The UFC light heavyweight division has been described as the most competitive division in all of mixed martial arts. There have been ten total champions of the division, beginning with Frank Shamrock and rolling its way to the current champion Lyoto Machida.

Machida is set to face Mauricio “Shogun” Rua at UFC 104 this coming Sat. in Las Vegas, Nevada. Machida gained the light heavyweight hardware at UFC 98 this past summer, destroying Rashad Evans and keeping his undefeated record intact.

Rua enters the fight a steep underdog (+300 at Sportsbook.com), and many believe him undeserving of this title shot. However, the PRIDE days of “Shogun” still dwell in the minds of mixed martial arts fans and are reason to believe he could put up a fight.

Although this is not one of the most anticipated fights in UFC history, it is a fight featuring the light heavyweight champion and one of the most infamous strikers in PRIDE history.

In honor of the light heavyweight championship headlining this weekend’s card, we look back at some of the biggest names involved in the biggest events in UFC light heavyweight history with the top ten UFC light heavyweight championship fights.

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Veteran slugger Scott Smith (16-6) has signed a new contract with Strikeforce and will be competing on the yet-to-be announced December show. The show will take place at the HP Pavilion on either Dec. 5 or Dec. 12. Both dates have been secured with the California State Athletic Commission.

The report comes courtesy of Ariel Helwani at MMA Fanhouse, who confirmed the news today with Smith’s agent Mike Roberts.

Smith’s opponent is unknown at this time, but the fighter has expressed interest in both facing Frank Shamrock or a potential rematch with Benji Radach. Smith earned a knockout win over Radach on the main card of “Strikeforce: Shamrock vs. Diaz”, but Radach has contested that the stoppage was early.

The UFC 100 media onslaught begins in earnest tonight with the debut of the UFC’s “100 Greatest Fights” series.

The show, which will count down the top 100 fights in company history (as voted by fans), will debut tonight by counting down fights #100-76.

There is plenty of controversy surrounding the show, mostly behind the scenes. For example, you’ll be able to see Tito Ortiz losing fights as part of the 100 greatest list, but you’ll never see Tito winning a fight.

Why? For the same reason that you won’t see a single Frank Shamrock fight on the show, despite Shamrock’s status as a legend in the company and in mixed martial arts in general. Both guys are on the outs with Dana White and Zuffa, and thus you won’t see either guy winning a fight as part of the list. Since Shamrock never lost a fight in the company, you won’t see him on the show.

You’ll see Tito lose fights, but you won’t see him win. Frank Shamrock has been erased from Zuffa history altogether.

It’s petty, to be sure. But it is what it is.

With UFC 100 upon us it’s only natural to contemplate the best of the best to emerge from the first ninety nine fight cards. UFC 1 took place back on November 12, 1993 with Royce Gracie winning an eight-man single elimination tournament format. The matches then ended only by submission, knockout, or throwing in the towel, therefore no judges were necessary.

In the last 16 years a lot has changed.

The rules of years gone by hardly resemble today’s extended list. That original tournament had no weight classes or weight limits. Today there are five weight classes with the heavyweight division capping out at 265 pounds.

Comparing fighters from one generation to the next can be a dubious task. Can you honestly compare the impact Royce Gracie had to that of Anderosn Silva? It’s a pitfall any sport has to sidestep when ranking the best and we journey onward.

For this list only fights that took place within the octagon will be considered. A fighters impact on the sport beyond overall fight record will be heavily considered. Title fights, title defenses, win streaks and things of that nature are all factors that are considred when ranking the list.

With all that said we give you our list of the Top Ten greatest fighters to emerge from the first ninety nine UFC fight cards.

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Last night left two resounding notices on the doorstep of MMA. The young guns are coming and it’s time for the old guard to step down. And Cesar Gracie’s camp is quickly moving up into superstar camp status.

When the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) exploded into the mainstream, one-by-one a collection of start-up companies with plans for conquering the world of mixed martial arts began promoting shows across the United States.

And one-by-one they closed their doors.

From the WFA to the IFL and most recently Elite XC, brands hoping to survive as an alternative or successor to the Zuffa monopoly have crumbled under failed business plans and fan disinterest.

All except one.

Perhaps that’s because Strikeforce, the San Jose-based mixed martial arts company founded and currently directed by CEO Scott Coker, is neither a start-up nor a fly-by-night operation.

Strikeforce is, however, a legitimate mixed martial arts promotion with a sound business plan, marketable fighters and of above all else, respect from its peers and fans alike.

Coker began promoting martial arts in 1985 and labeled his first kickboxing show on ESPN 2 “Strikeforce.” After branching out and promoting K-1 on ESPN 2 for the better part of seven years, Coker made the transition to MMA after the sport received legalization from the state legislature in December of 2005.

Three months later, Coker set a North American attendance record for MMA with 18,265 fans coming to see Strikeforce: “Shamrock vs. Gracie.”

We were fortunate enough to get a hold of the Strikeforce CEO and pick his brain on everything from his highly publicized acquisition of Elite XC, landing a spot on Showtime, why he wants to be more like PRIDE FC, and just when we may actually see Tito Ortiz and Gina Carano make their long-anticipated debuts inside the Strikeforce cage.

Take a look.

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We have a new category here at Inside Fights: Interviews.

Our past interviews are in the archive (including recent sessions with Frank Shamrock and Chuck Liddell), and we have some pretty exciting interviews coming over the next few weeks, including Strikeforce head honcho Scott Coker, Sean Sherk, and many more.

Official payout information for last Saturday’s Strikeforce event featuring a main event between Frank Shamrock and Nick Diaz is now available.

Nick Diaz: $39,950 (includes $10,000 win bonus) 
def. Frank Shamrock: $369,790

Gilbert Melendez: $49,890 (no win bonus) 
def. Rodrigo Damm: $9,190

Scott Smith: $49,940 (includes $25,000 win bonus) 
def. Benji Radach: $16,940

Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos: $18,000 (includes $10,000 win bonus) 
def. Hitomi Akano: $1,450

Brett Rogers: $39,940 (includes $20,000 win bonus) 
def. Ron “Abongo” Humphrey: $3,205

Luke Rockhold: $6,000 (includes $3,000 win bonus) 
def. Buck Meredith: $1,540

Eric Lawson: $9,950 (includes $2,000 win bonus) 
def. Waylon Kennell: $1,950

Raul Castillo: $7,890 (includes $3,500 win bonus) 
def. Brandon Michaels: $1,500

James Terry: $3,940 (includes $2,000 win bonus) 
def. Zak Bucia: $1,500

Shingo Kohara: $940 (no win bonus) 
def. Jeremy Tavares: $940

Total Payout: $634,415

Attendance: 15, 211 
Gate: $750,000 approx.

Dave Meltzer seems to think that Frank Shamrock’s days as a headlining performer are over.

“It’s sad because Frank is my friend and he and his wife are my social friends,” said Coker, whose initial success in promoting MMA came March 10, 2006, when Shamrock knocked out Cesar Gracie at the HP Pavilion before a sellout of 18,265 fans.

Diaz was 22 at the time, and was Gracie’s corner man. It was a night that left a lot of scars that may have been healed for him with the victory that ended a three-year quest to avenge his teacher.

“If that fight would have gone to the ground, Cesar would have submitted him,” said Diaz after the fight, still reliving that night.

When the match ended, Diaz helped Shamrock to his feet.

“I told him to get up, you’re a legend,” said Diaz, who in prefight hype said that Shamrock was not a legend to him.

The sportsmanship shown by Diaz post-fight actually surprised me, because I’m not used to either of Diaz brothers doing that type of thing. It was a classy display from Nick, especially after the one-sided technical beating he issued to the fading legend.

Is Frank Shamrock done? It’s hard to say. It’s probably a safe assumption that his days as a top-level main event fighter are over, but he’s probably one of the top three guys in the business as far as selling a fight (a list that includes Brock Lesnar and Quinton Jackson), so he’s going to continue to have a place on Strikeforce cards until he decides to call it a day. But I’m not sure that anyone expects him to be an actual contender going forward.

Shamrock won’t be able to fight Cung Le as he’d originally planned, and I’m not sure who you’d be able to match him up with for his next fight. Ideally (at least from a marketing standpoint) you’d match up Frank with psuedo-brother Ken, but Ken is on the outs with Showtime and CBS officials, making that fight highly unlikely.

Nick Diaz, on the other hand, gave his most impressive showing to date last night and proved that his reach, body type and technical boxing skills could be a handful for just about anyone in the welterweight or lightweight divisions.

Nick Diaz discusses his one-sided victory over Frank Shamrock at last night’s Strikeforce show in San Jose.