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On hiatus until Bellator MMA's Summer Series in June offers three four- man tournaments, the promotion and its vested television partner, Spike TV, have just begun to unpack their first season together since the move from MTV2's hinterlands.

A solid start, suggested Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney, though not tremendous.

From Rebney's perspective the fights delivered what he hoped they would. Production took a "substantial step forward." More than half of their events were sold-out, a "huge change of direction from what we did in the past." He conceded "it's going well."

Spike TV president Kevin Kay agreed. Bellator delivered 36 percent more male viewers aged 25-34 from 10-12 on Thursday nights than the previous year. And for Bellator, viewership increased as a whole over the previous two seasons on MTV2 by roughly 400 percent.

"That first week we did over 900,000 viewers. The last week we came back and finished strong over 900,000. So I feel like it's a pretty good place for a first season to be," Kay said. "It's not like we're sitting around patting each other on the back, cause we have a lot of work to do, but I just feel like that's a nice number and certainly room for growth."

An expanded audience could come from a couple places, Kay suggested, including the upcoming summer reality show featuring Randy Couture, Frank Shamrock, Greg Jackson and Joe Warren. Spike TV's president is hopeful "Fight Master: Bellator MMA" will be a key ratings driver. Fan familiarity with Bellator's current crop of titleholders could pay off in a ratings bumps, too, he said, as evident by strong numbers for Pat Curran's second appearance of the just concluded season.

Based on Spike's experience working with UFC, the network stepped into its Bellator relationship carrying a strong sense of where they could excel. Fans needed to be made aware that MMA had returned to Spike TV, and that it was unique because of the tournament format. On both accounts Kay felt the job got done.

A Bellator app via Apple was downloaded over 105,000 times, Kay said. It'll debut for Android platforms this summer, giving more fans a voice during the televised broadcast.

"Ratings just tell you numbers, they don't tell you anything about how fans are emotionally connecting to your brand or your stars," Kay said. "We're looking at it all the time. On Bellator it's even more important because we're running shows every week for 11 weeks. We want to know how fans are feeling and connecting because it could help ultimately influence what you're putting on TV the next week."

There were moments the promoter and network couldn't control, such as Emanuel Newton knocking out promotional poster boy Mo Lawal, but even that turned out not so bad. The following week ratings increased by200,000 viewers. Kay owed that to interest created after Lawal's stunning loss.

Dependent upon several factors, Bellator could make good on a promise to promote pay-per-view this year, perhaps as soon as this summer. The most important element, Rebney said, is the type of fights it can sell. Atop that list would be a rematch between the promotion's lightweight champion Michael Chandler and former titleholder Eddie Alvarez.

Rebney and Alvarez, currently operating on different ends of a lawsuit over the fighter's services, sat down last week in Atlantic City in one of the show's production trucks. Rebney said he was hopeful that talking put them "that much closer to getting this thing resolved."

"The reality is Eddie and I had an hourlong meeting," Rebney said. "We didn't get too terribly deep into things, but it was a good meeting and it was just he and I sitting and talking. If we can get something settled it could change the whole dynamic, but I don't know if that will happen. And if it doesn't happen of course we have Dave Jansen lined up and David Rickels lined up, both of whom are anxious to get their shot at the title."

Alvarez's manager, Glenn Robinson, declined to comment on the conversation, citing requests from the fighter's lawyers not to speak with media.

Pay-per-view would be a gigantic leap in the progression of Bellator MMA as a legitimate No. 2 to the UFC -- presuming its success. Rebney confirmed that Bellator has looked at venues in the midwest, but nothing is far enough along to make news. When the promotion goes ahead and offers a pay-per-view card -- and that seems bound to happen -- Kay said Spike TV will act as the promotion's partner, feature barker programming, and do anything it could to deliver a strong buy rate.

Coverage of an ever-evolving Ultimate Fighting Championship has almost always centered on action inside the cage. Understandably so. Morphing from unregulated contests pitting single-disciplined any-weight fighters into licensed bouts across nine weight divisions under standardized rules, so much has obviously changed the past two decades that today’s Octagon hardly resembles the home of Royce Gracie or Tank Abbott or fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants promoting.

Yet despite its progress, particularly after Zuffa took control of the promotion in 2001, the Wild West perception of UFC persists. That's due in large part to Dana White, the dominant voice and face of a company now estimated to be worth a couple of billion dollars (or, roughly 1,000 times more than he and the Fertitta brothers paid to join the mixed martial arts business), whose template as an executive awash in profane, inane outbursts meshed uniquely with his stance that fighters could almost always rely on UFC support, no matter how badly they screwed up.

Those days could be over, for him and them, following the latest stage of UFC's evolution. Because embedded in the promotion's new fighter conduct policy, a copy of which Yahoo! Sports published Tuesday, is essentially the future of the company.

It was only 11 months ago when White suggested a code of conduct was entirely unnecessary for the UFC. Instances of fighters running afoul of the law, or expressing offensive words in public, especially on powerful social media platforms, were best handled by him -- as he saw fit.

“We're dealing with human beings and I don't even know how you could” enforce a conduct policy, an incredulous White explained to reporters in May 2012.

"You take it case by case and you deal with it as it should be dealt with."

That thinking was problematic.

Fighters remained unclear on what was right and what was wrong, and because we’re talking human beings, dumb, sometimes illegal stuff is bound to happen. As public figures associated with the UFC, lasting damage to the brand wasn’t such a stretch. (The Culinary Union in Las Vegas tweets out almost daily reminders.) It only confused matters when discipline was doled out differently for similar offenses -- though if there was a trend it suggested moneymaking stars rarely suffered the brunt of UFC’s arbitrary brand of justice.

Rightly so, media, fans and even fighters protested.

To its credit, Zuffa listened.

In January, UFC announced incoming (r)evolutionary conduct standards, similar to those enacted by major sports leagues, which would clearly define the difference between what was cool, what wasn't, and how the bad stuff would be dealt with.

UFC's legal head honcho, Lawrence Epstein, echoing White, suggested the policy would aim to discourage much of the nonsense the promotion coped with from fighters over the years, though it wouldn't go so far as to police their opinions.

"Some people believe in God," White said at the time. "I don't, and I've been public that I don't. Everybody is going to have their own opinions. If I got crucified and beat down because I don't think there's a god, c'mon man. This is America and everyone is going to have their own opinions."

We have the right to express opinions about our government without repercussion. Not so when it comes to private business, gender, ethnicity, religion, or who’s best to sleep with. That's not how the world works, especially when television networks and sponsors and corporate money are involved. With this version of UFC immersed in all of that, the ability to adjudicate case by case just wasn't an option anymore.

Opinions can be witless, which is fine. But swirl witless with mean spirited and you get what Matt Mitrione was putting down about transgender MMA fighter Fallon Fox this week during an online radio appearance with MMAFighting.com.

Which is why despite saying speech wouldn’t be policed, when “Meathead" Mitrione opened his mouth and spewed what he did, UFC had no choice. At a minimum, UFC CEO Lorenzo Fertitta told Yahoo!, “it warrants review” under the newly minted conduct policy. Sounds fair. Same goes for any act that makes UFC look bad.

There’s a long list. One that includes playing bumper cars on the freeway in a monster truck. Or assaulting someone in a parking lot. Or driving under the influence and crashing into a light pole at the break of dawn. Or getting entangled with performance-enhancing drugs. Just about anything you can imagine.

Where there wasn’t a framework for dealing with these episodes, including well-defined disciplinary and appeals processes, there is now. This represents another essential evolution of the UFC -- and by inherent extension mixed martial arts as a whole.

Raising the bar had to happen. It was overdue. So, like it did with rounds and weight classes, mixed martial arts’ top promotion did what was required.

Year after year, White says his vision is rooted in pushing UFC forward. Consider the conduct policy another major hurdle cleared on the path to UFC’s emergence as a global sports property. For that, White and Fertitta and their team in Las Vegas, Canada, Europe, Asia and Brazil should be praised.

How long will depend on how well UFC lives up to the document it drew up.

It finally comes to an end Saturday night. Scott Jorgensen won’t have to answer any more questions about his longtime friendship with upcoming opponent Urijah Faber.

When this fight was announced in February, Jorgensen knew he’d get bombarded with questions about the close relationship between Faber and himself. The former WEC featherweight champion played a key role in encouraging Jorgensen to become a mixed martial artist.

In the beginning Jorgensen was okay with the questioning and answered them without a hitch. It was easy, routine: Jorgensen just provided the same answers to the same questions. But the friendship questions never stopped, and soon Jorgensen started struggling to keep a straight face and his cool. Thus far, he has persevered. Just a few more days and Jorgensen can finally address the real issue surrounding this bout -- that this contest is potentially a fight-of-the-year candidate.

These are two highly skilled, highly aggressive bantamweights. And Jorgensen intends to give fight fans a performance they will not soon forget.

This TUF 17 Finale main event isn’t about friendship; it’s about a style matchup that likely will have every spectator inside Mandalay Bay Events Center on their feet.

“There are a lot more dynamics to this fight than the fact we are friends,” Jorgensen told ESPN.com. “We’re both very aggressive. We’re both very mentally tough.

“He has great submissions. I hit hard from the bottom, from guard. He’s got vicious elbows; I’ve got elbows. Our striking’s dynamic, and we don’t hesitate.

“These are the things that a lot of people are missing. This is a god matchup, style-wise, for excitement, for the fans. You have two guys who know what’s exactly at stake. I’m not going to back down and he’s not going to back down.”

It’s business as usual for two wrestlers who have stuffed their bank accounts with several "Fight of the night" and "Submission of the night" bonuses. Jorgensen and Faber rarely come up short in the excitement department.

This is the message Jorgensen has been trying to get across for weeks. But no one seemed to listen.

If he it was up to Jorgensen, he would have stopped answering those friendship-with-Faber questions a long time ago. But being the consummate professional, he continues to conduct himself appropriately and put on his best I-am-happy-to-answer-your-latest-friendship question.

Jorgensen’s patience, however, is wearing thin. But in a few days it will finally come to an end -- no more questions about his friendship with Faber.

It doesn’t mean that Jorgensen will have rid himself of answering single-topic questions. A win over Faber and Jorgensen might have to address a slew of inquiries regarding his thoughts on possibly fighting for the title.

It’s a subject Jorgensen would prefer to avoid. He is a man who will take on anyone placed in front of him. If that opponent happens to hold the UFC bantamweight title, so be it.

Jorgensen just prefers not to talk much about potentially landing a title shot.

“It doesn’t matter,” Jorgensen said. “The title shots come when they come and the only way to get them is to continue putting up W’s. I just go out there to fight; it’s what I love to do.”

Jorgensen also would love to win his second fight in a row. He defeated John Albert by first-round submission on Dec. 8 to end a two-fight skid.

Getting past Faber, who is ranked No. 2 among 135-pound fighters by ESPN.com, won’t be easy. These two are very familiar with one another, having trained together in the past.

Each man will have a fight plan in place, but neither is likely to be married to it. There will be a lot of improvising in the cage Saturday night -- Jorgensen almost guarantees it.

“Come fight night he will bring his A game, I will bring my A game and we will put on a damn show and make ourselves proud,” said Jorgensen, who is the ESPN.com seventh-ranked bantamweight. “I’m going to go in there and through my fists around until one of them hits him.

“I’ve got my game plan; he’s got his game plan. I’m very bull-headed; he’s very bull-headed.”

Sounds like fight fans are in for a treat. This is a bout you might want to watch with a friend.

With a record of 1-2 inside UFC, middleweight Hector Lombard is considering a move to welterweight.

According to a report Tuesday night on Fuel TV, the former Bellator 185-pound titleholder might attempt a trial cut sometime after undergoing surgery on his broken nose.

Lombard, who is expected to have surgery within the next two weeks, injured his nose during a split decision loss to Yushin Okami in March.

It has been suggested that the UFC wants Lombard to move down to welterweight. Lombard, however, is unsure he can cut enough muscle to make the weight but seems willing to give it a shot.

Although Lombard has not officially said he will drop to 170 pounds, he has offered hints during the past few weeks.

“Trying to lean my muscles,” the 35-year-old said on Twitter last month. “Any tips besides running?”

On Monday he offered a stronger hint that a weight cut was in order: “Looking forward to working with [well-known nutritionist] Mike Dolce.”

The muscular striker generated a lot of excitement in April 2012 when he signed a multifight deal with UFC. And for good reason -- Lombard brought a 25-bout win streak into his new fighting home.

He has a professional record of 32-4-1 with one no-contest.

LAS VEGAS -- Grocery lines can be awkward when you're a female mixed martial artist.

Miesha Tate, like any UFC fighter, wears the occasional black eye in public. It used to be, in a grocery line, for instance, she would receive a concerned-but-not-sure-how-to-react look from bystanders.

Lately, though, it's more of an I-wonder-if-that-girl-fights-for-a-living look, which is proof (and satisfying proof, at that) to Tate that the presence of women's MMA is growing.

"I've noticed people seem to have the wheels turning now, instead of the worried look I used to get," Tate told ESPN.com. "I think they are starting to think, 'Maybe she's a kickboxer. Maybe she does MMA.'"

"People are starting to wrap their mind around the idea that women do combat sports. It's been kind of cool to see that process."

Tate, who will face Cat Zingano in the second-ever UFC female fight at The Ultimate Fighter Finale on Saturday, has spent a lifetime experiencing that process.

As a high school freshman in Tacoma, Wash., she joined the boys' wrestling team by "default" because it was one of just two sports offered. A handful of other girls floated on and off the team, but Tate was the only one who stuck with it.

Her current boyfriend, UFC bantamweight Bryan Caraway, is widely credited for introducing her to martial arts, but it was actually a persistent neighbor who got Tate to take the first step.

"A neighbor of mine did karate and said, 'Hey, come try this out,'" Tate said. "I had never seen the UFC, and I wasn't interested at first, but she kept being persistent, so finally I went to appease her and learned some jiu-jitsu, and it was awesome."

Fate continued to push Tate toward a career in MMA. She attended her first amateur event as a spectator in 2006, still convinced the striking aspect of the sport wouldn't appeal to her.

By the time that first event was over, Tate was already signed up for her first fight.

“

A lot of people [watching UFC 157] just saw Ronda Rousey, Ronda Rousey, Ronda Rousey, but we haven't had the second UFC fight yet. At this point, people are probably just becoming fans of Ronda but I hope to change that April 13.

” -- Miesha Tate, on growth of women's MMA entering her UFC debut

"I said, 'This isn't about violence or blood, this is about competition,'" Tate said. "It was really beautiful to me. I could see myself doing it, and lo and behold, the referee got on the microphone and announced an all-female fight card in three weeks.

"I gave him my info, and three weeks later, I was fighting."

Fate, it seems, was also intent on providing Tate with a rival in the form of current UFC champion and U.S. judo Olympian Ronda Rousey. The two fought in March 2012 for Tate's Strikeforce title, resulting in a first-round submission win for Rousey.

Rousey has been such an overbearing topic for Tate during interviews, she consciously has started to steer conversations away from her. It's not just that she's sick of talking about Rousey, but she's also eager to show the sport is deeper than one athlete.

"I think [UFC 157] came across probably more as a big moment for Ronda Rousey [than women's MMA] because she's really been pushed hard," Tate said. "But people who read into it more than just who's on the poster, I believe it carries that energy of women's MMA as a whole.

"A lot of people just saw Ronda Rousey, Ronda Rousey, Ronda Rousey, but we haven't had the second UFC fight yet. At this point, people are probably just becoming fans of Ronda, but I hope to change that April 13."

Walking into an arena for the first time as a UFC competitor can be unnerving. No previous event can fully prepare a fighter for what he or she is about to experience.

As the fighter emerges from the locker room, she is greeted by a large, vociferous crowd, of which only a small number of onlookers are aware of her previous MMA accomplishments. All the success that fighter has achieved prior to this moment matters little to the UFC faithful.

The newcomer is viewed as a curiosity, at best, but not a true mixed martial artist until she has chalked up a significant victory inside the Octagon.

So the UFC newbie -- veteran or not, champion elsewhere or not -- is again in a position of proving her worth.

That's not all: There is also the matter of what a victory in a UFC debut can do for that fighter's career, especially from a financial standpoint, including greater endorsements and other high-profile opportunities beyond the MMA world.

UFC is the big time, and success there can result in unimaginable rewards. Now that's pressure -- the kind that can buckle the knees of even the most seasoned fighter.

But there will be no prefight jitters Saturday night for Cat Zingano when she makes her UFC debut. Self-doubt has never been an issue for her, and it's not about to arise now. The UFC fight-night environment will differ from any she has experienced, but it won't cause Zingano to suddenly lose her nerve or focus. There is no fear running through her veins. She knows what's at stake Saturday night against Miesha Tate and fully embraces the opportunity.

Zingano has worked too hard to get to this point and isn't about to squander it. Besides, she's already had a tiny taste of what it's like inside the arena on fight night during a UFC-promoted event.

"It's exciting to fight in UFC," Zingano told ESPN.com. "I went to watch the Ronda Rousey-Liz Carmouche fight and got a really good feel for the energy in the arena and how bright and exciting it is. I got to experience that, and I think that's a really good thing.

"Going into UFC is an incredible opportunity. But every fight I go into is just a fight. It's just me versus them, and my will versus their will, and who's going to break and who's going to get their hand raised."

“

Every fight I go into is just a fight. It's just me versus them, and my will versus their will, and who's going to break and who's going to get their hand raised.

” -- Cat Zingano, on how she is approaching her UFC debut

Zingano vows that she will not be the one to break at the TUF Finale 17 in Las Vegas, where Tate, a former Strikeforce champion, will be standing across from her in a UFC women's bantamweight title eliminator with the winner getting a shot at the champion Rousey.

This being the most important, highest-profile bout of her career won't cause Zingano to break out in a cold sweat or question whether she has bitten off more than she can chew. Zingano approaches this fight the same as any other -- it's her against another fighter who is determined to knock her head off, if necessary, to get a win.

That's the fight game. Zingano has competed seven times professionally. On each occasion, she has walked away unscathed.

There is no reason, in her mind at least, to doubt that Saturday night will be any different -- UFC debut or not. Zingano is foremost a fighter, and the UFC community, especially Tate, is about to find out just how good of a fighter she is.

"Miesha Tate has no area in which I feel she is stronger than me. I'm better than her on the feet, on the ground," Zingano said. "I am very disciplined in my conditioning. I'm very comfortable fighting from any position -- off my back or on top -- my footwork, everything. I'm a few levels above her.

"I have something she's not going to be able to handle in every scenario. I'm very confident in everything that I bring into the cage.”

While she has demonstrated above-average fighting techniques in each bout -- submission, knockout and decision wins dot her résumé -- Zingano isn't ready to call herself a full-fledged professional mixed martial artist.

There are still a few more lessons she would like to complete. But as has been the case thus far, Zingano expects to continue receiving high marks from her instructors.

"I'm not going to lie to myself," said Zingano, who is 7-0. "I'm always going to be true to my roots. I'm a wrestler and have been a wrestler since I was 12 years old. That's always in my back pocket. If ever I get into a sticky situation that I'm uncomfortable with, I have [wrestling]. But I'm not satisfied with having just one style, being one-dimensional. I'm a student who wants to learn everything.

"I consider this [period] my college education. These are the years I could have been at a university getting my Ph.D. That means knowing everything about the human body in order to be able to function as a successful [fighter]. I know that I have good skills as far as my ground game, but I want to test myself in uncomfortable situations where I'm not as well-rounded as some of these other girls. If you beat somebody in an area they are good at, that feeling that is irreplaceable."

That could mean besting Tate on the ground. Tate is among the best wrestlers in women's MMA. But Tate also possesses solid submissions and striking.

In many ways, Zingano and Tate are mirror images of each other. The biggest difference is that most MMA fans are familiar with Tate.

But they are about to get a heavy dose of what Zingano can do in the cage. She won't be an unknown entity in UFC circles after Saturday night.

UFC president Dana White will move quickly to get Conor McGregor in front of a free-to-air American audience, revealing he will likely place him on the UFC Boston card, set for Aug. 17. More »

Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos needed to accomplish two things on Friday at Invicta FC: defeat Fiona Muxlow and look like a reasonable facsimile of her old self while doing it.

Not necessarily in that order. At least not in terms of degree of difficulty.


The victory was vital, I suppose, but it was also never really in doubt. In practice, the fight turned out to be as lopsided as it looked on paper, which is to say the win was so one-sided that it was almost completely hollow for the former Strikeforce women’s featherweight champion.

Santos dropped Muxlow with her first punch, a straight right that put the replacement fighter, who took the bout on 17 days’ notice, skittering into the frenzied survival mode we so commonly see in Santos' opponents. The rest was essentially cleanup. It took referee John McCarthy 3 minutes, 46 seconds to decide he’d seen enough, but each tick of the clock after that initial salvo felt more gratuitous than the previous. By the time the end came for Muxlow, she was backed up against the cage accepting a series of increasingly inevitable knees and punches and the overriding feeling that swept over us all when Big John stepped in was one of relief for her.

For Santos, we felt only a vague sense of confirmation. Yep, she’s still Cyborg.

Proving that Santos is still the most bloodcurdling figure in women’s MMA was the really essential thing here, because, after nearly 16 months of inactivity owed to a yearlong suspension for a positive steroid test, there were questions about whether she would show up in Kansas City looking as ripped, as relentless and altogether frightening as before. More to the point, because Cyborg still being leaps and bounds ahead of the competition is an integral part of manager Tito Ortiz’s plan to run the longest of long bombs on the UFC.

When Santos and Ortiz very publicly balked at the chance to cut to 135 pounds for an immediate shot at Ronda Rousey’s bantamweight title back in February, instead opting for a much slower burn in Invicta, it prompted copious industry-wide head-scratching. One of those heads belonged to UFC President Dana White, who alternated between describing the Santos-Ortiz negotiating style as “wacky” and “goofy” and then proclaimed Cyborg “pretty much irrelevant” when talks finally appeared to fall apart for good.

Ortiz claims Santos needs a multifight run in Invicta to gradually shed the pounds necessary to safely make the cut to 135. Maybe that’s true, but the perils of this route are obvious. What if something goes wrong, we all asked when the deal was announced. What if she emerges in the Invicta cage looking like something less than the terrifying knockout artist who cut a swath through women’s MMA during seven fights from 2008-11? What if she -- choke, sputter, gasp -- loses?

"She ain't gonna lose …," an ever-confident Ortiz told MMAJunkie.com's Ben Fowlkes when he put voice to these concerns at the time. "You ever sparred with Cris? You ever tried to wrestle with her? Ever watched her wrestle, watched her spar? Have you ever watched her fight?"

Yeah, well, point taken. Never did Ortiz’s long-term plan for Santos’ career feel like less of a gamble than while we were watching her brutalize Muxlow. Granted, the 35-year-old Australian’s prospects were doomed from the moment she agreed to sub in for the injured Ediane Gomes last month, but it must have been reassuring for Ortiz & Co. to get proof that Cyborg can still deal with an overmatched opponent with the kind of extreme prejudice we saw from her against the likes of Jan Finney and Hiroko Yamanaka near the end of her Strikeforce run.

While not a particularly instructive affair, we’re now told the victory sets Santos up for an Invicta 145-pound title bout with Marloes Coenen later this year. Coenen will no doubt be a far more dangerous opponent, albeit one Santos already defeated back in January 2010 and one who had been competing at bantamweight prior to debuting in Invicta. If Cyborg wins that, she’ll have a shiny new belt to match Rousey’s, and it’ll start to feel more and more like Ortiz’s gamble might just pay off after all, giving Santos time to drop the weight while only stoking the fires of interest in a Rousey bout.

Still, let’s not kid ourselves here. Santos and Ortiz are taking tremendous risks each time Santos steps into the Invicta cage. They are still involved in the kind of clunky, long-range scheme that very seldom pays off in a sport this unpredictable.

If you strip away the veneer of dominance and the fearsome power, Cyborg has exactly one thing going for her right now: There are only two real stars in the landscape of female MMA, and, as of this weekend, she’s still one of them. Rousey and the UFC need her (and by extension, Ortiz) as much as the fighter and manager need the fight promotion and its golden girl. Rousey versus Santos is the one truly marketable superfight in women’s fighting at the moment, and no matter how big the honchos at the UFC talk, they’ll still be interested in it if and when Santos decides she’s ready.

But that delicate balance of power evaporates immediately should Cyborg make a misstep in Invicta. All it takes is one lucky punch or a momentary mental lapse on the ground and, suddenly, she’s not the perfect foil for Rousey’s good looks and slick submission game anymore. Suddenly, she’s just a former champion with a positive steroid test and a reputation for difficult negotiations.

If we’ve learned anything from MMA, it’s that the thing that “ain’t gonna” happen, often does, and, afterward, the people who wind up on the short end wish they’d grabbed the brass ring when they had the chance -- instead of putting it off for another day.

HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. -- Cristiane Santos is an equal-opportunity butt-kicker.

The female featherweight star reaffirmed Wednesday, following a two-hour workout at the Punishment Training Center, that she'll fight anyone in a cage so long as they can get licensed by a commission. So Fallon Fox, the male-to-female transgender fighter making so much news lately, has at least one known woman willing to give her a shot.

"She wants to be a girl. I don't agree," said Santos, who for the first time in almost a year and half will return to fighting on April 5. "I think you're born a girl, you're a girl. You're born a guy, you're a guy. But I don't choose opponents. The commission needs to check and make sure she doesn't have testosterone.

"I'm not going to judge other people. If the commission says she can fight, why not?"

The 27-year-old Strikeforce champion tested positive for steroids following her 16-second demolition of Hiroko Yamanaka in December 2011, so that quote will inspire contempt in some people. But that's nothing new for Santos. Because of her muscular build and aggressive fighting style, she's been subjected to cruel, crude name calling throughout her career. She said she understands what Fox must be going through in a world in which everyone with an opinion can have access to the people they're opining about via social media.

"People tell me on Twitter: 'I think you have a d---.' A lot of bad things, they say. I think people have a small mind," Santos said.

"They don't think a girl can punch hard like a man. I think people are ignorant. People are stupid. I don't want to be the same as people who do that."

“

They don't think a girl can punch hard like a man. I think people are ignorant. People are stupid. I don't want to be the same as people who do that.

” -- Cristiane Santos on the bad rap about women's fighting.

Santos, 27, said these sorts of comments, common as they may be, did not cut her down. She has nothing to prove, least of all to people who have never stepped in a cage to get punched in the face for a living.

This is an attitude she keeps about her career in general.

Ahead of April's debut in Invicta FC against Fiona Muxlow, a late replacement for an injured Ediane Gomes, Santos said she doesn’t “feel I need to prove anything. I think I need to do great work. I want to do a nice fight. Win or lose, there's consequences because all my fights I leave in the hands of God. I need only to train hard and do my best."

Based on Wednesday's session, the training hard part is covered.

Santos hit pads, worked on her wrestling, and benefited from an impromptu sparring session with an experienced amateur Muay Thai fighter visiting from Florida who wished to try her luck against the slugging Brazilian. "Cyborg" obliged, and at various points during their three rounds together made it clear to anyone watching that this could end whenever she wanted it to.

Finding suitable training partners has always been a challenging aspect of Cyborg’s fight preparation. There aren’t many women able or willing to put her through her paces. She’ll spar with men, but sometimes they feel like they need to hold back, even when she begs them not to.

Making weight has been a trying experience as well, and two weeks out from the fight with Muxlow, a 35-year-old Australian jiu-jitsu stylist, that process has already begun, making an already arduous routine “hard and stressful.”

"It's not nice when you change opponents, but when you train hard, injuries happen,” she said. “I understand. But I'm very happy because Invicta tried to get another girl. I'm ready to fight in a lot of situations.”

Santos weighed 155 pounds following training on Wednesday, and, already appearing strong and lean, reiterated that making 135 to fight UFC bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey just isn’t going to happen.

A month ago, days before Rousey tussled with Liz Carmouche, Santos announced she’d turned down a deal with Zuffa to take a three-fight stint with Invicta. She also had strong words for Rousey, who, it turned out, also excelled as a pay-per-view commodity. Santos watched Rousey-Carmouche from inside the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif., and came away impressed with the Olympic judoka.

"I think Ronda was good. Liz Carmouche tried the choke and Ronda showed she can defend. She showed she wants to win,” Santos said. “She did a great job and showed spirit. I think both girls did good work.

"I think in this fight she proved a little bit more. I don't like to say anything about other people, but when you do talk you need to prove it inside the cage. I respect every person that steps in the cage because I know it's not easy."

UFC president Dana White has slammed the Swedish Mixed Martial Arts Federation (SMMAF), labelling the decision to pull Alexander Gustafsson from Saturday's fight "the worst decision I have ever seen to pull a fight." More »

Rashad Evans has added a new angle to his forthcoming fight with Dan Henderson by revealing he was drop to middleweight if he loses.
More »

Melvin Guillard says he never tried to keep secret the fact he was charged with multiple counts of assault in New Mexico in 2010.

Guillard is scheduled for a court date to resolve the issue on May 23, but the news had not been widely reported until last month, when an unnamed source at Guillard's former camp, Greg Jackson's MMA, revealed the charges to MMAjunkie.com.

The UFC lightweight admits he was surprised when the charges recently came to light, due to the time that has passed. In the same report, Guillard learned he wasn't welcome back at the facility in Albuquerque to train for an upcoming fight after spending the past two years with the Blackzilians team in South Florida.

"That was never hidden," Guillard told ESPN.com. "That was an incident that happened when I first got to Jackson's. To put it all out there, I'm fighting charges because I was jumped by a general manager and five security guards.

"My hands never touched anybody. There were five fans that I bought drinks for and when they saw me get jumped, they commenced to jump on the security. That's as far as I'm going to get into this. I shouldn't even be saying that much."

Guillard says he is still on good terms with members of Greg Jackson's camp and the Blackzilians. He admitted, though, he was caught off guard by the report on his legal matters.

"It's weird because that happened in early 2010 and now all of a sudden when I try to go back to Jackson's, somebody leaks out that I'm fighting assault charges," Guillard said. "I'm like, 'Wow. It's 2013.'"

The UFC veteran says he has a good attorney representing him and the issue is "all behind me." His focus now rests on a recently announced bout against Mac Danzig at a UFC on Fox event on July 27.

Guillard (30-12-2) has relocated to the Grudge Training Cener in Denver, Colo. to prepare for the bout. He's working primarily with trainers Trevor Wittman, Leister Bowling and UFC heavyweight Pat Barry.

Blackzilians manager Glenn Robinson continues to oversee Guillard's career, despite his move from the team. Guillard said a difference in mental approaches between him and the camp was the main reason for the split.

"I still love all those guys," Guillard said. "I just do think a little bit different with my training. After I do a three-month camp, I'm one of those guys who like to kick back and relax. I feel like they're building an NFL-style team. I'm just not one of those guys. I'm not big on rules when it comes to fighting because I've been doing this for 17 years. I don't want to spend my whole life in the gym."

Guillard's initial plan was to return to Jackson, which has produced good results in the past. He tweeted on March 24 his intent to reunite with the team, only to find out from Internet posts he was no longer welcome.

Long story short, Guillard takes responsibility for the team's decision, citing the timing of his move to the Blackzilians in late 2011.

While he says he didn't intend for it to come across this way, it might have appeared he sided with a rival camp. Blackzilians teammate Rashad Evans was fighting Jackson's Jon Jones for the UFC light heavyweight title.

"My wife asked me to take a step back and think about if it was me," Guillard said. "If someone left your team to go to an opposing team that is having a big title fight, you think you would be willing to take him back? I said, 'Point well taken.'

"I don't want to get into who voted to take me back and who didn't. I did get to talk to coach Greg personally after the fact and he told me, 'Look, right now we have some guys against it and it's just not a good time, but that doesn't mean you can't come back [eventually].' Greg left it up to the team and I understand that."

Guillard arrived at his new home in Denver on Tuesday, where he plans to live and train for the next 3½ months. He's living in the basement of a "fighter house," owned by the Grudge gym.

His wife got on Skype from the couple's home back east so Guillard could give her a virtual tour of his new digs. The tour, he said, took "two seconds." He shares the house with up to five team members. There is no bed, but he sleeps on "some pretty cool, comfortable cots that aren't so bad."

At 30, with a 1-4 record in his last five fights, Guillard says he doesn't want to spend all day in the gym, but he did want to eliminate distractions from his camp. He brought very few personal belongings to Denver and doesn't even have his own ride.

"I think it's going to take me living in this basement for 3½ months and grinding it out," said Guillard, when asked how he needed to turn his career around. "It's lovely here. I left all my cars at home. I'm catching a ride to practice every day. I think that's what it takes for me, is being focused."

One member from Jackson's who Guillard still considers a teammate is fellow lightweight Donald Cerrone. According to Guillard, Cerrone even extended an invitation for him to stay at his ranch in New Mexico until the camp invited him back.

For Guillard, though, Denver appeared to be the best option. With the UFC trimming its roster lately, Guillard fully believes he won't have a job should he lose to Danzig.

In fact, he's grateful to have a spot now and believes UFC president Dana White only spared him because he accepted a fight on short notice against Cerrone last year.

"The only thing that kept my job after [the last loss] was the fact I took the Cerrone fight," Guillard said. "I stepped up and took a fight and I think Dana commended me on it.

"I've got one foot in [the UFC] and one foot out, but I'll be damned if I let both feet get kicked out. Right now, I'm fighting for my job. I'm not going to get cut from the UFC. I'll die in that ring on July 27th before I let Danzig take my job from me."

Ilir Latifi versus Gegard Mousasi is not Alexander Gustafsson versus Gegard Mousasi. True.

For those who enjoy a good story, however, there’s been one brewing in Sweden this week.

As speculation grew that a cut would force Gustafsson from the UFC on Fuel main event at Ericsson Globe Arena in Stockholm, a non-UFC-contracted Latifi climbed into his car in Malmo and began a solitary seven-hour drive north.

“I made the drive by myself,” Latifi told ESPN.com. “I was thinking of the possibility of the fight, because I wasn’t sure if it was on. There were so many factors it was depending on. Would somebody else step in? Would Mousasi accept the fight?”

Latifi (7-2) officially replaced Gustafsson in the main event on Tuesday and it’s been a whirlwind of activity since.

Forget about game planning or training specifically for Mousasi; Latifi has been filling out medical forms, conducting interviews and (the worst part) attempting to cut 26 pounds to make weight.

“I will make weight. I will make weight,” promised Latifi. “I’m not such a tall guy, but I’m pretty heavy. I usually weigh between 225 and 230 pounds. I wasn’t prepared. I was 26 pounds over.”

Not the best circumstance surrounding a fight -- but it makes for a great story. When Latifi was told Mousasi accepted the bout, he called his brother Arben [a major influence in his career] in the middle of the night, who had what Latifi described as an “emotional” response.

Latifi and his camp have waited for a call from the UFC, twice. The promotion held an event in Stockholm in April 2012. Latifi didn’t receive an invite, but won back-to-back fights the rest of the year in hopes of making the next Swedish card.

Had Gustafsson not been forced out, it would have been another disappointing oversight for Latifi. Now he has a shot to perform against an opponent like Mousasi (33-3-2) in a main event. Even he’s not sure how it will go.

“Let’s see on Saturday what happens,” said Latifi, when asked if he has the talent to make a sustained run in the Octagon. “We’ll see after this fight, you know? I’m thinking about this fight first, doing my best.”

It’s a scenario in which many would say the underdog has nothing to lose. Six days ago, the UFC still seemed months or years away (and only if Latifi continued winning). On Saturday, Latifi’s name will headline the event.

When asked if that’s how he feels, though, Latifi scoffed. He’s been hearing the last two days he has nothing to lose. But when you’ve dedicated your life to combat sports, undergone surgery to fix injury, waited for a fight contract from the world’s largest promotion that didn’t come -- you feel like you have something to lose.

This story is only worth reading if it doesn’t have a letdown ending.

“I’m comfortable with myself,” Latifi said. “But at the same time, people say I have nothing to lose; yeah, I have a lot to lose. I want to go in there and win and make a good fight. If you’re just going to go in and lose, it’s nothing.”

It's easy to believe some mixed martial arts fans think of fighters a lot like racing fans regard the cars.

Just listen to them.

Lacerated under an eyebrow less than two weeks before a major fight? No big deal, Alexander Gustafsson. Head to the pits, glue that sucker up, voila, you’re back on the track. If replacing a blown engine doesn't work, well, just hop in a prepped-and-tested backup car -- i.e., pull a fighter equal to Gustafsson’s stature from a bountiful group of guys who are in shape, amenable to meeting a primed Gegard Mousasi on a week's notice, and are just fine cutting weight days after shuttling off to Scandinavia.

Sounds awesome, like everyone should jump at the chance to compete on Fuel TV -- UFC’s least visible television platform -- against a killer, on short, short notice. Pay no attention to the fact that the vast majority of world-class fighters would never say yes in this situation, nor should they be expected to.

Judging by Tuesday's reaction to the news that Gustafsson was replaced by one of his training partners, an unknown UFC debutant, and based off similar reactions to this sort of thing in the past, there's clearly a segment among MMA fans who don't care about much beyond being entertained, even if that noble calling comes at the expense of the people they love to watch fight.

I couldn't digest most of what I read on Twitter after UFC president Dana White announced Ilir Latifi got the call against Mousasi. A lot of it was angry, selfish and cravenly out of whack. So I tweeted a request to anyone who decided to criticize the UFC for making Mousasi-Latifi. They needed to come up with a more appealing option. Right away. And "be happy Mousasi is fighting," I finished.

Most people weren’t satisfied. Not even close. Hey, in some respect, it’s easy to understand. Gustafsson-Mousasi looked like a terrific title eliminator, pitting the hometown fan favorite against an accomplished European making his UFC debut.

To go from that to a fight featuring Mousasi in the cage as a huge favorite over someone no one has heard of, well, that stinks. But that’s all it does. Stink, and for no other reason than a fight we wanted to see on Saturday isn’t going to happen. It’s not some travesty. Not the end of the world or the beginning of the end of the UFC. This was a fight booked on a smaller card meant to capitalize off a local guy gunning to become the No. 1 contender at 205. Sometimes life doesn’t go your way, which is why the card is always subject to change.

Why can’t Gustafsson fight, @foote92 lamented?

Because he experienced a serious gash underneath his left brow on March 28, that’s why. He’s a human being, not a robot.

Several wondered why Gustafsson wasn’t more careful during sparring sessions less than two weeks before the fight. Gustafsson wrote that he was injured while wrestling, so if you care to believe him, this had nothing to do with improper sparring too close to the fight.

Most of the contempt was aimed at the UFC's choice of Latifi.

@MiniKitson wanted “Shogun, Wanderlei, Manua [sic], Tom Lawlor, Tom Watson. Anyone.”

"Shogun" [Mauricio] Rua has a fight lined up with Antonio Rogerio Nogueira in June. It’s unlikely he’s anywhere near fighting weight right now.
Wanderlei Silva, Mr. April Fool’s Joke himself, just returned from vacation in Panama. He can claim he would have taken on Mousasi, but the UFC was smart enough not to offer it to him.

Jimi Manuwa fought in February. While he doesn’t have a bout lined up, Manuwa appears to be far too good a prospect to step in on short notice like this. It would be dumb for him to do so.

Tom Lawlor, a name mentioned as much as any I heard Tuesday, is a middleweight. His last fight was a bore, which he apologized for. For all his tweeting, Lawlor and his management didn’t bother reaching out to UFC about the fight. That said, he presumably would have been in shape, because he’s scheduled for the same card.

Who else?

Lyoto Machida. Oh sure he’d do it, except he was too busy tweeting photos of himself at Disneyland over the weekend. I bet he’s in the right mental frame of mind to fight.

Phil Davis was mentioned a few times, as if training camps mean nothing. Davis is close to peaking for his fight against Vinny Magalhaes, whose style is the exact opposite of Mousasi’s.

And on and on.

Perhaps YOU don’t know Latifi, and so YOU assume the fight will suck and YOU won’t be entertained. But if you’re Swedish, then you have an underdog countryman to root for. Why would anyone in Stockholm want to watch Mousasi versus Lawlor?

If criticism can be found it's in the UFC's decision not to give Gustafsson until Friday to heal as it keeps Latifi ready on standby. Both fighters could have attended media day Wednesday. It would have been a different kind of story ahead of a card that could use some press. Instead, a decision was made, and Gustafsson won't get a shot at fighting no matter how much he coveted it. Another school of thought would suggest the full focus on Latifi over the next few days would give UFC a chance to build a story -- don't be surprised if he's passed off as a Swedish Rocky type.

Is that good enough to entertain fans, especially those who seem so desperate to be entertained? Keep it tuned to Twitter to find out, I suppose.

The tournament format that Bellator uses isn’t for everyone. But it is for current featherweight champion Pat Curran, who navigated fields in two separate weight classes en route to becoming Bellator’s 145-pound division champion.

Curran is the prototype for what Bellator is after with its bracketology -- a standout fighter who survived the “toughest tournament in sports” in making a name for himself. He is, by default of the model, the king of attrition. And as he gets set to defend his 145-pound belt for the second time Thursday night against Shahbulat Shamhalaev in Atlantic City, Curran has become the face of the promotion.

“I don’t mind being the face of Bellator at all,” Curran told ESPN.com. “I’m the product of their format. I went through two tournaments, and I’m a big believer in that Bellator tournament format. It’s a great way for a fighter to jump levels in his game, become better and make it to a big stage and make a name for himself. That’s what I did, and that’s what [Michael] Chandler did, and we both capitalized on it.”

“

I consider myself to be a counter-striker, too. So it's a very interesting match-up in a way, but we're eventually going to have to engage and I feel like my technical inside game is going to outstrike his.

” -- Pat Curran on his upcoming fight with Shahbulat Shamhalaev at Bellator 95.

Chandler and Curran -- along with welterweight champion Ben Askren and former lightweight champion/free agent Eddie Alvarez -- begin to carry something more than titles for the promotion. They carry value. People begin to speculate as to how each would fare against the UFC elite. One way to compete with the UFC is to have fighters at the top who look like threats to the UFC champions. Could Askren beat Georges St-Pierre? Who knows, but it’s a talking point. Parallels are drawn.

That’s the rarefied space that the 25-year-old Curran finds himself in today. People begin to wonder how he’d stack up against not just Shamhalaev (of which we’ll soon find out), but Jose Aldo (inevitably on the other side of the ledger). Being linked to fantasy matchups against one of the game’s pound-for-pound bests can’t hurt. It means things are on the upswing.

Curran says he respects that, but he’s not hearing it.

“I’m really not thinking too much about that,” he says. “I made a dedication to Bellator, I re-signed my contract and I know I’m going to be there a while and be part of everything they’re doing. Being with Spike is a huge part of that as well. I know Bellator is doing great things where it’s still very early in the Bellator stage, and it’s going to get better from here on out.”

Curran recently renegotiated his contract to earn more money per fight, and he’s signed on to be with Bellator for the next “two or three years.” He won’t be facing Aldo or anybody under the UFC banner for a long time.

Instead the Crystal Lake, Ill., native will help grow and perpetuate the Bellator model. Only, he’ll come at it from the pinnacle of that model. After climbing toward Alvarez’s belt in the Season 2 lightweight tournament (and losing in the title fight), and then climbing anew in the 2011 Summer Series featherweight tournament (and capturing the title over Joe Warren via brutal TKO), he’s adjusting to life as the destination. From now on, he’ll be asked to beat back the survivors of tournaments specifically constructed to take his belt.

In essence, it’s Curran’s job to present himself as a dead-end street for featherweight traffic. To make whatever momentum comes charging at him from the tournament completely moot.

And that continues with Shamhalaev, the hard-hitting Dagestan fighter who knocked out Rad Martinez in February to earn his chance. It’ll be Curran’s second defense of the year after eking out a split-decision victory over Patricio Freire in January.

“You have to respect [Shamhalaev’s] power,” he says. “His last three fights have all been by knockout. You’ve got to respect his power in his right hand and his left hand. It’s a very interesting style -- he’s a counterstriker, but he waits, and he puts 100 percent of his energy into those punches, and he’s able to find those openings.”

“I consider myself to be a counterstriker, too. So it’s a very interesting matchup in a way, but we’re eventually going to have to engage and I feel like my technical inside game is going to outstrike his.”

We’ll find out Thursday, in a fight that is basically a cymbal crash for everything Bellator is about.