Prominent mixed martial arts agent Ken Pavia has been accused of illegally passing on trade secrets to Bellator Fighting Championships, according to a lawsuit filed Thursday by Zuffa LLC, the parent company of the Ultimate Fighting Championship and World Extreme Cagefighting.

Prominent mixed martial arts agent Ken Pavia has been accused of illegally passing on trade secrets to Bellator Fighting Championships, according to a lawsuit filed Thursday by Zuffa LLC, the parent company of the Ultimate Fighting Championship and World Extreme Cagefighting.

All too quietly Yushin Okami has established himself as the most successful Japanese mixed martial artist inside the UFC.

When Jon Jones steps into the Octagon on Sunday night against Vladimir Matyushenko, the 23-year-old light heavyweight will have already been tabbed by many as mixed martial arts' can't-miss prospect.

@JosPear Keep hearing Chael Sonnen has a tough chin. Isn't Chris Leben's chin tougher and Anderson Silva put him down? Are we sold on this bout being for real?

The concept is simple enough. Put fighters short on experience and long on talent on television with space to breathe and grow. Provide them a road and a map to more meaningful fights and bigger paydays. As theory, Strikeforce Challengers (and the ShoXC cards that preceded them on Showtime) is a lovely concept, one that's graduated several mixed martial artists to a tougher school of fighting.

Jake Shields can once again go about following his bliss.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. -- Vladimir Matyushenko is officially in the midst of his 29th "hell week," which for a fighter really means 14 days of suffering. Preparing to meet highly touted light heavyweight prospect Jon Jones on Aug. 1 in his first UFC-promoted main event since the fall of 2001, Matyushenko, who has 17 years and 17 fights on his opponent, is counting down the days toward one of the most significant bouts of his understated career.

Not yet fully fleshed out, the fight calendar for the back half of 2010 already reads like a best-of list. While this is sure to get augmented as promoters update their schedules for the remainder of the year, it's clear there's more than enough mixed martial arts to keep fight fans occupied. Here are the 10 fights (plus 10 more honorable mentions) I'm most looking forward to:

Midway through 2009, I wrote of a "year's worth of action in six months time." Flip the calendar 12 times, here we are again. The first half of 2010 was as busy and meaningful a stretch to MMA as any during its steeply inclined rise to prominence. While plenty remains to be settled as summer devolves into winter, the following fighters, fights, submissions and knockouts could all make a good case to be the year's best when it's all said and done.