People get married for a number of different reasons, love is only
one of them.  Actually depending on the circumstance a marriage of
convenience can last very long.  You marry someone you think you want to
spend the rest of your days with.  I can understand not Shampoo since he'd
have to move to China, learn Chinese, etc.  Ukyou is actually a good
marriage prospect along these lines.  Akane is.. well.. Akane, what can she
offer in a marriage that Ukyou cannot?

Akane can offer him herself, the only person Ranma loves ... She can offer
him to join the muusabetsu kakutou ryuu together ... she can offer him a
home to live and a place to take over when they're married ... Ukyou can
only offer a resturant. Can you see Ranma becoming a waiter at Ucchan's?
That's what Ukyou wants, from all her day dreams - either a house husband,
to look after the kids while she cooks, or Ranma to help with the cooking.
Ranma's not the kind of guy who'd cook for a living, as shown when Nodoka
turns up and Ranma and Akane try to out-cook each other. Ukyou'd just be
a push over, as well. Nothing to keep him interested - Ranma and Akane have
passion, as shown in their fighting and almost kisses and things. Ranma
doesn't have ANY passion at all for Ukyou. He'd rather get rid of her than
marry her. Akane can give Ranma a lot more, both physically and emotionally,
than Ukyou ever could. Ukyou's selfish in her love, and doesn't give a
damn about what Ranma wants ... if she did, she'd have left instead of
trying to do sneaky things to get Ranma to marry her when she was 'sick'.

Doesn't matter what everyone else thinks. It's only what Ranma thinks.
And he wants to marry Akane because he loves her. If you want evidence
of where Ranma says he loves her, he says it in the final story. Also,

<snip>
It seems that Akane has more sex-appeal for Ranma in her pinky than the
others have in their whole bodies if ALMOST kissing him can do that to him,
when even full-body contact can't for Shamp's and Ukyou.

Game, set, and match!

        Let us not forget that all the characters in question are 16 years
old.  When any of them mention love it's a questionable thing.  As for sex
appeal, Ranma has a hard time handling any affection.  If anything
affection from Akane is so unexpected he has a harder time dealing with it,
like how he's come to expect it from Shampoo.  You can see him get better
with dealing with her over time, but even then in the beginning he had
trouble.

Even at the end of the manga, Ranma still has trouble dealing with Shampoo.
But he isn't blushing and stammering because of her. He's just trying to
get rid of her. He doesn't really care what Ukyou does, but he's a little
uncomfortable. He is very nutral with Ukyou - there isn't any love there.
If there was, he'd be blushing and stammering too.

Not that it matters, anyway. Ukyou's only a minor character and so doesn't
even stand a chance.

Please show me some proof, in the manga, of where Ranma loves Ukyou. Is
it, perhaps, only in your own mind? If so, then that's only your opinion,
not even based on facts. Please provide facts, supporting your opinion.

If you can't find any facts, then WHY do you think this way? Just because
she's your favourite character? Even so, you shouldn't say that Ranma
thinks one thing (ie. you saying that Ranma loves her) when he doesn't.

Kun-chan...

(claps) Well said, Kun-chan, well said!

        A case can be made for any point in the Ranmaverse, there is enough
leeway from real life.  As they say in real life, stranger things have
happened.  The mind can fill in the holes left by the author to reach a
different conclusion than another person.  I can see Ukyou as a misguided
saint or a devious evil and never be sure which is right.
        Personally I see Ranma as an insecure guy, not too bright and
unsure of his manhood.  You can make a case that Ranma simply wants Akane
because she poses the greatest challenge to him.  He might not even be
aware of it himself.  Ranma never loses right?  Ranma has a hard time
dealing with losing, in fact just not winning drives him crazy.

*shrug* It doesn't matter, anyway, because Ranma's already said that he
loves Akane. Ukyou and Shampoo trying to kill Akane at the wedding just
lost ANY chance at all of them getting married to him, so they lost by
not giving a damn about what he wants, and vry possibly making him hate
them forever.

Kun-chan...