This weekend’s UFC 143: Diaz Vs Condit event will be the first not to feature the traditional gladiator intro that has been a fixture of the promotion’s shows for the best part of a decade.

Instead the UFC are set to unveil a new 60 second opening montage created by production company Digital Domain which will feature footage from 18 classic fights which will be given new life by the addition of “entirely imagined backgrounds” in an attempt to depict the evolution of the sport.

That’s not all though, because this new opening intro required musical accompaniment and so the promotion have gone to the top of the food chain and enlisted the help of award-winning composer extrordinaire Hans Zimmer who’s been at the helm for dozens of Hollywood movies including Gladiator, Inception and The Dark Knight to name but a few.

“The UFC is heading into a new chapter and taking the brand to the next level,” Dana White said in a press release to announce the news. “We’ve had the same show open for the past nine years, and with his monumental FOX deal and the global expansion of the UFC, we wanted to come up with a new show open that paid tribute to the fighters who helped us build the business and grow the sport.”

Personally I can’t wait to see what they’ve done with this and I’m thrilled they’ve gone with someone like Zimmer for the theme since he’s as safe a pair of hands as you could wish for in this situation.

Update: Watch the new intro sequence HERE