DaytonDailyNews.com

The UFC couldn't have done tonight's event any better.

UFC champion vs. PRIDE champion. A major grudge match. Top prospects. An international audience. And, of course, it's all free of charge to anyone with basic cable; there's no pricey $40 pay-per-view fee with this one.

UFC 75 takes place today at the O2 Arena in London, England, and — much to the delight of some giddy television executives — airs (via tape delay) on Spike TV.

Quite simply, it's one of the fan-friendliest events in the organization's 14-year history.

Earlier this year, Zuffa LLC (the parent company of the UFC) bought out its biggest competitor: the Japanese-based PRIDE Fighting Championships. The two organizations had each built and promoted its own stable of champions, and for the first time ever, two of them will finally square off.

Quinton "Rampage" Jackson (27-6) will put the UFC's 205-pound title on the line, and Dan Henderson (22-5) ponies up his PRIDE belt.

"After this fight, there's only one belt left because there will be no more PRIDE title," said Henderson, a 1992 and 1996 Olympic Greco-Roman wrestler who also owns PRIDE's 185-pound belt. "There's no doubt that the winner of the fight will be the undisputed 205-pound champion of the world."

The televised portion of the event airs on Spike TV at 9 p.m.

Other televised bouts

• Famed heavyweight and 2006 Pride Grand Prix champion Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic (22-5-2) will try to rebound from a devastating knockout loss to Gabriel Gonzaga back in April. He now takes on a talented (but unpolished) Cheick Kongo (10-3-1), whom oddsmakers have tapped as the night's biggest underdog.

• Cincinnati native Matt Hamill (3-0) returns to the UFC — and a hostile crowd. The former NCAA Division III wrestling champion was born deaf and has become an inspiration for other hearing-impaired athletes. But Hamill faces heavily favored light heavyweight Michael Bisping (13-0), a Manchester native. The London crowd is sure to be on his side.

• Former professional boxer Marcus Davis (12-3), who trains at Jorge Gurgel's camp in West Chester, goes for his 10th consecutive MMA victory — and fifth straight win in the UFC — against noted English striker Paul Taylor (8-1-1).

• After more than 200 underground and amateur fights, hard-hitting Houston Alexander (7-1) stunned rising contender Keith Jardine with a 48-second TKO at UFC 71 in May. Was it a fluke, or is the Nebraska hip-hop DJ the real deal? His fight against UFC veteran Alessio Sakara (11-5) should give us some answers.

Dann Stupp is editor-in-chief of MMAjunkie.com, a content-partner site of Yahoo! Sites. For the latest UFC and MMA news, go to