LAS VEGAS – UFC president Dana White said the reason his company purchased the World Fighting Alliance last year was simply to acquire the rights to light heavyweight Quinton "Rampage" Jackson.

And while Jackson is one of the world's elite fighters, White's interest in him extended beyond the ring. Jackson's as charismatic a fighter as there is and could be a standup comic were the power to leave his fists.

"The guy breaks me up," said Chuck Liddell, who will defend his 205-pound belt against Jackson Saturday in UFC 71 at the MGM Grand Garden. "He's hilarious."

When Jackson was a star in the Pride Fighting Championship, he would walk around Tokyo playing pranks on people, frequently with a friend who carried a video camera in hand. He gave up on that fairly quickly, though, as his friend, however well-intentioned, wasn't getting the job done.

"I'd do something and everybody would be laughing and I'd look over and he'd be like this (imitating his friend holding the camera and pointing

LAS VEGAS – Quinton "Rampage" Jackson already owns a victory over Chuck Liddell. Here are the things he'll have to do Saturday to unseat Liddell as UFC light heavyweight champion, as well as what Liddell must do to retain his title.

LIDDELL'S KEYS

1. Control the distance. It's no secret that Liddell's best weapon is the power in his right hand. In order for him to use it, he has to find Jackson at the end of his punches. That means controlling the distance and not allowing Jackson to get inside on him.

2. Use his kicks. Liddell started as a kickboxer and he's a superb kicker, though he's become so proficient at striking that he hasn't kicked as much recently. By using his kicks, Liddell will force Jackson to worry about something other than his hands. That will then create an opening for Liddell to land his signature overhand right.

3. Defend the takedown. Liddell is a former college wrestler and has a purple belt in jiu-jitsu, but Jackson would love the fight to be on the ground.

LAS VEGAS – Houston Alexander has the husky, baritone voice of a radio disc jockey. He has the silver tongue and quick wit of a public speaker. And he has the thick arms and chest of a construction worker.

More than anything, though, he has the ear-to-ear grin of a guy who picked up a piece of paper blowing past him on the street only to discover he found a winning lottery ticket.

Alexander, 35, was fighting in obscurity in small clubs in Iowa, working as a DJ at a hip-hop radio station in Omaha, Neb., and lecturing elementary school students on the hip-hop culture when he received a phone call that changed his life.

He was being offered a chance to fight Keith Jardine, one of the top light heavyweights in the world, on a UFC pay-per-view card in front of a sellout crowd at the MGM Grand Garden.

"My manager called and told me about the fight, and I said yes before he had even told me who or when or how much," Alexander said, chuckling.

No matter that it is against Jardine, who perhaps

Only minutes after the HBO broadcast of last week's middleweight title fight between Jermain Taylor and Cory Spinks from Memphis, Tenn., went off the air, longtime partners Jim Lampley and Larry Merchant embraced.

It was the last show Merchant would do before his HBO contract was set to run out at the end of the month. The friends were acknowledging the possibility it might have been the last time they worked together.

But it now appears HBO is moving toward a deal with Merchant to keep him as part of its broadcast crew.

It's the only move that Ross Greenburg, the president of HBO Sports, can make because not only is Merchant still doing expert work but also his would-be replacement, Max Kellerman, is nowhere near qualified.

Merchant is the best ring interviewer in the business and, agree with his opinion or not, he always is the voice of the fan. Kellerman is little more than a self-promoter.

ROY IS DELUSIONAL

Former light heavyweight champion Roy Jones Jr. was never the best

LAS VEGAS – He's Babe Ruth in 1925 or George Mikan in 1950.

Still, since his sport has such a short history, Chuck Liddell isn't sure the tag of best mixed martial artist ever can be properly determined just yet.

"It's such a young sport," said Liddell, the UFC's light heavyweight champion, who defends his belt Saturday at the MGM Grand Garden in a rematch with Quinton "Rampage" Jackson. Jackson is the last man to have beaten Liddell.

Liddell's dominance of the early years of MMA is not as obvious as Ruth's rule over baseball. But if he defeats Jackson, he'll have beaten every man he's ever faced and made a convincing argument for himself.

He's defeated Randy Couture, who currently holds the UFC’s heavyweight title, in two of three matches. He's dominated Tito Ortiz in two fights. He's also beaten notables such as Vitor Belfort, Kevin Randleman, Babalu Sobral, Murilo Bustamante, Alistair Overeem, Jeremy Horn and Jeff Monson.

UFC president Dana White, who once managed Liddell and

LAS VEGAS – A chuckling Dana White recalled how the future of mixed martial arts took a dramatic turn in the wake of a chance encounter at a Las Vegas hotel bar in 1999.

White, now UFC president, was working on the periphery of the boxing business and paid little attention to mixed martial arts.

"I was a complete boxing freak," he said Wednesday. "I was out of my mind for boxing."

White had been training his childhood friends, brothers Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta, in boxing as a way for the Las Vegas casino executives to stay in shape. White and Frank, 44, now chairman of Station Casinos, stopped by the Hard Rock Hotel one night for a drink.

White saw John Lewis, a UFC fighter and a fourth-degree black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. White introduced Lewis to Frank.

"I told Frank, 'You know, that's that Ultimate Fighter guy and I've always wanted to learn submission fighting,'" White said. "And Frank said, 'Yeah, me, too.' And so I talked John into setting up a jiu-jitsu lesson for us. We

Former WWE wrestling champion Brock Lesnar may have to wait to make his professional mixed martial arts debut since his scheduled opponent, Hong Man Choi, was denied a license for medical reasons by the California Athletic Commission.

Mike Kogan of FEG USA, one of the card's promoters, confirmed Tuesday that Choi was declined by the commission but said he did not know why.

The 7-foot-2, nearly 400-pound South Korean is scheduled to face Lesnar in the main event of a June 2 card at the Los Angeles Coliseum. Kogan said the card will go on as planned and that a fight between Royce Gracie and Kazushi Sakuraba would be the main event.

Kogan said he plans to bring Choi to another doctor Wednesday for a second opinion. If he receives a favorable opinion from that doctor, Kogan said he will ask the commission to reconsider its ruling.

Kogan said he understands that it is unusual, but said he hopes that if he can prove Choi is fit to fight, the commission would reverse itself because of the

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – It's becoming a familiar refrain from Jermain Taylor.

Minutes after his ho-hum win at the FedEx Forum Saturday over Cory Spinks, he blamed the lackluster nature of the bout on Spinks' failure to engage him. It's the same thing he did after recent fights against Winky Wright and Bernard Hopkins.

He'll look good the next time, Taylor said, when the opponent isn't afraid of him.

"You can't win a championship by running," Taylor said dismissively of Spinks after capturing an oddly scored split-decision win over the light-punching son of the former heavyweight champion, Leon Spinks.

Gale Van Hoy scored the bout 117-111, or nine rounds to three, for Taylor. Dick Flaherty somehow saw it by the same score, except for Spinks. And Michael Pernick had it 115-113 for Taylor. Yahoo! Sports favored Taylor, 116-112.

Taylor joked about not being marked up for a change – "I can finally see out of both my eyes," he said after the bout – but that's where his problems lie. He does enough