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Michael Bisping claims it would be a "travesty" if he ends his UFC career without sharing the Octagon with middleweight champion Anderson Silva. More »

Georges St-Pierre's trainer, Firas Zahabi, claims a super-fight with Anderson Silva is likely to act as the final chapter in the Canadian's illustrious career. More »

This year’s UFC over Independence Day weekend in Las Vegas is, as they tend to be, loaded.

If the lineup holds, a tremendous middleweight championship fight between Anderson Silva and Chris Weidman should get an energy-building lead-in with three important featherweight contests, and a clash at 185 between Mark Munoz and Tim Boetsch.

UFC officials on Thursday announced the addition of two compelling and important fights at 145 to go with an equally important and compelling clash between Chan Sung Jung and Ricardo Lamas.

Former lightweight champion Frankie Edgar makes his second appearance at 145 against slick Brazilian Charles Oliveira. And Dennis Siver reboots a contest with Cub Swanson, which was originally scheduled for Feb. until Siver pulled out of the bout with an injury. Swanson, instead, handled Dustin Poirier to win a unanimous decision in London.

The next featherweight contender will certainly emerge after July 6, which means about a month of waiting to see what happens between champion Jose Aldo and lightweight convert Anthony Pettis in Rio de Janeiro.

Who gets the call? That’s difficult.

We can rule out the winner between Edgar-Oliveira. “The Answer” has lost three in a row, albeit title fights to Aldo and Benson Henderson twice. And Oliveira is returning from a first-round knockout to Swanson.

So that leaves four.

Siver’s unbeaten since moving to 145 two fights ago, out-pointing Diego Nunes and Nam Phan. A win over Swanson would send a sincere message about his intentions.

Riding high, Swanson has won four straight against George Roop, Ross Pearson, Oliveira and Poirier. Adding Siver to that list would be impressive.

Jung’s taken three straight against Leonard Garcia, Mark Hominick and Dustin Poirier. Putting Lamas in that cast sends a clear signal the fan favorite “Korean Zombie” is ready for a title shot.

Lamas, meanwhile, steps in on a four-fight win streak, toppling Matt Grice, Swanson, Hatsu Hioki and Erik Koch. A fifth over Jung makes him the top contender in my book.

Guillard in no man's land

What's to become of Melvin Guillard?

The inconsistent lightweight announced on Twitter this week that he was leaving Florida-based Blackzilians to return to Greg Jackson's camp in New Mexico. But there's a snag. The Jackson crew was unaware of Guillard's pending return since two months ago, MMAjunkie.com reported this week, gym leaders voted that they didn't want him around after he angered them with comments after moving to Blackzilians in 2009. Add to that the report that Guillard, 29, faces two assault charges from separate incidents in Albuquerque in 2010.

While he's still represented by Authentic Sports Management, which cobbled together the Blackzilian squad, he won't be trained by the camp that features Rashad Evans, Vitor Belfort, Alistair Overeem, Anthony Johnson, Eddie Alvarez and a host of others.

"Melvin said he felt it was time for him to go back to Jackson's," ASM founder Glenn Robinson told SI.com "We only want what's best for Melvin, so I spoke to the coaches, and they agreed it was a good chance for him to make a change that he probably needed. We support the decision."

Absent safe harbor in New Mexico, it's unclear where Guillard (30-12-2) will receive the training he needs. He's lost four of five fights in the UFC, and was finished in three of them by Donald Cerrone, Jim Miller and Joe Lauzon.

Je ne parle pas Francais

In the wake of the weigh-in mess in Montreal, Association of Boxing Commission president Tim Lueckenhoff told ESPN.com he asked the Régie des alcools, des courses et des jeux, also known as the Quebec Boxing Commission, for a copy of their rules to "verify if .9 [pounds] is allowed over the contract weight."

Lueckenhoff, who serves as the head of the Missouri Office of Athletics, received a copy of Quebec's rules, but he still couldn't find an answer.

"They sent me their rules in French, which did not help much," Lueckenhoff said Friday. After following up, the commission claimed "their rule was not specifically clear on whether .9 could be allowed or not."

"I'm certain in the future," he said, "they will have a legal opinion on the allowance of .9 on title fights."

Incidentally, in Missouri, fighters in title bouts aren't allowed to weigh-in above their contract weight, as they aren’t virtually everywhere else.

Prior to receiving Quebec's rules, Lueckenhoff said he told the commission to also provide them to the media if able. Otherwise, release the details of what happened leading up to the weigh-in for UFC 158 between Georges St-Pierre and Nick Diaz, "and if a mistake was made, admit it. Make sure it does not happen again, and move on."

A spokesperson for the Quebec Boxing Commission did not reply to ESPN.com when asked about Lueckenhoff's comments.

WSOF waiting on title fights

Don't expect to see any "world title" fights from the World Series of Fighting in the near future. I always shrug my shoulders and make face when promoters, big and small, use the phrase. There aren't any "world titles" in MMA, only promotional belts, though if you happen to be in the UFC most fans and media won't see a difference. But in Bellator and anywhere else, no, it's not a world title no matter how many times you say it is.

"A title fight has to mean something to the promotion," Ali Abdel-Aziz told MMAFighting.com on Wednesday. The promotion's senior executive vice president and matchmaker, who like RFA president Ed Soares is also a manager of fighters, including Frankie Edgar, said WSOF "will make sure that when they get title shots they will have earned it."

Don't misunderstand, title fights will come. They'll surely be billed as "world titles" just the same as everyone else. But it's smart to delay, wait for fighters to emerge from the fray, for prospects to mature before going there. So kudos to WSOF, just two shows into its venture, for realizing that throwing belts on the line isn't the smartest way to go at the moment.

Should Dominick Cruz be stripped of his UFC bantamweight title?

It's been nearly 18 months since he won a decision victory over Demetrious Johnson. Since that fight, Johnson has fought four times and captured the inaugural flyweight belt.

Johnson has been -- to use fight game vernacular -- "circulating." That's the preferred method for UFC titlists. Keep that belt dangling over the whole clumsy gang of lunging, outstretched arms.

As for Cruz, he has gone through one rehabilitation stint to repair his blown out ACL and is halfway through another. He explained in excruciating detail the spiral of events on "UFC Tonight." There was the cadaver tendon that didn't take the first time (costing him a year), and now the second procedure, where part of his own patella tendon has become his ACL. That has sidelined him for that extended period of horizonless time we've come to call indefinitely.

It's hard not to feel for Cruz. Though he's swiftly making a name for himself as one of the best television analysts going, the date Oct. 1, 2011 keeps getting smaller and smaller in his rear-view window. That was the last time he stepped in the Octagon. In MMA, that feels like a lifetime ago -- for Cruz certainly, but particularly for the promotion.

Forget vague notions of ring rust, we're now breaking into concepts of urgency. It might be Oct. 2013 before we see Cruz again. It might be later. As much as we like to delude ourselves otherwise, life goes on without us. All of us. Even top 10 pound-for-pound fighters. The UFC, as an event-based promotion with its strongest moorings in the pay-per-view business, has to move on. To be vital, things have to be current. Things have to stay active.

That's why there's such a thing as interim titles in the first place -- though they are make-believe, they function well enough as winking placeholders. They keep things rolling, and the idea of the belt stays intact. But everybody knows that interim titles are only half-satisfying. Even when the UFC wraps a symbolic belt around somebody, we can't keep from nudging each other.

Why? It's not quite real. It's a mirage.

And after a while, that belt has to mean something. If Renan Barao, the interim bantamweight champion, is headlining a pay-per-view card in June -- which he is, UFC 161 in Winnipeg against Eddie Wineland -- wouldn't it be better to knock the adjective from the equation? Instead of "interim champion Renan Barao" -- with the interim label a constant reminder that he's a dynamic, hard-striking stopgap but not really number one -- shouldn't it be simply: bantamweight champion Renan Barao?

That sort of takes the surrogacy from things and raises the pitch to makes things seem bigger and more dire and marquee worthy. An actual champion makes it more legit. Cruz's shadow won't sell that PPV.

Which brings back the question: Should he be stripped of his title? At this point, probably, but we're dealing in asterisks either way.

It's not a Randy Couture situation where contracts are in dispute. Couture retained his belt through the whole money/Fedor Emelianenko fallout anyway. There isn't any acrimony here. Cruz's situation is closer to the Frank Mir case back in 2004. Mir, after winning the UFC's heavyweight title against Tim Sylvia at UFC 48, was in a motorcycle accident that sidelined him for 14 months. When Andrei Arlovski won the interim title against Sylvia at UFC 51, the idea was to marry up the belts in a fight with Arlovski and Mir. Same as with Barao and Cruz.

Only, Mir (knee, leg) wasn't ready when the time came. As a result, he was stripped of his title to keep the heavyweight belt in play. Not the less meaningful placeholder title, but the newly made legitimate real McCoy.

Heavyweight is a lot more glamorous than bantamweight -- particularly at that time, back when there were only a few divisions -- but the situations are similar. It wasn't Mir's fault that he couldn't recover in a timely fashion, and it's not Cruz's either. But if Barao is going to headline a PPV, he can't be masquerading as a champion. He should be one.

So what happens next?

In London a few weeks back, after Barao's first interim title defense against Michael McDonald, Dana White said he'd have a meeting with Cruz to discuss all this. White told ESPN.com on Thursday that he hasn't yet had a chance to have that meeting.

That day is coming, though, and relatively soon. When that discussion happens it will likely center on this: Barao has defended the interim title once, and Cruz isn't quite ready. Make Barao the champion ahead of his next title defense, and let Cruz work his way back towards him. After all, once Cruz finally does make his way back, how fair would it be to stick him in there right away to defend against Barao?

That's a tall order for a guy coming off a lengthy rehab with so many affiliated question marks. Might be better to cede now, and take back what's rightfully his when momentums have had a chance to align.

Once in a while it is necessary to set the record straight.

That moment has arrived as it relates to a comment made by former light heavyweight champion Rashad Evans about his upcoming bout against Dan Henderson. The two are scheduled to meet June 15 at UFC 161 in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

“

In the fight business, you're only as good as your next fight. If you lose two or three then you're done.

” -- Rashad Evans

Despite dropping his past two outings -- he looked sluggish en route to a unanimous-decision setback Feb. 2 Antonio Rogerio Nogueira at UFC 156 -- Evans is expecting a victory against Henderson.

But in the past few days, some MMA blogs have questioned the level of Evans’ confidence based on a remark he made to ESPN.com nearly two weeks ago.

“This is the type of fight that keeps you up at night, because you want to do well,” Evans said, referring to his bout against Henderson. “My back is against the wall. And that is when I perform at my best.

“In the fight business, you’re only as good as your next fight. If you lose two or three then you’re done.

“My manager Bill Robinson always says, ‘You’re either one fight away from getting a title shot and becoming champion or you’re two losses away from being cut from UFC.’ ”

Robinson makes a good point and Evans understands the business aspect of mixed martial arts. But Evans is a high-level professional athlete who expects to defeat every man he competes against in the cage.

When he talks about losing two or three fights "then you’re done," Evans is referring to being a serious title contender.

Evans still believes he can compete for and win the UFC light heavyweight title. But he is very aware that with two losses in a row heading into this next fight, another defeat will significantly hinder his chances of fighting for the belt again.

As for fearing that a loss to Henderson will result in being released by UFC: Evans laughed at the suggestion when contacted by ESPN.com on Wednesday.

“No. Not at all,” Evans responded. “That some media would come to that conclusion is funny to me. I’m going to win [on June 15.]”

Fighting Henderson has never been a concern for Evans. The only issue he’s had to battle the past two years is his recent divorce and not seeing his children as often as he would like.

The emotions of the situation took a toll on Evans. But he is having arguably his best camp in recent memory.

Evans is in a good place training-wise right now -- mentally, emotionally and physically.

That wasn’t the case in his previous three training camps. Evans is eager to step in the cage against Henderson and prove that he remains a force to be reckoned with at 205 pounds.

On Tuesday morning, Joyce Tremblay, a spokesperson for the Quebec Boxing Commission, emailed a statement to the media that sought to explain how the regulator conducts weigh-ins for title fights.

A response was necessary after video surfaced late last week that revealed Michael Mersch, a senior vice president with the UFC, quietly informing Nick Diaz that the commission in charge of the event would allow him and UFC champion Georges St-Pierre to step on the scale as much as 0.9 pounds above their contracted limit of 170, and still have it officially listed as a UFC welterweight title contest.

"The good news is” the Quebec Boxing Commission doesn’t “count the decimal,” Mersch told Diaz, who sat in the Bell Centre with members of his team, including one operating a recording camera. “If you're 170.2, it's 170. If it's 170.9, it's 170."

The video raised questions about the commission’s credibility, and prompted the following response:

“Currently, the [Régie des alcools, des courses et des jeux] does take into consideration the maximum weight determined by contract when it carries out the weight-ins [sic] before a bout,” Tremblay said in the statement. “However, our regulation on combat sports does not take decimals into account. Their consideration is a question of interpretation likely to be debated between the two parties under contract.”

“The commission’s statement that their regulation ‘does not take decimals into account’ is bizarre and untrue,” Jonathan Tweedale, a representative for Diaz, said in a statement. “Section 74 of the regulation provides that at an official weigh-in, ‘[t]he scale shall have graduated readings at each 100 g (3.6 oz) and shall be certified by Measurement Canada.’ There would be no need to have graduated readings at each 100 g if the commission ‘does not take decimals into account.’ ”

One hundred grams is equivalent to 0.22 pounds.

Previous UFC cards in Montreal featured fighters, including St-Pierre when he defended the title against Matt Serra, whose weight included 0.5-pound increments.

It's virtually unheard of for fighters competing for a belt to weigh above their contracted limit. In most jurisdictions, though ironically not Quebec, fighters participating in non-title fights get an extra pound. Championship fighters don’t enjoy that luxury. For example, Nate Diaz, Nick's younger brother, was required to shed 0.6 pounds to earn the right to fight Benson Henderson for the UFC lightweight title late last year in Seattle.

Yet not only did Mersch claim, per the commission, the March 16 championship bout in Montreal was allowed a 0.9-pound leeway, he also said if Diaz or St-Pierre missed weight, an extra hour would be available for them to sweat off the excess.

Mersch’s statement on video flies in the face of Quebec combat regulations as they’re written, which mandate that "at an official weigh-in, no time shall be granted to a contestant to enable him to increase or decrease his weight."

When Bernard Hopkins boxed Jean Pascal in Montreal for a title in May 2011, the commission violated its own rules by allowing the American to re-weigh after he was announced at 175.9 pounds. Less than two hours later, Hopkins broke 175 and was cleared to fight.

Veteran fight promoter Stephane Patry, who’s held events in Quebec since 2000, is aware that regulations outlaw second chances to make weight, and he made it a practice to provide fighters wiggle room by giving them an extra pound in bout agreements.

"If I had a lightweight fight I had to put 156 on the contract to allow that one pound for the fighters that the commission wouldn't allow," Patry said Tuesday evening.

Rather than alleviate legitimate concerns that sprang up as a result of the video -- which the UFC removed from YouTube following a copyright claim -- the commission’s statement only served to induce additional questions.

Tremblay told ESPN.com that no contestant at UFC 158 "exceeded the weight determined in their contracts." Diaz hit 169. St-Pierre was marked at 170. The commission spokeswoman reiterated that St-Pierre did not weigh more than the welterweight limit when he stood on the scale one day prior to dominating Diaz and retaining the belt.

According to comments made by Mersch in the video, so long as Diaz and St-Pierre weighed under 171 pounds, “we should be good.” Asked by a member of Diaz’s camp why this information wasn’t passed along earlier, instead of less than an hour prior to the start of weigh-ins, Mersch responded, "It's just something to keep in mind. That's kind of an 'off-the-record' type of thing.”

Mersch did not reply to an email from ESPN.com seeking comment.

The UFC, through its head of regulatory affairs Marc Ratner, deferred media questions to the Quebec commission, though queries linger about the promoter’s role.

St-Pierre's chief trainer, Firas Zahabi, told ESPN.com that the Quebec commission informed him prior to the weigh-in that a 0.9-pound allowance was in play. He said he was told St-Pierre's contract called for a fight at 170 pounds "and that the contract does not regard any decimals or ounces."

Still, it's worth wondering why the UFC would go along with a situation in which fighters in a championship bout, who signed contracts at a specific weight, were allowed to be heavy on the scale.

This runs counter to how boxers and mixed martial artists have operated leading up to championship fights, an offense -- as Tweedale pointed out, and Patry recalled based on experiences with competitors he promoted in the past -- that’s punishable in Quebec with a 20 percent purse deduction, paid to the opponent of a contestant who “fails to achieve the weight specified in the contract at the official weigh-in.”

This, Tweedale argued, is enough for UFC to provide Diaz a rematch with St-Pierre, which is what they want, even though no proof exists that the champion missed the mark.

"The Quebec commission deliberately relaxed the rule in this case and, by its own admission, allowed their hometown fighter to 'make weight' even if he weighed more than the contracted weight," he alleged.

If a similar situation was in play when St-Pierre fought Carlos Condit last year in Montreal, the unsuccessful challenger informed ESPN.com he was not told. Eduardo Alonso and Ed Soares, managers respectively for Mauricio Rua and Lyoto Machida, who headlined UFC 113 with a light heavyweight title bout in Montreal, could not recall if a weight allowance was given to the fighters at the time.

Diaz’s camp also plans to file a formal complaint with the commission regarding the handling of St-Pierre’s post-fight drug test.

“We expect the UFC to do the right thing here,” Tweedale told ESPN.com.

Patry, who promoted and managed St-Pierre at the start of the French-Canadian’s career, claimed no dog in the fight, yet he found himself incensed by the Quebec Boxing Commission’s statement.

“I would have never reacted to that story because it's none of my business, really,” Patry said. “But when I saw the response coming from the commission spokesman it p---ed me off. It's lies. It's lies. It's blatant lies and somebody has to do something about that.

“The worst part of this story is the explanation given [Tuesday] by a government agency. This is not acceptable.”

Dana White has often said that Brad "One Punch" Pickett is one of his favorite fighters to watch inside the Octagon due to his ferocious, face-forward style.

The British bantamweight is explosive, athletic and highly skilled with a legion of trilby adorn fans all eager to see the London-born battler engage in the kind of barnburners that have helped make his name. Yet Pickett, 34, knows that in the fight game a truly successful career balances on being able to parlay that excitement and wild reputation into bigger and bigger wins, forcing himself to the top of the 135-pound division and a shot at the title.

It's also about escaping the ever-present pink slip that is currently casting its shadow over the UFC in 2013. In the current climate, the UFC has been making some tough cuts to its roster of athletes -- those with back-to-back losses are often released but, conversely, those who put on a show are regularly given another chance.

"Is there pressure to perform?" Pickett asked, from his American Top Team camp in Florida. "Yes and no. I was shocked that Paul Sass and Terry Etim got cut but, for me, it is a winning business. You can't lose every fight and be exciting because in the end you will get cut. But on the other hand you can't just win fights by being a blanket because as soon as you do lose, you'll get cut. Knowing that Dana is a fan gives me a little sense of job security but, for myself, I'm a proud person. I'm not in the sport to make up the numbers. I'm here to be relevant. I want to stay in the top 10 and that means winning and winning big.

The reality of job security in the UFC is something that Pickett and his manager, Matt Walton, seem to easily comprehend.

"My view is that when you run a business, the only thing that supports the business is the bottom line," Walton said. "Without revenue even the most brilliant, exciting ideas fail. So for the UFC to continue to grow, it has to make money to be able to not only underpin its business, but to continue to push the boundaries and create further opportunities for itself and the people involved. Undoubtedly, you cannot water down the talent pool, however each and every sportsman or athlete involved needs to recognize that the greater entertainer they are, the more money can be made for the business."

Unsurprisingly, Pickett has always embodied that mix between being a competitor and an entertainer as his manager explains.

"Brad is a natural entertainer, so what you see with Brad is exactly how he is," Walton said. "He supports charities because he wants to, he trains and fights hard because he wants to, he stays faithful to his fiancee because he wants to, he signs autographs and spends time with fans because he wants to. Brad is a genuine guy in everything he does."

Recognizing that it's about paying back the fans and winning big imbues Pickett with an intriguing and exceptional mindset.

"My style tends to be exciting," Pickett said. "You can see that if I get a takedown, I'll look to land big shots and get super aggressive. Sometimes I'll end up getting the finish but if they end up getting back to their feet then OK. So be it. I'm comfortable on my feet and rather than just grinding a round out I do throw caution to the wind, but then you reap the rewards like a fight of the night bonus. The rewards are there in the UFC."

Pickett will take that attitude into the Octagon with him on April 6 in Stockholm against Mike Easton at UFC on Fuel TV 9 in a clash that could have serious consequences for both men.

"[Easton] likes to come forward in his fights and so do I," Pickett said. "So it's going to be about who can impose their will enough to put the other person on the back foot. It's a tricky one, even on the ground. He's a black belt in Jiu-Jitsu but it doesn't really bother me. I'm a black belt in MMA. The thing about Easton is he doesn't pull the trigger. He's got a lot of aggression but he doesn't do much with it. With me, I'll come forward and try to knock your head off."

The fight should prove to be an interesting battle between two aggressive and very different competitors. For Pickett, it's a fight that he clearly wants to dominate.

"I know where I am in the division and I know an impressive win will put me back up there," Pickett said. "You know my style and you know I'll be looking for the finish. I'm not going to predict anything but I think I have more tools than he does to finish the fight."

Georges St-Pierre's long-time trainer, Firas Zahabi, has cast doubt over the long-term future of the UFC welterweight champion, questioning whether he has more than another two or three fights left in him. More »

Jon Fitch wasn’t good enough for the UFC, but he’s (apparently) worthy of an automatic title bid in the World Series of Fighting.

In MMA, perception is everything. Not that Josh Burkman, who knocked out Aaron Simpson at WSOF 2 on Saturday to “earn” his own shot, is a fan of the idea.

Burkman thinks Fitch needs to beat somebody within the promotion before he can barge into the place and think about titles. Fitch, who was 14-3-1 in the UFC and will debut in June, has the greatest credentials never to be taken seriously. He has never known the red carpet treatment, either, so why should he now? Remember when he was about to fly off to join the cast of the original “Ultimate Fighter,” only to be told -- while sitting on the tarmac -- that he didn’t make the cut?

Life hasn’t always been pretty for Fitch. This is why he’s always gnashing his teeth.

Of course, Burkman may be forecasting here. He may be thinking about the task of trying to get up from under Fitch’s onslaught of elbows. He may be thinking of the futile nature of simply “trying to stand back up” against Jon Fitch. Of the 14 wins Fitch scored in the UFC, 14 opponents were saddled with the project of staying off their backs against Fitch heading in. Fourteen found themselves on their backs come fight night anyway.

Burkman may sense something inevitable.

But Burkman won’t ultimately decide who fights for the inaugural welterweight belt at WSOF. The decision will be up to WSOF president, Ray Sefo. If Sefo says Fitch, then it’s Fitch. If he says it’s Burkman versus Fitch, Burkman should just be happy his name isn’t Abercrombie. Imagine the confusion that those posters would generate?

You know what would be novel, though? Have Burkman against Fitch just for the heck of it. Don’t make it about glorified accessories like the other clubs. Don’t create world titles. Just have the best guys go toe-to-toe. Tear down partitions, and put on “intrigue fights.” Have Burkman and Fitch fight just because it’s logical, at this point in time, to have them fight.

Imagine an MMA utopia that goes about business without the tyranny of gold-played belts. Where guys are free to roam weight classes in pursuit of the best, most ridiculous scenarios. Like former welterweight Anthony Johnson against former UFC champion Andrei Arlovski, perpetuated.

Bizarre = fun.

If Quinton Jackson joins the ranks, or Josh Barnett -- or whoever, as there will be plenty -- the idea should be that they join a pool of possibilities. Rather than former UFC fighters coming over to resurrect themselves as contenders and/or champions in a different setting, they enter the salt mines, baby.

Or something like that.

WSOF has a chance to build itself any way it wants. Why not do fan-friendly fights that are strictly about fan friendliness? Have people fight -- not desperately, but happily -- for simple relevance. The alphas will always stand out anyway. Who knows, it might be a lure, too. Those who hate structure can come to the Wild West, where fantasy matchmaking happens. The WSOF could make it about the best names that couldn’t get at each other in the UFC (or elsewhere) coming together under their own banner. Anthony Johnson wants to fight “Rampage?” All too easily arranged. Marlon Moraes against, say, Bibiano Fernandes? Roll it out. Tyrone Spong against just about anybody from 205 pounds on up?

Here’s a league of pure hospitality.

It’s a thought. And, really, it’s not a very original thought, as I’ve seen MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani and others tweet similar ideas about a titleless landscape.

Ultimately there’s nothing that says you have to have belts at the top of every weight class. Belts exist for a reason. They mean money. It’s a game of thrones. We like belts and speculating on the hierarchy of contenders and to have belts hanging over all proceedings like surveillance cameras. But the UFC does that already. So did Strikeforce (mostly) and so does Bellator (periodically). To do that, you have to fill in weight classes and harvest talent. That’s hard to do in the current landscape, not to mention tedious. That line of thinking “competes” with the UFC.

So make it about putting on the best available fights just for the sake of putting on the best available fights. If Josh Burkman doesn’t think Jon Fitch deserve a title shot, fine -- remove the politics from the equation. Get rid of the notion of belts. That’s so un-UFC. Would you have cared more if Arlovski/Johnson was for the heavyweight title? Probably not. They are, very consciously, UFC retreads (Arlovski even wore a UFC glove).

But that an unthinkable pairing should come together at WSOF gave it a fresh coat of intrigue. And you know what? That sort of matchmaking doesn’t need titles.

Rashad Evans admits he will walk into his UFC 161 fight with Dan Henderson fearing the ax if he loses their light heavyweight battle. More »

The UFC wants to pare down its roster, and right now fighters are helping in the quest. Over the past couple of weeks, three more drug tests have come back hot. Alex Caceres for marijuana metabolites. Riki Fukuda for a cocktail of stimulants. Lavar Johnson for elevated testosterone.

It’s always something. Sometimes that something feels like nothing. Sometimes it feels like something.

In these cases, Caceres, a first-time offender, was suspended for six months. Fukuda was cut, not because of the failed drug test, the UFC says, but because he’s on a losing streak. And Johnson was cut due to an unfortunate mixture of both. Before them in recent months were Matt Riddle (marijuana again, cut), Thiago Silva (marijuana, suspended), Stephan Bonnar (steroids again, now retired), Rousimar Palhares (elevated testosterone, suspended), Joey Beltran (steroids, cut), Jake Shields (mystery, suspended) and Thiago Tavares (anabolic steroid, suspended).

Before them were Alistair Overeem, Cristiane Santos, Muhammed Lawal, Rafael Cavalcante and a long ellipses more.

As for Nick Diaz? Let’s just say the colors on the roulette wheel go round and round. He’s a perpetual state of pending.

With all the hype leading up to a fight, drug tests have become the kind of drama that lives on far afterward. And what a word “drugs” has become. If we’re being real, marijuana gets stashed in a fun folder called “recreational,” while steroids and spiked testosterone levels are filed away under “dirty rotten cheats.” One is a form of silly, the other manipulates.

Everybody knows that, right?

Hmm. Problem is that the suspensions (from the commissions) and the general fallout (from the UFC) don’t necessarily discriminate. Illegal is illegal with both parties, though most commissions are consistent (and non-differentiating) with punishment for failed drug tests and the UFC is inconsistent (differentiating but moodily) for them.

The bridge? Maybe UFC vice president of regulatory affairs Marc Ratner, who has begun to point out the folly in sentencing marijuana and PED violators as equals. He spoke up about it at a Nevada State Athletic Commission hearing this week, saying that he “cannot believe a PED and marijuana are treated the same. It does not make sense to the world.”

Ratner is dialed in.

The world has common sense. The world has a loose and general understanding that pot isn’t taken to achieve competitive advantage (and taken seems like such a strange word to use -- who takes pot?), while the other is harmful, dangerous and taken precisely to gain an advantage. Steroid cycles go about outsmarting surveillance systems.

Pot? No way, dude. I’m not a doctor, but pot is an afternoon of video games. It hardly carries the stigma it once did, and it's being legalized in certain states. Not to be facetious, but where testosterone helps 34-year old men perform like 24-year old men, your appetite is the only thing that performs like it’s 19 years old on pot. Is it a painkiller? Maybe. Then again, a six-pack of Molson could be, too. More importantly, is it anything like a painkiller come fight night? Most pot cases are all about those long-lingering metabolites, which have little (or nothing) to do with the event itself.

Should they be treated the same? These things aren’t equal. It’s time that the NSAC and other commissions recognize the difference. Same goes for the UFC, which has recently vowed to crack down on PEDs. Granted, so long as marijuana is tested for, fighters should know better than to jeopardize their careers by smoking it. It’s still a dumb move. Should it even be tested for? That’s a different can of worms, and it’s easy to argue no. Right now, though, it is.

And since it is, it’d be nice if the punishment fit the crime for violators. It’s not hard math. PEDs show up for the express purpose of making an impact on fight night. Pot, on the other hand, is incidental. They share the taboo of being banned, but they have extremely different motives.

Those motives are the heart of the matter.

It sometimes seems like decades ago when Anthony Johnson was one or two wins shy of a UFC welterweight title shot. But it's been just a year and a half since he last tipped the scale at 170 pounds.

Johnson knocked out Charlie Brenneman in the first round of a UFC event on Oct. 1, 2011. It would be his final appearance at welterweight.

Departing the weight class in which he found much success, however, did not come as a surprise. Johnson struggled on several occasions to make the required weight limit.

As his body continued to mature, Johnson often walked around at 220 pounds -- sometimes heavier. Attempts to shed more than 50 pounds for a welterweight bout began taking a toll on his body and Johnson pulled out of at least two 170-pound fights with knee injuries.

His body was developing so rapidly that Johnson couldn't even make weight for a nontitle middleweight showdown in Januray against Vitor Belfort and tipped the scale at a whopping 197 pounds. The nontitle middleweight limit is 186 pounds.

A sluggish Johnson lost to Belfort by first-round submission and was released by UFC shortly thereafter. But what could have been a dismal period in his professional fighting life proved to be a blessing.

With the welterweight and middleweight divisions no longer an option, the Dublin, Ga., native, now 29, found comfort at light heavyweight.

There was never a reason to knock Johnson's ability inside the cage -- he's a highly skilled wrestler with above-average punching power and speed. And since moving up in weight, Johnson has proven to be a beast inside the cage by winning all four of his post-UFC bouts, including three knockout victories at light heavyweight -- a division he has proven he clearly belongs.

But one area in which a yellow flag could be raised is Johnson's unwavering desire to fight anyone, at any weight, at any time. Whenever Johnson is offered a fight, he eagerly accepts and concerns himself with making weight later.

On Saturday night at Revel Casino in Atlantic City, N.J., Johnson will again venture into difficult territory when he meets hard-hitting Andrei Arlovski in the main-event at World Series of Fighting 2.

It will be Johnson's first foray into the heavyweight ranks and despite being an underdog, he isn't worried. Arlovski is a difficult opponent, but with a solid training camp behind him, Johnson is confident an upset is in order.

"No matter what, I feel I always get the most out of my training," Johnson said Tuesday during a media call to promote the bout. "So, I can fight at light heavyweight or heavyweight and do what I have to do to win. It doesn't really matter to me."

Johnson expects to enter the cage on fight night weighing somewhere in the neighborhood of 235 pounds. It will represent, by far, the most weight he's ever carried on his 6-foot-2 frame for a fight.

Conventional wisdom says the additional weight will result in Johnson relinquishing speed, power and elusiveness. But he begs to differ.

"Everything is still there -- the speed and the power," Johnson said. "I'm still an athlete. I don't feel I'm sacrificing anything, except height. I believe Andrei is bigger than me and a little heavier than me. But that's it."

After a two-year period that saw him suffer through four straight losses, the 6-4, 245-pound Arlovski has regained his form. The former UFC heavyweight champion has defeated four of his five most recent opponents, with the lone blemish being a no contest against Tim Sylvia at ONE FC 5 in Aug. 2012.

If ever there was a time not to fight Arlovski, it's right now. His confidence is at an all-time high due to the training he's received under Albuquerque, N.M.-based trainer Greg Jackson.

"Greg Jackson gave me hope after four losses," Arlovski said. "Some people told me I lost it, but he told me to come to Albuquerque and he gave me hope."

Lack of confidence is never an issue for Johnson. He steps into the cage Saturday with no doubts or reservations. Besides, Johnson knows he's in a no-lose situation.

He doesn't turn down fights, which is exactly why he's here. WSOF president Ray Sefo and senior executive vice president Ali Abdel-Aziz asked him to move up in weight for the good of the card and he agreed.

"Unless my man Ray Sefo and Ali ask me to take another fight at heavyweight, this is probably my one and only fight at heavyweight right now," Johnson said. "[Light heavyweight] is still where I want to be -- it's still my home. We'll see. Hopefully this is a good show. But for me and Andrei Arlovski, maybe win, lose or draw they might want to see a rematch and I might have to fight at heavyweight again."

One thing is for certain, Johnson's days of struggling to cut to 170 and 185 pounds are in the past. He will not drop that low again. And as a result, he is a better fighter who might just raise a few heavyweight eyebrows on Saturday.

Georges St-Pierre beat Nick Diaz just about every way the rules of mixed martial arts would allow at UFC 158.

En route to arguably the most complete performance of his career, St-Pierre stalled Diaz’s vaunted boxing with sharp counters and slick movement, tortured him with relentless takedowns and rendered his black belt-level Brazilian jiu-jitsu all but nonexistent. It was yet another in a long line of blowouts from the 31-year-old welterweight champion, and it was so lopsided that it plummeted members of the Diaz camp into fits of paranoia, claiming there had to be spies in their midst.

Because, yeah, that was the problem.

The victory pushed St-Pierre to 24-2 overall, marked his 20th appearance inside the Octagon and extended his five-and-a-half-year win streak to 11 fights. It also further underscored the notion that he’s solved the grueling, complex riddle that is MMA competition as well as anyone in the sport’s short history.

The overwhelming response from the masses? At best, an indifferent shrug. At worst, well, let’s just say St-Pierre’s sixth consecutive unanimous decision win -- a stretch during which he's lost just three of 30 rounds on the official scorecards -- only provided more ammunition for critics who say he’s grown overly conservative. Tedious, even.

“GSP couldn’t submit a girl,” one reader on ESPN.com commented roughly 24 hours after UFC 158 wrapped.

“Wrestlers are ruining the marketability of this sport,” lamented another later in the week.

And another: “The Ultimate FIGHTING Championship should change its name to The Ultimate WRESTLING Championship if it is going to continue to show this garbage.”

Sound familiar? Responses like this are certainly not a new phenomenon. Seemingly every time St-Pierre makes another of the best 170-pound fighters in the world look downright helpless for 25 straight minutes and then walks out with a new notch on his championship belt, we hear the same refrain.

Bo-ring! Bo-ring!

It’s difficult to think of another figure in any sport who has been as dominant for as long as St-Pierre and still so often has his tactics lambasted in the court of public opinion. It’d be a little like basketball fans of the 1950 and '60s constantly ragging on Wilt Chamberlain for shooting so many layups. Or college football fans threatening to give up on the sport if Bear Bryant didn’t stop winning national championships running the option.

Of course, we’re all entitled to our opinions, and people who shell out $50-plus for UFC pay-per-view events ought to have their voices heard. Still, too often the bellyaching distracts us from the larger truth: We may never again see a fighter dominate the landscape of the welterweight division with the same ease, poise or grace.

Now that he’s pushing into his 30s, on the heels of major knee surgery and with a brand new crop of contenders breathing down his neck, perhaps it’s time we started showing GSP a little love. You know, lest one day we wake up and realize we didn’t know what we had until he was gone.

If you come to MMA looking for blood and guts, St-Pierre’s style may leave you unmoved, but you have no choice but to recognize its effectiveness. On the other hand, if you like skill, determination and strategy, you can’t help but feel a little awed. Contrary to what his detractors might say, it’s a style that embodies the very qualities that make this sport great: The diverse, nuanced action, the need for constant evolution and the idea that mental acuity is as important as physical force (also, that having both doesn’t hurt).

Later this year, when he defends his title for the ninth time against the dangerous Johny Hendricks, the American will likely be the fashionable pick to bring St-Pierre’s historic run to a screeching halt. Some people will no doubt cheer that, if it comes to pass. Please excuse the rest of us if we pull on our “Karate Kid” headbands and perform a few silent crane kicks to mourn the end of an era.

Until then, my advice to the haters? Get on the bandwagon. Drink the Kool-Aid. Learn to like St-Pierre while we still have him. Who knows, someday you might just miss him.

LAS VEGAS -- UFC heavyweights Junior dos Santos and Antonio Silva would have no issue meeting one another in the Octagon if a title were on the line.

Silva (18-4) will challenge current heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez at UFC 160 on May 25. Dos Santos (15-2) is scheduled to face Mark Hunt on the same night, in a bout that could produce the division’s next No. 1 contender.

That means should both Brazilians post a win in Las Vegas, their paths could collide. A potential problem, because the two are friends and occasional training partners.

With a UFC title involved, however, both men say they would accept the matchup.

"Well, we’re going to fight," said Dos Santos, when asked what would happen if he and Silva won. "For the title, we’re going to fight. We’re good friends and part of the same team, but he has to think about his family and I have to [do the same]."

Silva, who earned the No. 1 contender position with an upset knockout victory over Alistair Overeem in February, agreed.

"It’s tough because I love this guy," Silva said. "When you fight people you love, it’s very hard, but I’m a professional. I have many things to support."

The two train with one another as members of Team Nogueira. Dos Santos said the friendship goes back four years.

Both agreed nothing could happen in the Octagon that would be worse than what occurs during a typical sparring session between them.

"[The sparring] is worse than the fight," Dos Santos said.

Dos Santos had originally been scheduled to fight Overeem on May 25, but that fight fell through because of injury.

The former champion, who surrendered the belt to Velasquez after a decision loss at UFC 155, said he never considered waiting for Overeem to return from injury and expects to fight Silva next, once his teammate wins the belt.

"I don’t care about Alistair Overeem," Dos Santos said. "He’s a joker. If he was the champion, it would be my pleasure to wait for him, but he’s nobody in the division.

"I’m rooting for [Silva]. I hope and I think he will be the champion and when we have the fight I think we will do very well."

Chael Sonnen launched into one of his great tongue-in-cheek tirades on Tuesday, claiming Dana White called Jon Jones a "jerk" who is killing crowds in the UFC. More »