MMA is a growing community and as with any growing community, news stories are occurring every day. Here are a few news bites from early in the second week of February.

Griffin, Belfort top list of UFC 126 Payouts

With an ending so controversial that fans began to spew curses and boos while Joe Rogan went on an attack based rant against MMA judging; the UFC had almost no choice but to set up a rematch with Leonard Garcia and Nam Phan.

Set to take place on March 26 at UFC Fight Night 24, Garcia and Phan will once again lock horns. This match was first reported by MMAWeekly.com and has since been confirmed by multiple outlets.

The duo first met on December 4th at the Ultimate Fighter season 12 Finale. In that bout the fighters went at each other for the full three rounds. An action packed battle that saw Garcia push the pace, as he normally does, with Phan displaying effective striking of his own.

In the last couple of years no sport in the world has undergone more radical change than mixed martial arts (MMA).

Think about it, Mixed Martial Arts is barely over a decade old in terms of being a worldwide recognized sport.  So, it is extremely young with limitless potential for dominating the sports world.

When you examine the sport from the first major event in 1993 until today, you find the metamorphosis from the original bare-knuckled, no-holds-barred, tournament-style events is due to the addition of new rules and equipment along with the adoption of a single-fight-in-one-night format, weight classes, rounds, and now the team concept of the now extinct International Fight League (IFL). I would say that an even more powerful cause of the evolution of MMA is its athletes. Not to put down the fighters of the past, but today’s MMA competitor not only has a radically different body, but fights extremely different.