.com:  How did you get started in MMA? Ido Pariente: I have been doing martial arts all my life, I started with karate and I hold a third degree black belt, when I was 18 years old I first saw the UFC and I knew right then that I have to fight there one day and now, 10 years after... here I am... Fighters.com:  Who are some of your heroes, in sports or otherwise? Ido Pariente:  Royce Gracie [14-3-3] was my first hero in this sport. I really look up to people that do things that seem impossible, like Randy Couture [16-8] holding the heavyweight title at his age and Anderson Silva [22-4] for not letting anyone pass the second round. Arnold Schwarzenegger is someone to admire, the guy came from a foreign country to the US with a dream, he became Mr. Olympia, then became the greatest action movie star and then a governor… all because he had a dream.  So people like that inspire me to keep dreaming and make my dreams come true... Fighters.com:  Do you train full time or do you have another job? Ido Pariente:  I train full time while having a job which is very hard! But my job is teaching BJJ and giving private class (BJJ and fitness) so I work my training schedule around my job. Fighters.com:  Where do you train? Who do you train with? Ido Pariente:  I train in Israel most of the time. I have build a strong BJJ group that keeps pushing me, and I have a Muay Thai coach, Itzik Franko, who is the best here in Israel, he has produced a world champion and two European champions and many other international competitors. Together we formed our team,TEAM FRANKO PARIENTE. Once a year I go to Brazil to train for about a month, but my direct teacher of BJJ is Patrick Bittan, a second-degree black belt under master Flavio Behring and he took second in the world championship in 2003 and 2005. ...

Monday the UFC officially announced its line-up for the upcoming season of The Ultimate Fighter, premiering 17 September on SpikeTV. The 16 lightweights and 16 light heavyweights will be coached by Fighters.com's top heavyweight contender and interim UFC Champion “Minotauro” Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (31-4-1) and former UFC Heavyweight Champ Frank Mir (11-3). Lightweights Jose Aguilar (0-0) Fernando Bernstein (0-0) Junie Allen Browning (1-0) Rolando Delgado (0-0) Joseph Duarte (0-0) Efrain Escudero (10-0) Brandon Garner (4-1) David Kaplan (0-0) Eric Magee (1-1) Brian McLaughlin (0-0) Wesley Murch (3-2) Shane Nelson (9-3) Phillipe Nover (5-0-1) Ido Pariente (8-3) John Polakowski (2-1) George Roop (8-3) Light Heavyweights Ryan Bader (7-0) Antwain Britt (3-1) Jules Bruchez (0-0) Charles Diaz (3-0) Lance Evans (2-2) Karen Grigoryan (6-1) Jason Guida (17-17) "Big Deal" Ryan Jimmo (6-1) Kyle Kingsbury (7-1) Tom Lawlor (4-1) Ryan Lopez (4-4) "Pezao" Vinicius Magalhaes (0-1) Eliot Marshall (5-1) Sean O’Connell (0-0) Shane Primm (1-0) Krzysztof Soszynski (15-8-1) ...