Big news for UFC fans and action figure collectors struck the MMA community today as the UFC announced a 4 year license agreement with toy maker, Jakks Pacific.

UFC president Dana White, accompanied by UFC heavyweight Brock Lesnar, made the announcement today on CNBC’s “Power Lunch” program. The UFC confirmed the deal on their website and also talked about their global merchandising agenda for 2008 which includes bic lighters, Silver Buffalo watches and the availability of UFC apparel at JC Penney stores.

“This puts our merchandise on a global scale,” said Randy Klein, the UFC’s Vice President of Licensing and Merchandising. “The fans have been waiting for UFC product for years and now we’ve joined up with some of the biggest and best companies in the world to produce authentic UFC-licensed products.”

Jakks Pacific, known for their WWE wrestling figures, is a perfect fit for the UFC’s exclusive action figure collection. Launched in 1995, the company is well known for their toys but also produces leisure products and writing instruments.

The UFC’s exclusive action figures and accessories, including an octagon playset, will be available next Christmas. Fighters expected in the first launch will include Chuck Liddell, Forrest Griffin, Antonio “Minotauro” Nogueira, Brock Lesnar, Michael Bisping and Anderson Silva. Role-play items based on the UFC brand and it’s current roster of fighters will also be available.

The UFC won’t be the first organization to put out their own line of action figures. Former Pride FC has put out their line of caricature-based MMA action figures, called “HAO” figures, for years. More recently, Round 5 MMA released series one of their MMA action figures collection which includes Tito Ortiz, Randy Couture, Quinton Jackson and Matt Hughes.

Along with announcing the UFC’s license deal with Jakks, Dana White also spent some time on the show debunking some of the rumors surrounding the organization in recent weeks. More specifically, White put to rest a lot of the speculation surrounding Thursday’s big announcement which is still set to take place.

White confirmed the following rumors as untrue:

• Floyd Mayweather joining the UFC
• WWE partnering with the UFC
• The UFC appearing on FOX, ABC or another network
• The UFC going public

Click here to see the video of the announcement as well as a quick shot of the new figures.

Stand by for more exciting MMA news!

Round 5 MMA’s exclusive MMA action figures are now shipping.

Originally scheduled to ship by Christmas 2007, the date was pushed back to March due to a quality control issue. Well after months of anticipation from collectors all around the world, the figures are finally in stock and ready to ship.

These one of a kind MMA action figures are 6" tall and feature 8 points of articulation. The head, waist, arms and legs are all moving parts. Series one features 4 figures including Tito Ortiz, Randy Couture, Quinton Jackson (chain included) and Matt Hughes.

The figures are sculpted by David Cortes, famous McFarlane artist and owner of INU Art design studio. Cortes is best known for sculpting comic based characters such as Spawn, Hellboy and the Incredible Hulk. These caricature style figures are extremely detailed and feature an incredible likeness to the actual fighters.

You can purchase the entire set ($64.99) or individual fighters ($19.99)

• Purchase Randy “The Natural” Couture MMA Action Figure
• Purchase Tito “Huntington Beach Bad Boy” Ortiz MMA Action Figure
• Purchase Matt Hughes MMA Action Figure
• Purchase Quinton “Rampage” Jackson MMA Action Figure

Stand by for more MMA news at a fighters pace!