Even though I love watching the old shows I'm really hooked on the more recent ones. I don't know the older guys as well since a lot of them haven't stuck around, such as Ken Shamrock, who's gone through about 50 UFCs. Some fighters look like they were just picked up randomly off the street and thrown in the Octagon. I don't know what it is, but watching the old DVDs gets me excited for the new shows. Every time a new pay-per-view comes around I get more and more excited. I get so excited that I accidentally order it on all the TVs in my house, so I have it playing on every TV when it comes on. I'm basically double paying for every pay-per-view. My excuse when the bill comes is, "Well, what if I run out to the garage? I need to be able to watch it from the garage!"

Amanda Beard's Top 5 UFC Fights 1. Ken Shamrock v. Tito Ortiz I, II, III: All three rights were brutal because these guys hate each other. Anytime you know that the fighters genuinely hate each other, it adds something extra to the fights. I just wish one of them would have ended in a knockout. 2. George St. Pierre v. Matt Hughes (UFC650): This was a great fight except Hughes kept getting hit in that, um area down there. I really want to see a rematch. 3. Randy Couture v. Tim Sylvia (UFC68): A great fight that meant more because of the way Sylvia had won his last fight. Sylvia fought Tim Monson at UFC 65 danced around for 25 minutes just trying to protect his title. I really think Couture knew what he had to do. Seeing him come out of retirement to demolish him was amazing. 4. Royce Gracie v. Ken Shamrock (UFC 5): One of the classics. It's always great to watch these old UFC fights when Shamrock and Gracie were in their prime. It was one of the longest UFC fights ever. It went 30 minutes and then they just continued. They finally called it a draw after 36 minutes because they couldn't let them continue, but it was amazing. 5. Royce Gracie v. Matt Hughes (UFC 60): This was the first event I ordered live on pay-per-view and I remember watching Gracie get caught in an armbar and he actually hyperextended his arm but his face was normal. He didn't tap out, nothing. I was watching his arm get bent the wrong way and he was just so calm. I couldn't stop watching.

While I love watching UFC, my boyfriend is really into Pride, which I haven't gotten into as much. Pride is a little gnarlier since they don't have as many rules, but that might change since UFC just bought Pride. I do like the fact that Pride penalizes fighters for not being active because otherwise you get a fight with a guy who just dances around for 25 minutes -- a tactic used by Tim Sylvia when he was the heavyweight champion.

I was really excited when Randy Couture came back out of retirement and beat Sylvia to win the championship. It was one of the best fights I've ever watched. Couture had this frustrated look on his face and I'm sure he was just like all of us, watching Sylvia's fights and thinking, "What are you doing? Trying to hold onto your title? You're not giving a show. Why are you doing this?"

I got to meet Couture at the Cedars-Sinai Sports Spectacular in Los Angeles not too long ago. I had my back facing him and my boyfriend saw him and said, "Randy Couture!" I literally jumped out of my chair and sprinted over there. Couture was trying to catch up with up with some big football player who I should've recognized, but I was so focused on Randy. I stuffed myself in there and siad, "Hi, I am a huge fan!" I've never done that before but I didn't know what to say to him. I really wanted him to know that I really am a big fan. I like all the fighters and respect what they do. I have a feeling, though, that he thought I was just a groupie or something. I don't think he knew who I was. I wasn't going to give him a bio, but he was so sweet. Even though I was being crazy, he was so nice. I didn't want to bother him so I just introduced myself and left him alone.

My favorite fighter, though, is Tito Ortiz. I wear his jersey for all the fights -- not just when he's fighting, but when anybody's fighting. I love his attitude. I also love watching the light heavyweights, such as Ortiz and Chuck Liddell, fight. They're just so active. If you watch lightweights and then watch heavyweights, it's like, "Whoa, slow mo!"

As much as I've been following the UFC, I never know what's going to happen next. It's been the year of the upsets so far and you know what? I love it. That makes things interesting. Every time I think I know what's going to happen, the opposite happens. I just knew that Matt Hughes was going to beat George St. Pierre and then St. Pierre wins. Then I just knew that St. Pierre was going to beat Matt Serra and then Serra wins. That's great. As soon as I get confident in a fighter and start thinking that they're going to dominate, they get taken down in the next fight, and that's cool. That's why I love this sport so much. You just never know what to expect.