This was a monster year for MMA. There can be no denying that combat sports have reclaimed their spot in the sports mainstream. The biggest MMA stories of 2007 were talked about at water coolers across the nation. Here are 10 of them.

UFC buys PRIDE Fighting Championships, marking end of an era in Japan
Quinton Jackson upsets Chuck Liddell for UFC Light Heavyweight title
Randy Couture comes out of retirement to beat Tim Sylvia for Heavyweight title
Randy Couture attempts to sever ties with UFC, citing low payouts
Fedor Emilianenko spurns UFC, competes for BodogFight and M-1 Global
Chuck Liddell beats Wanderlei Silva in long-awaited (and classic) bout
Mark Cuban invests in MMA, debuts HDNet Fights
Brock Lesnar wins K-1 debut, signs with UFC
Keith Jardine stuns Chuck Liddell, Forrest Griffin upsets  at UFC 76
K-1’s Dynamite!! USA flops miserably in front of papered Los Angeles crowd.

Chuck Liddell Vs. Keith Jardine: UFC 76 (Images)

Despite Chuck Liddell putting up a terrible effort against Keith Jardine at “UFC 76: Knockout” on Sept. 22, he will still be able to nurse his ego with thousand dollar bills.

According to the California State Athletic Commission, Liddell earned a cool $500,000 (despite his lose) while Jardine received a mere $14,000 for his win. (I wonder what the pay check for monopolizer Dana White was?)

Here are the official payouts for UFC 76: Knockout

Keith Jardine ($14,000) def. Chuck Liddell ($500,000)
Forrest Griffin ($44,000) def. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua ($150,000)
Jon Fitch ($44,000) def. Diego Sanchez ($22,000)
“Lyoto” Ryoto Machida ($50,000) def. Kazuhiro Nakamura ($20,000)
Tyson Griffin ($24,000) def. Thiago Tavares ($9,000)
Rich Clementi ($24,000) def. Anthony Johnson ($5,000)
Jeremy Stephens ($6,000) def. Diego Saraiva ($3,000)
Christian Wellisch ($14,000) def. Scott Junk ($4,000)
Matt Wiman ($16,000) def. Michihiro Omigawa ($5,000)

So, where does Chuck Liddell go from here? He lost his second career match to Quinton “Rampage” Jackson in May, and then came out on the short end of Saturday’s split decision to unheralded Keith Jardine. Liddell was anything but sharp in both fights.

Liddell is reportedly thinking of retirement as he nears his 38th birthday. But there are still big-money fights available to him, and with fellow light-heavyweight Mauricio “Shogun” Rua also suffering defeat at UFC 76, the division is wide open. Someone has to face Jackson; Liddell will eventually get his shot if he wants it.

That desire is the key to victory. Liddell was sorely lacking his usual killer instinct against Jackson – no kicks, no grappling, just a passive attempt to catch his opponent coming in. The game plan will surely change in a rematch to take advantage of Liddell’s underrated (and underused) jiu-jitsu skills. That is, if Liddell wants it.

Forrest Griffin vs. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua: UFC 76 Full Fight (Video)

Here is the complete full length fight video of Forrest Griffin vs. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua at UFC 76 Knockout. Great fight!

Keith Jardine Vs Chuck Liddell

Chuck Liddell vs. Keith Jardine: UFC 76 Knockout Full Fight (Video)

You don’t have to hunt high and low for UFC 76 footage on the Web. Want to see how Keith Jardine scored his big upset victory over Chuck Liddell? Just press play!

Move ahead to 3:36 into the clip and you’ll see Jardine land a solid left hand to Liddell’s jaw. Up until that point, Jardine looked ungainly in the octagon. Then he started taking the fight to the former champion, keeping Liddell dancing around the perimeter and effectively fleeing when required.

The telling blow lands at about 7:45 of the clip: a perfectly timed right to the button as Liddell was attempting to follow up a left jab. Liddell got back up almost immediately, but Jardine continued to lay in with right kicks to Liddell’s lead left leg. Jardine obviously had a sound strategy for this matchup, and he stuck with it throughout the final two rounds.

Bonus: Zip ahead to the 20:47 mark and watch Wanderlei Silva react to the judges’ decision. He just saw what would have been a big payday against Liddell go down the drain.

To say the MMA world has been turned on its ear would be an understatement. The two biggest names at UFC 76 went down to defeat Saturday, locking in a chokehold on the chalkeaters.

The main event saw “The Iceman” Chuck Liddell (-450) lose a split decision to lightly regarded Keith Jardine. It could have easily been a unanimous decision; Jardine (+300) took control of the fight early in the second round with a devastating right hand.

The other shocker of the night saw Mauricio “Shogun” Rua (-295) put up a surprisingly poor effort in his submission loss to Forrest Griffin. Rua tired quickly as Griffin (+235) won the first two rounds, then the underdog secured a rear-naked choke with just 15 seconds left in the fight.

These two upsets drive home two important lessons that we’ve been learning this year: PRIDE fighters were overvalued, and The Ultimate Fighter graduates were undervalued.

One of the undercard fights on UFC 76 is Michihiro Omigawa (4-4-0) vs. Matt Wiman (7-3-0). These two guys are both hungry to improve their MMA careers and take advantage of their UFC opportunities. The fight promises to be an aggressive battle with both fighters winning most of their fights via TKO.

Omigawa has won his last three fights in the Deep Impact promotion and is looking to stay up in the big show with a win Saturday night. Matt Wiman is coming off of an impressive win against Brian Geraghty on the finale of The Ultimate Fighter 5. He has lost three of his last five fights and the outcome will depend on which Wiman shows up to fight against Omigawa on Saturday night.

If it’s the aggressive ground-and-pound Wiman, he should control the fight.

There’s no title on the line Saturday in the main event of UFC 76 in Anaheim. But it’s still the main event. That’s how important Chuck Liddell is.

Despite suffering his second career loss to Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and dropping the Light Heavyweight strap, Liddell remains the face of UFC and of MMA in general. “The Iceman” is a crossover star, appearing in movies and television and gracing the cover of ESPN The Magazine. People will pay good money to watch him fight Keith Jardine in what should be a lopsided main event – Liddell is the biggest chalk on the nine-bout card at –450.

According to the folks at Sherdog, all Liddell needs to do to get another title shot is beat his next two opponents, starting with Jardine. It may look like UFC is protecting its top asset, but not so fast: His next fight could be against Wanderlei Silva, who was originally expected to meet Liddell this Saturday.

Where’s Justin McCully, you might ask? Fight fans were looking forward to his PPV debut in the octagon this Saturday against Christian Wellisch, but manager Ken Pavia said last week that McCully injured his elbow during training. Into the breach comes Hawaii’s Scott Junk, who brings a 6-1 MMA record and 265 pounds of emotion to his first major fight.

Junk’s last two bouts were with Edmonton-based Maximum Fighting Championship, where he beat Dominic Richard and Jimmy Ambriz with little trouble. Things should be significantly more challenging on Saturday. Wellisch fights out of the American Kickboxing Academy and holds an MMA record of 7-3 that includes a unanimous decision over Anthony Perosh at UFC 66.

Wellisch, aka “The Hungarian Nightmare,” cites added experience in grappling and jiu-jitsu tournaments, which should help him overcome the 30 pounds he’s giving up to Junk in this preliminary matchup. Junk will also be fighting less than two weeks’ notice.

Jeremy Stephens’ UFC debut didn’t go as well as he would have liked. He submitted to a Din Thomas armbar at UFC 71, but the Des Moines native is back for more this Saturday at UFC 76 in Anaheim. Stephens will be matched up in preliminary lightweight action against Brazil’s Diego Saraiva.

The man they call “Li’l Heathen” is 9-2 in MMA action. After the loss to Thomas, UFC officials wisely relaxed their three-fight contract and allowed Stephens to return briefly to his old stomping grounds at Midwest Cage Championships. He dusted off previously undefeated Nick Walker in July to get back on the winning track.

Saraiva fights out of Atlanta and has two UFC appearances to his credit, both losses via decision – to Dustin Hazelett at UFC 67 and Jorge Gurgel at UFC 73. Saraiva broke Gurgel’s jaw in that barnburner, which was given “Match of the Night” honors. Saturday’s tilt should be just as wild.