Mike Chiappetta • E-mail

The year 2008 was one of expansion and contraction for the world of mixed martial arts; expansion for the UFC, contraction for nearly everyone else.

The UFC saw the rise of a new star, the return of an old one, and in the process generated its biggest year-to-date in terms of pay-per-view revenue. Meanwhile, around the larger MMA world, the IFL and EliteXC both died, exhausted and penniless (more on that later).

No one man dominated the sport’s headlines in 2008, but two men — Brock Lesnar and Kimbo Slice — seemed to capture the public’s imagination for very different reasons. Lesnar made his UFC debut in February; by November he was the UFC champion. Slice opened the year as a one-man phenomenon, and closed it as a fractured myth and the symbol of a fallen company.

Both fighters seemed to resonate with the mainstream sports public because of their larger-than-life presences. The hulking Lesnar checks in at 6-foot-3 and cuts weight to make the 265-pound heavyweight limit. He was a onetime NCAA heavyweight wrestling champion who later gained a following when he wrestled professionally with the WWE. But he hated the travel and time demands, and quit despite being one of the company’s most popular stars. After nearly making the Minnesota Vikings despite not having played football since high school, Lesnar turned to MMA, convincing UFC President Dana White he was ready despite a frightening lack of experience.

White signed him and threw him into the deep end of the pool. In his first bout, he lost by kneebar submission to former UFC champ Frank Mir, but his potential was eye-popping. Then, he manhandled respected veteran Heath Herring his next time out before knocking out the legendary Randy Couture for the belt.

In the process, Lesnar helped vault the UFC towards what will likely be the biggest cash haul in pay-per-view history (UFC has one final event on Dec. 27 to break the record and is expected to do so). According to a report from Yahoo! Sports, Lesnar was responsible for three of the top five pay-per-view buyrates of the year, including his match with Couture, which sold an estimated 1.01 million pay-per-view orders.

While Lesnar had the legitimacy of collegiate wrestling to help his transition, Slice had no such history. Instead, Slice – born Kevin Ferguson – made his reputation as a fearsome street fighter, earning underground infamy through Youtube videos that spread like wildfire.

From the beginning, MMA insiders knew that Slice’s popularity far surpassed his skill level, but EliteXC still chose him as the foundation of the company. On May 31, it looked like a stroke of genius when 6.5 million people tuned in to the first-ever primetime network MMA broadcast to watch Slice knock out James Thompson. But the euphoria was short-lived when Slice was knocked out in 14 seconds by journeyman Seth Petruzelli, a last-minute replacement for the injured Ken Shamrock. Making it worse, the controversial back-room dealings of the Petruzelli-Slice fight, christened “Standgate” by the MMA media, led to the company’s demise just just two weeks later. EliteXC, however, still hopes to rise again from the ashes, as reports have suggested a buyer may scoop up the remaining assets and re-launch the company.

INTERACTIVE MMA photo year in review Check out all the knockouts, triumphs and lows of 2008 in pictures.

But while Lesnar and Slice dominated headlines, other major moments dotted the scene.

• Forrest Griffin and Rashad Evans went from reality stars to MMA champs
• Gina Carano showed her star power as an MMA draw
• Strikeforce became the first non-UFC company to do a $1 million live gate at Strikeforce: Shamrock vs. Le
• Strikeforce also became the first MMA company to be seen on a network with its “Strikeforce on NBC program”
• The UFC set an all-time North American MMA attendance record when 21,390 fans filled Montreal’s Bell Centre to watch Georges St. Pierre defeat Matt Serra
• Affliction launched an MMA company
• Randy Couture and the UFC buried the hatchet, bringing the legend back into the fold
• Quinton “Rampage” Jackson lived the lows (arrest, mental health evalulation) and highs (KO'ing Wanderlei Silva in the third fight of their trilogy)
• Mike Brown ended Urijah Faber’s run as WEC featherweight champion
• The MMA world mourned the loss of fighter/writer/adventurer Evan Tanner, who died at 37 after getting lost during a solo camping trip in the California desert.
• The bodies of MMA fighter Justin Levens and his wife Sarah were discovered in their homes in what police believe to be a murder-suicide

Throughout the year, UFC President Dana White tightened his grip on the MMA market. While Strikeforce has done well, the farthest east the company has come in 16 events is Colorado, effectively making it a regional promotion for now. Affliction had one show in July, then canceled its follow-up largely due to poor ticket sales. Then they signed a co-promotion deal with Golden Boy that was trumpeted as a call to the mainstream, but Golden Boy undercut their own deal when they announced a boxing match for Jan. 24, on the same night and in the same market (Southern California) as Affliction’s next event. So for now, they’re spinning their wheels.

The UFC stands well-positioned for ‘09, poised to enter new markets. First, they put an exclamation point on ’08 with their UFC 92 curtain-call; then, they’ll propel forward with their opening shot of ‘09: a superfight between lightweight champion B.J. Penn and welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre that will take place on Jan. 31.