John Albert didn't truly fall in love with mixed martial arts (MMA) until he got rocked in a sparring session.

The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) season 14 veteran took his licks in training and realized that even the worst case scenarios weren't that bad. He was actually invigorated by his mistake and that's the type of attitude it takes to be a top level fighter.

While things didn't go his way on TUF 14, Albert holds the distinction of being the only man on the show who faced the eventual winner, John Dodson, and didn't get knocked out. In fact, he more than held his own in losing a decision to "The Magician."

After destroying Dustin Pague on the show finale, Albert was offered a tremendous leap in competition in Ivan Menjivar, a man who's battled the likes of Georges St. Pierre and Urijah Faber in a career that's spanned over 10 years. He'll take on "The Pride of El Salvidor" this Wednesday night (February 15, 2012) at UFC on Fuel TV in Omaha, Nebraska.

"Prince" filled in much of his background in part one of our interview with him. In speaking with MMAmania.com for part two, the Victory Athletics fighter discussed his 2012 goals, facing a tremendous experience gap and why taking on a tough challenge like Ivan Menjivar is the perfect step for him at this point in his career.

Check it out:

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Add another one.

The UFC on Fox 3 event scheduled for May 5, 2012, at the IZOD Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey, has added another big fight for its main card to be broadcast on network television.

As announced by UFC President Dana White on Twitter, Josh Koscheck will attempt to avenge the defeat of his friend and training partner, Jon Fitch, when he takes on Johny Hendricks.

Koscheck is coming off a unanimous decision victory over Mike Pierce at UFC 143 this past Sat., Feb. 4, 2012, in Las Vegas, Nevada. He wasn't exactly impressive but a win is a win and it puts him in position to do what his buddy Fitch could not.

If he's able to.

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It may seem hard to believe but the stars of the first season of The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) are some of the Ultimate Fighting Championship's (UFC) most tenured fighters. After nearly seven years, the likes of Forrest Griffin, Kenny Florian and Josh Koscheck have just about shed their reality TV roots as they have become better known for defeating mixed martial arts (MMA) legends or winning championships.

Another such fighter is Diego Sanchez who like his fellow TUF 1 middleweight finalist Kenny Florian has never quite been able to grab ahold of the brass ring and make the transition from contender to champion. Both "KenFlo" and Sanchez have been to the big dance at 155 pounds but each ran into the (nearly) immovable lightweight object known as B.J. Penn.

Now more than two years removed from his UFC 107 main event, Sanchez finds himself one win away from perhaps another title shot. Possibly challenging for Carlos Condit's newly won interim welterweight title or perhaps tangling with Georges St. Pierre when the French-Canadian heals up could be in the TUF veteran's near future should he pick up the W on Wednesday (Feb. 15).

Standing in his way is Jake Ellenberger who is fresh off an impressive knockout over Jake Shields. A solid wrestler with devastating knockout power, Ellenberger is hoping to lay one of his fists directly on his opponent's chin in the main event of the inaugural UFC on Fuel TV event. But Sanchez is no stranger to heavy-handed opponents. Whereas Florian left his bout with the Hawaiian relatively unscathed -- as much as one can when having stepped inside the Octagon -- "The Dream" was permanently disfigured after hooking up with "The Prodigy," the new bearer of a scar from a chasm-like gash on his forehead.

It was a similar experience the Greg Jackson fighter had when he took on Martin Kampmann nearly a year ago. Let's take a look at that bout, complete with its controversial decision.

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63 straight victories, 37-0 as an amateur kickboxer, 20-0 as a pro kickboxer and 6-0 in mixed martial arts (MMA) including a successful Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) debut at UFC 143 last weekend (Sat. Feb. 4, 2012).

That is the impressive resume of one Stephen Thompson, the welterweight division's newest gem.

Training out of TriStar Gym in Montreal alongside UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St. Pierre, "Wonderboy" made a successful transition from the world of kickboxing to MMA in 2010. Five wins later, he finds himself right smack in the middle of a shark infested 170-pound division in the world's largest MMA promotion.

After nearly decapitating Dan Stittgen in Las Vegas at UFC 143 with a perfectly placed head kick in round one, Thompson put everyone on notice and proved that his perfect record is well deserved.

With nothing but upside from the young kickboxer and the Octagon jitters out of the way, "Wonderboy" has his sights set on taking the UFC welterweight division by storm. He's already got a nice start, earning a $65,000 bonus check thanks to his "Knockout of the Night" performance in his debut.

Can the fairly new MMA star keep his momentum going under the bright lights against the big boys?

Appearing on Pro MMA Radio, Thompson talks about what it's like to compete under the Zuffa banner and where he draws his MMA inspiration from.

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When it comes to rivalries in mixed martial arts (MMA) today, none are as bitter and rooted in reality as the one between current Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Bantamweight Champion Dominick Cruz and Urijah Faber.

The two arch enemies have a rivalry that dates back five years to their days spent competing in the now defunct World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC) organization. The two first met at WEC 26 on March 24, 2007, which saw Faber hand Cruz his first and only loss to date in the very first round via guillotine choke to retain the WEC Featherweight championship.

Soon after WEC closed up shop, "The California Kid" and "The Dominator" both made the move to the UFC and met once again. This time, they competed in the 135-pound division and it was Cruz who was the bearer of the title.

After a five round war at UFC 132 on July 2, 2011, Cruz was awarded the unanimous decision victory, tying up the score at one a piece.

Now, the top two bantamweight fighters in the world will go at it one more time in what will complete the trilogy in their bitter rivalry and will remove all doubt as to who really is the best fighter between the two.

Appearing on Pro MMA Radio, Faber talks about the great opportunity both he and Cruz have in being the first ever coaches in the new era on The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) that will now air on FX and what it will be like to be around someone for three months that he is not very fond of:

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"I love to watch that movie Cinderella Man. He comes from the top and he goes to the bottom and he makes it back up to the top. I just kind of see myself as a guy like him. Before I was just fighting for my own selfish goals. I had the goal of being champion, and that's fine; that was my dream. Now I have better reasons to train harder, to fight harder. It's not just me anymore. I have my wife, my son; it's a lot more. I feel like I'm a grizzly bear protecting the cubs. ... I'm just going to fight my hardest. I'm going to fight with all my heart. I'm going to leave it all in the cage."

-- UFC welterweight contender Diego Sanchez talks with USA Today and during the course of the conversation reveals that he seems himself as a modern day version of "The Cinderella Man," James Braddock, inspired by his repeated watching of the 2005 movie release of the same name. Braddock, of course, was a heavyweight boxer who saw his career fall to pieces thanks to injury. However, he managed to battle back through hard times during the Great Depression to win the heavyweight title despite being a 10-to-1 underdog. How does Sanchez relate to all this? He had a similar fall from grace not so long ago. He reached the pinnacle of the sport when he was given a title shot against B.J. Penn but he was absolutely destroyed in that fight. The toll it took on him, not just physically but mentally, resulted in his hitting rock bottom, as he put it. He was apparently scammed out of $175,000 and deep in debt with nowhere to turn. But he's slowly scratched and clawed his way out of that hole and is now on a two-fight winning streak. A victory over Jake Ellenberger at UFC on FUEL TV 1 next Wed., Feb. 15, 2012, surely puts him high up the 170-pound ladder. Maybe he won't finish the story like Braddock by upsetting the dominant division champion but at the very least he's climbed out of the doldrums to become a success story. Right?

The UFC on FUEL TV 3 fight card, scheduled to take place on May 15, 2012, from the Patriot Center in Fairfax, Virginia, is quickly filling out.

The promotion recently announced the addition of three more contests to the cable broadcasted event, including Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 7 winner Amir Sadollah taking on Jorge Lopez in a welterweight war.

Also booked for the card is a lightweight battle pitting the returning Aaron Riley, who had previously had his jaw broken by Anthony Ferguson, against Cody McKenzie, who is hanging on to his job by a thread after back-to-back submission losses.

Finally, a middleweight tilt is set for the card, as Dongi Yang will try to rebound from his recent loss to Court McGee against Brad Tavares, who is also trying to erase his first career defeat, which he suffered at the hands of Aaron Simpson in July of last year.

Here's how the UFC on FUEL TV 3 fight card looks with these additions:

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