Matt Hughes, left, and Royce Gracie hug after Hughes won their Ultimate Fighting Championship bout May 27 in Los Angeles. Photo by K.M. Cannon.

The transition from the old Ultimate Fighting Championship to the new was completed May 27 in Los Angeles, when Matt Hughes destroyed Royce Gracie in less than one round.

Gracie was the Babe Ruth of mixed martial arts. He owned its most recognizable name and most storied wins.

But it was clear from the early seconds of the fight that Gracie was in well over his head.

Gracie, a jiu-jitsu expert, had defeated men who outweighed him by more than 100 pounds. But jiu-jitsu was the only weapon Gracie brought into the fight.

He was almost laughably inept as a striker and had neither the technical knowledge nor sheer physical strength to compete in a wrestling contest with Hughes, a former All-American wrestler in college.

While that bout signified MMA's transition into the modern era, the shift really had begun several years earlier, around the time that Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz first met on April 2, 2004, at the MGM Grand.

They'll meet Saturday in the same ring, a little more than 2 1/2 years since Liddell knocked Ortiz out in the second round.

The rematch of the two former friends is expected to become the richest mixed martial arts bout in history. The live paid gate is likely to exceed $4 million, and floor seats have sold for as much as $2,500 apiece on eBay.

The pay-per-view sales are expected to top 1 million, the first time in MMA history that number will be reached.

Much of it is due to the evolution of the sport's athletes into true mixed martial artists who are masters of all disciplines.

"That first generation of fighter came along and it was really a situation where guys were trying to prove which discipline was the best," said former UFC heavyweight and light heavyweight champion Randy Couture, whose Extreme Couture MMA academy on West Sunset and Arville is set to open Saturday. "I think I fit into that second generation, where we came with one established skill and had to learn the rest.

"It's not that the athletes are so much better now, because there have been a lot of great athletes in the sport for a number of years. But now, this third generation, they're really training for this from Day 1. They started in it not to get a specific belt but to become mixed martial artists."

Liddell is known as a fearsome striker, the rare man who can punch hard while backing up. He knocked out highly regarded veteran Babalu Sobral in the first round in an August match at Mandalay Bay as he was moving back from an advancing Sobral.

But Liddell was a star wrestler at Cal Poly and he's a black belt in jiu jitsu. He's one of the most feared kickers in the sport and knocked Sobral out the first time they meet with a foot instead of a fist.

There's no easy way to attack Liddell because he is versed in all aspects of the game. It is a must for the modern fighter, unbeaten welterweight Diego Sanchez said.

"If you show a weakness in one area, guys are going to go for it and make you pay," Sanchez said. "And if you only have one skill you bring to the fight, you're in big, big trouble."

Gone are the days when men like Tank Abbott, little more than barroom brawlers, can legitimately compete at the highest level.

Abbott has been one of the sport's biggest names -- as much for his years in pro wrestling as anything -- but he's won only one fight in 8 1/2 years.

UFC president Dana White said the result of the evolution is that the outcome of fights now comes down to who is the most physically skilled.

In the old days, a guy like Gracie could defeat men who were stronger and quicker and better athletes because they had never seen anyone with jiu-jitsu skills and had no idea how to defend against it.

The modern MMA fighter, White said, has a mix of everything in his game, and the difference at the highest levels comes down to minute differences in physical abilities.

"It's going to be, 'Who is the best athlete? Who hits that little bit harder? Who is a little quicker?" White said. "Look at a kid like Diego. He was always great on the ground. But he's focused on his striking, and at the beginning of the year, he said he'd get his first knockout. And I'll be damned if he didn't knock out Joe Riggs, even though I thought there was no way he would do that.

"But that was the classic MMA knockout. He hurt him with the big punch. He caught him with the knee when (Riggs got up and charged him) and he finished him on the ground."

White said the rise in the sport's popularity and the increasing money fighters are making is drawing a better quality of athlete.

Couture said he's seeing that in the gym, where fighters he's training like welterweight Mike Pyle and lightweight Clay Maynard are examples of what White calls "the 21st century mixed martial artist."

"The sport has really grown and evolved so much in the time I've been in it," Couture said. "To see kids like this, who only want to be mixed martial artists and who are so dedicated mentally and physically to doing what they need to do to succeed, is evidence that we're going to be see a whole different kind of fight in the future."