The next generation of UFC stars are produced in an intense elimination tournament that separates the contenders from the pretenders.

UFC Fight Night 5: Leben vs. Silva was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on June 28, 2006. The event took place at Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, in Las Vegas, Nevada. This event served as the coming out party for Anderson Silva, the future middleweight champion of the UFC.

Strikeforce: Marquardt vs. Saffiedine was a mixed martial arts event held by Strikeforce. The event took place on January 12, 2013 at the Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. This was the final event for Strikeforce before the organization is folded and merged with the UFC.

Strikeforce Challengers: Gurgel vs. Evangelista was a mixed martial arts event held by the Strikeforce. The fourth Challengers episode took place on November 6, 2009, at the Save Mart Center at Fresno State in Fresno, California.

Strikeforce Challengers 18: Gurgel vs. Duarte was a mixed martial arts event held by the Strikeforce. The eighteenth Challengers episode took place on August 12, 2011 at Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada.

UFC 63: Hughes vs. Penn was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on September 23, 2006. The event, originally subtitled "Hughes vs. St. Pierre," was scheduled to feature a UFC Welterweight Title match between champion Matt Hughes and Georges St.-Pierre. Nevertheless, a groin injury—which was reported early in August—forced St.-Pierre off the card.

UFC 91: Couture vs. Lesnar was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) on November 15, 2008, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The main event featured the return of UFC Heavyweight Champion Randy Couture versus WWE's Brock Lesnar in a title bout. The decision to grant Lesnar—who was 1–1 in UFC fights at the time—the title shot was controversial at the time. Some felt it was premature and marketing driven, while others argued the relative lack of depth in the heavyweight division at the time left no clear-cut contenders to the belt.

UFC 77: Hostile Territory was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). The event took place on Saturday, October 20, 2007 at the U.S. Bank Arena in Cincinnati, Ohio. The main event featured Anderson Silva defending his middleweight championship against Rich Franklin in a rematch of their October 2006 meeting at UFC 64, which Silva won.

UFC 82: Pride of a Champion was a mixed martial arts (MMA) event that took place on 1st March, 2008 at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio. The main event was a UFC & Pride FC middleweight title unification match between UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva and PRIDE FC welterweight champion Dan Henderson.

Strikeforce: Feijao vs. Henderson, also known as Strikeforce: Columbus, was a mixed martial arts event held by Strikeforce. It is expected to take place on March 5, 2011 at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio, United States.

UFC 73: Stacked was a mixed martial arts (MMA) event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). It took place on July 7, 2007 at the ARCO Arena in Sacramento, California and featured a total of nine bouts: four on the preliminary card and five on the main card. The main event was Anderson Silva defending the UFC Middleweight Championship against Nathan Marquardt.

Strikeforce: Houston, also known as Strikeforce: Houston: King Mo vs. Feijao, was a mixed martial arts event that was held by Strikeforce on August 21, 2010 at Toyota Center in Houston, Texas, United States.After Jake Shields vacated the Strikeforce Middleweight Championship, there was much speculation that there would be a tournament for the title. However, Strikeforce announced that Ronaldo Souza and Tim Kennedy would fight for the championship.André Galvão was originally scheduled to face Nate Moore, however Jorge Patino stepped in on late notice for the injured Moore.The Cormier/Riley and Galvão/Patino preliminary bouts streamed live on Sherdog.com.

UFC 86: Jackson vs. Griffin was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) on July 5, 2008, at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. The title bout between Quinton "Rampage" Jackson and Forrest Griffin, coaches on The Ultimate Fighter: Team Rampage vs. Team Forrest, was for Jackson's UFC Light Heavyweight Championship.

Strikeforce Challengers: Villasenor vs. Cyborg was a mixed martial arts event held by Strikeforce. The second Challengers episode took place on June 19, 2009 at the ShoWare Center at Kent, Washington.