ESPN Mixed Martial Arts

Bjorn Rebney saw an opportunity. Tito Ortiz found an offer he couldn't refuse. And Quinton Jackson had already settled into his resurrection.

Three men with separate yet intertwined aspirations have been tabbed to carry the water for Bellator MMA's first pay-per-view on Nov. 2 in Long Beach, Calif. The trio took questions Monday at Bellator's office in Newport Beach, Calif., shedding light on how it came to be that a pair of the best-known fighters to compete in the UFC, both clear about their distaste for UFC president Dana White and Zuffa, will anchor Rebney's initial attempt to court a paying TV audience.

The promoter conjured the idea on one of his many sleepless nights. Rebney's reputation as a supreme micromanager is well earned. It's no secret that he has driven his staff crazy trying to maneuver a proper direction for the company. Over the past four years, though, even Rebney's most vocal critics would concede he did well by advancing Bellator up the food chain to the point that Viacom, a major media conglomerate, took notice and purchased a controlling stake.

One year after Ortiz's last fight in the Octagon, a decision loss to Forrest Griffin, Rebney called the former UFC champion with an offer.

"I looked at it and said, 'Here's a fight we can make,'" the promoter said. "We can put on a pay-per-view, and if I had nothing to do with it, I'd buy it."

Both sides spoke several times before the veil was lifted last month. The moment Ortiz was free from Zuffa's contractual handcuffs, Rebney showed just how serious he was. Ortiz viewed the lucrative contract offer as solid footing for him and his family. This wasn't something he could simply walk away from, so retirement, as short as it was, came to an abrupt end. Beyond the money, Ortiz expressed a "hunger to be great again," although many people will understandably hear lip service. After all, Ortiz hasn't been near the top of his game for several years, and just 12 weeks ago he underwent an ACL replacement in his right knee.

Some fans will agree with the promoter's assessment, but many more are likely to opt against paying their local cable or satellite distributor $35-45 to witness 38-year-old Ortiz (1-7-1 from the end of 2006 through July 7 of last year) fight 35-year-old Jackson (who lost three straight before exiting the UFC last year).

No MMA promotion except the UFC has marshaled a successful pay-per-view campaign, and history says a weak response for Ortiz and Jackson, despite their strong brands and long-held UFC ties, is the most likely outcome.

Rebney surely will have his promotional chops tested like never before during the run-up to an event situated on one of the busiest, most compelling stretches in UFC history. He claimed to feel "really good" about its potential even though the card is sandwiched between Cain Velasquez's third fight with Junior dos Santos and the 20th anniversary of the UFC headlined by megastar Georges St-Pierre and respected challenger Johny Hendricks.

As opposed to Affliction Entertainment, which hemorrhaged money like a partying rock star while it tried to get established on pay-per-view at the end of last decade, Rebney said Bellator is primed for success any time it chooses to go there, which won't be more than a couple of times a year at the beginning.

"We've got the best distribution platform in the history of combat sports, and that's Spike," he said. "That's the difference. Also, we're not going to do it month in and month out. We're not going to throw up PPV after PPV after PPV and say, 'Here, buy this.' We're not going to throw up PPVs that belong on free TV. If we've got an amazing card, an amazing event, we may do it on PPV. We're not going to do it every three or four weeks."

For all of Rebney's handwringing over the number of events Zuffa promotes that require fans to fork over money to view them, each card through the end of 2013 looks spectacular. Truth is, Bellator can't compete that way with Zuffa right now. But that hasn't deterred Rebney, who said fans should expect five bouts during the Nov. 2 pay-per-view, including an appearance from Bellator lightweight star Michael Chandler.

Rebney was unsure whom Chandler would fight, leaving open the possibility of Eddie Alvarez, the former Bellator champion currently embroiled in litigation with the company. Pay-per-view considerations outlined in the lawsuit with Alvarez carried no weight in the company's decision to step into the pay-per-view game, Rebney said. But as far as the promoter is concerned, "nothing is off the table."

It was just a couple of weeks ago that Rebney touted Chandler's new eight-fight contract as among the richest in MMA's lightweight division. That deal, Jackson's contract and the just-announced relationship with Ortiz are emblematic of a newfound willingness inside Bellator to spend money -- "but only when it makes sense and the company is able to monetize it," Rebney said. "Michael was one of those decisions. Tito was one of those decisions. Rampage was one of those decisions. There are guys that make sense and we think will put us in a better place at the end of the year."

We'll have to wait until a Monday news conference to know details about Bellator's decision to promote its first pay-per-view event headlined by Quinton "Rampage" Jackson and Tito Ortiz.

For a whole host of reasons it would be easy to pick apart the fight (just look at their records over the past few years) and the decision to promote it, but that won't change the fact that Bellator and Viacom chose to use Jackson and Ortiz in this way.

One presumes it makes sense for their businesses because they need a pay-per-view showcase. Some have already suggested this news is a reaction to the ongoing lawsuit between Bellator and Eddie Alvarez, in which the ability of the promotion to host and sell pay-per-views is a significant point of contention. Whether or not there's truth to that, and whether or not Bellator or Viacom would cop to it, is unclear.

Bellator officials have discussed getting into the pay-per-view business for some time, so this shouldn't be a shock to anyone. It's just the circumstances and the headliners that have people wondering what's up.

A quiet rumor emanating from Bellator circles the past few months may also have something to do with the matchmaking. There has been talk of a shift in company philosophy. Not just in the way Bellator finds, creates, builds and showcases fighters, but how it treats the idea of signing once-bankable stars, even if they have little to offer in the cage.

Since Viacom purchased a majority stake in Bellator, Bjorn Rebney has moved from a well-staked-out position of not wanting to sign UFC castoffs to making room on a loaded calender to book a pay-per-view attraction between former champions from any top 10 ranking. So, November's pay-per-view is, if nothing else (and it's much more), an important experiment for the people involved in the only real MMA alternative to the UFC.

In the wake of Thursday's announcement, Rebney did express that the Nov. 2 event in Long Beach, Calif., is essentially a one-off. That the model of weekly events shown on free television through Spike TV will continue to dominate its focus. But it's obvious that there are changes underway to Bellator's approach, including spending money on ventures that could serve as loss leaders.

For the moment, the fight accomplished what Bellator folks hoped: It got people talking.

UFC World Tour Wraps

For the past few years at least, UFC hasn't had a problem getting people interested in what it's up to.

Yet, for the first time that I can recall, the company opted to trot out a week-long media tour, investing several hundred thousand dollars and many man-hours into pitching a slew of championship fights set for the last half of 2013.

Ronda Rousey, Georges St-Pierre, Jon Jones and Cain Velasquez were flanked by UFC president Dana White and their challengers in Los Angeles and New York. Totaling 150,000 miles traveled, this was no small deal. The crew splintered off, landing in 11 cities in five countries, creating interest and storylines that, presuming everyone stays healthy, should strongly propel the company into 2014.

The week-long cavalcade wrapped in style, as St-Pierre and Johny Hendricks, who kicked it off in Las Vegas Monday, scored mat time in front of fans on the field at Cowboys Stadium. Hendricks did well on the tour, making the most of his media attention by publicly wishing to batter the welterweight champion. Call it a toss-up between Rousey and Hendricks for most quotable.

The star of the show was Rousey, who continues to be a huge driver of PR for the UFC. She and Miesha Tate did well, especially during a "car wash" at ESPN headquarters in Bristol, Conn.

Including Saturday's featherweight title fight pitting Jose Aldo and Chan Sung Jung, as well as an end of August showdown at 155 pounds between champion Benson Henderson and Anthony Pettis, the back half of this year sets up to be the most impressive stretch in UFC history.

There's no right answer here, but this is how things shake out on my anticipation meter:

1. St-Pierre vs. Hendricks

2. Chris Weidman vs. Anderson Silva II

3. Jones vs. Alexander Gustafsson

4. Velasquez vs. Junior dos Santos III

5. Henderson vs. Pettis II

6. Aldo vs. Jung

7. Rousey vs. Tate II

Down to hit

The fights mentioned above or the undercards preceding them will probably produce at least one moment addressed by the Association of Boxing Commissions at its annual convention this week in San Antonio.

We've all seen it. We've all groaned. A fighter, hoping to avoid punishment or induce a foul, will touch the ground with a hand. That immediately prevents the opponent from kneeing or kicking the fighter's head. More to the point, it stalls the contest and makes for an awkward moment for all involved.

So, as part of this week's discussion, the ABC addressed the loophole.

As recommended by Nick Lembo (New Jersey), Keith Kizer (Nevada) and Bernie Profato (Ohio) at the convention referee rules meeting:

"Referees should instruct the fighters that they may still be considered a standing fighter even if they have a finger or portion of the hand (or entire hand) on the canvas. In the discretion of the referee, a fighter who has a finger or hand on the canvas may still be legally struck in the head with knees and kicks. The referee may decide that the downed fighter is placing his or her finger or hand down without doing so for an offensive or countering maneuver in an attempt to advance or improve their position. The referee may decide that the downed fighter is instead simply trying to draw a foul. If the referee decides that the fighter is 'touching down' simply to benefit from a foul, the referee may consider that fighter a standing fighter and decide that no foul has occurred."

Considering the state of officiating in MMA, leaving issues like this up to referee discretion creates valid concerns. But the men and women assigned to oversee these contests need leeway here, especially if commissions across the U.S. won't repeal the rule banning knees to the head of a ground opponent. This course correction looks like a smart step in the right direction.

There was a stretch, not so long ago, when Brazilian fighters appeared on their way to ruling the UFC championship roost.

Junior dos Santos held the heavyweight belt. Lyoto Machida and Mauricio Rua did their thing at light heavyweight. Anderson Silva, of course, dominated the middleweights. Jose Aldo, the kid of the bunch, racked up defenses at 145, where he remains the only Brazilian fighter to hold a UFC belt. And, for just more than a year, Renan Barao has stood as the interim bantamweight titleholder in place of injured Dominick Cruz.

Like dominoes, however, some have fallen.

Jon Jones stepped up to claim the light heavyweight crown, vanquishing Rua in March 2011. Cain Velasquez reclaimed the heavyweight belt against dos Santos at the end of last year. And Chris Weidman made history a month ago when he dispatched Silva, the longest reigning champ in UFC history.

Meanwhile, Aldo and Barao, teammates at the Brazilian camp Nova Uniao, are the last men standing.

A couple of months from turning 27, Aldo isn't the youngest UFC champion. That distinction belongs to Jones. But the Brazilian has been ranked atop his division much longer, claiming the No. 1 spot in 2009 by beating Mike Brown in the WEC. Taking just his UFC experience into account, Aldo's run at 145 is impressive enough to earn him an assortment of accolades.

If the dynamic Brazilian, third on ESPN.com's current pound-for-pound list, does what most expect he’ll do and chops down Chan Sung Jung on Saturday in Rio, his time atop the UFC featherweight division will eclipse the rarefied air of 1,000 days.

Three men in UFC history have held on to their belts longer. Silva, the Brazilian giant, saw his run end at 2,458 days. Canadian great Georges St-Pierre has been the man at welterweight for 1,928 straight days. And Tito Ortiz made his name in the light heavyweight division over a 1,260-day stretch from 2000 to 2003.

When Silva went down to Weidman, not only did that make Aldo (22-1) the lone Brazilian currently wearing an undisputed title in the organization (including him, seven Brazilians have done this) but it positioned "Junior" second behind St-Pierre as far as ongoing championship success inside the Octagon.

Sure enough, true to his ability, Aldo has secured his spot among the most successful fighters ever to step foot in that space.

Should Silva lose a second time to Weidman at the end of the year, and dos Santos fall short in his attempt to reclaim the title versus Velasquez during their trilogy fight in October, that would make Aldo’s value to the UFC far more pronounced. As such, Aldo might feel a type of pressure he has not had to deal with yet -- not just in terms of representing himself but as an emissary for the UFC, which has been and will continue to be incredibly active in his South American home nation.

"The one thing we know is that there is an appetite in Brazil for UFC live events," said Marshall Zelaznik, UFC's managing director of international business, during a pre-event conference call. "Between our partners with Globo and Globosat and Combate channel, there's also huge demand for television media to cover the events. So we're trying to satisfy all the demands there. And we’re committed for this year and for the years to follow, to bring five-plus events into the region.”

As that busy calendar unfolds, Brazilian media and fans will surely look to Aldo, not Silva, as the standard-bearer for their flag inside the UFC. This might have been inevitable based on Aldo’s ability and the reality of Silva’s age, but now the day has arrived when Aldo has to be ready to handle it all.

A decisive win in Rio a month after Silva fell from his perch could easily elevate Aldo to a place he’s never been. He’s a cool customer in the cage, and no one should expect that to change. However, new demands on his time, especially given that we’re talking about a guy who doesn’t covet the limelight, might prove burdensome.

The full measure of what success can bring is at Aldo’s door. Beating Jung, traversing the 1,000-day mark and grabbing the mantle as Brazil’s best are important landmarks in a career that has delivered highlight after highlight, destruction after destruction.

Jose Aldo makes the fifth defense of his UFC featherweight title Saturday in Brazil at UFC 163 when he faces Chan Sung Jung, who is ranked sixth in ESPN.com's featherweight rankings. In the co-main event, former light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida takes on Phil Davis.

Here are the numbers you need to know for the fights:

92: The percentage of takedowns Aldo has defended in his WEC and UFC career. In 12 career fights spanning the two organizations, opponents are 5-for-66 in takedown attempts against the featherweight champion. Aldo defended 9 of 11 takedown attempts in his last fight against Frankie Edgar. In three UFC fights, Jung is 5-for-6 in takedown attempts (83 percent).

1: Both Aldo and Jung have finished a UFC fight with one second remaining in a round. Aldo ended his UFC 142 fight with Chad Mendes in the final second of Round 1, one of just 10 times that has happened in UFC history. Jung submitted Leonard Garcia with arguably the most unusual hold in UFC history, the twister, at 4:59 of the second round at UFC Fight Night 24. It was the only ending at exactly 9 minutes, 59 seconds of a UFC fight until Saturday when Jorge Masvidal accomplished the same feat with a D’Arce choke against Michael Chiesa at UFC on Fox 8.

8: Jung has eight submission victories in his career, including five by choke. The twister victory against Garcia won multiple awards for submission of the year in 2011. Jung won his last fight against Dustin Poirier at UFC on Fuel TV 3 by D’Arce choke, which was a candidate for 2012 submission of the year. Aldo has never faced a submission attempt in 12 WEC/UFC fights.

7: Aldo is one of seven undisputed titleholders from Brazil in UFC history, along with Vitor Belfort, Murilo Bustamante, Junior dos Santos, Machida, Mauricio Rua and Anderson Silva. Aldo is the only Brazilian to currently hold undisputed gold after Silva's loss to Chris Weidman at UFC 162. (Renan Barao holds the UFC interim bantamweight title.)

4.6: Significant strikes landed per minute by Jung. "The Korean Zombie" landed 89 significant strikes in his WEC debut against Garcia, a fight nominated for 2010 fight of the year. That total is just above the 74 he landed in four rounds against Poirier. Jung is known to get hit as well, absorbing 3.8 significant strikes per minute, including a head-kick loss to George Roop in 2010. Aldo lands 3.5 significant strikes per minute.

7: Seconds needed for Jung to knock out Mark Hominick at UFC 140, tied for the fastest official knockout in UFC history. Jung needed just six strikes to finish Hominick. Aldo's fastest win is eight seconds, a knockout against Cub Swanson at WEC 41 in 2009.

3: Consecutive wins for Jung in the UFC after two losses in the WEC. Those losses were both on WEC cards where Aldo was defending his featherweight title. Aldo has won 15 consecutive fights, with his lone defeat coming in 2005. Four of Aldo's wins since becoming WEC/UFC champion have been by decision. In 16 fights before winning the WEC/UFC title, Aldo had three decision wins.

6: Jung is the sixth fighter from Asia to fight for a UFC title belt. The previous fighters (Yuki Kondo, Yushin Okami, Hayato Sakurai, Caol Uno and Kenichi Yamamoto) went 0-5-1. Yamamoto (UFC 23) and Kazushi Sakuraba (UFC Ultimate Japan) are the only fighters from Asia to win a UFC tournament championship. Jung is the first Korean fighter to challenge for a UFC title.

11: Knockdowns landed for Machida in his UFC career, tied for fourth most all-time. In the light heavyweight division, Machida is second to UFC Hall of Famer Chuck Liddell, who has 14. Davis has not been knocked down in nine UFC fights.

74: Davis' significant strike defense percentage, fourth highest in UFC history. "Mr. Wonderful" is one of the most difficult fighters to hit, absorbing just 53 significant strikes in his seven UFC wins. In his loss against Rashad Evans, Davis was hit with just 38 percent of significant strikes. Machida is one of the best strikers in UFC history, landing 57 percent of his significant strikes, which is seventh best all-time.

Light heavyweight contenders Lyoto Machida and Phil Davis know what's at stake Saturday night in their UFC 163 co-main event, and each man is confident he will leave the cage with an impressive victory.

Under normal circumstances, a win Saturday at the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, would seal the deal for a title shot. But in the back of their minds, Machida and Davis know there is another fighter -- someone not even in the top 10 of the 205-pound rankings -- hatching a plan to push them aside.

And neither Machida nor Davis likes it one bit.

Highly ranked heavyweight contender Daniel Cormier told ESPN.com on July 22 he intends to make his light heavyweight debut early next year and wants it to be in a title bout -- whether or not current champion Jon Jones is still wearing the belt.

Cormier knows he will ruffle the feathers of more than a few light heavyweight contenders if his plan comes to fruition, but he couldn't care less. If he defeats hard-hitting Roy Nelson in October at UFC 166, which is expected, it is goodbye heavyweight and hello 205 with the likelihood of an immediate title fight.

"What I will be asking to do at the beginning of next year is something that is going to make a lot of people mad," Cormier said. "I'm going to ask to cut the line at 205."

Despite being the likely choice to get the winner of the third fight between Cain Velasquez and Junior dos Santos, Cormier has already made up his mind to turn that offer down. He will never fight Velasquez, who is a close friend and training partner. And Cormier has no doubt that Velasquez will be UFC heavyweight champion for a very long time.

It's heartwarming that Cormier (12-0) is willing to abandon a shot at the heavyweight title and attempt to cut lots of weight rather than fight a very special friend. But Machida and Davis aren't feeling the love. In fact, neither will stand quietly and let Cormier push them aside.

"I believe there's a ranking and it should be followed. There are a lot of guys in line right now in this weight class [waiting] to fight for a title," Machida said. "I've been waiting in line, there's Glover Teixeira, there's Phil Davis; so there are a lot of guys in there, in the mix.

"If [Cormier] is going to move down to 205, he needs to put a couple of fights in or at least get a significant win in a big fight. I don't think it is right for him to just come in and cut the line. He's going to have to show he deserves that title shot."

Machida's point is well-taken. After securing the No. 1 ranking in February with a split decision over Dan Henderson, the former light heavyweight champion began eyeing a rematch with Jones. But Machida's hopes were dashed when Jones, upon recovering from a foot injury, opted instead to fight Alexander Gustafsson on Sept. 21 at UFC 165 in Toronto.

Being bypassed in favor of Gustafsson makes Machida a little antsy. He believes, however, that an impressive win over Davis, who is ranked seventh among light heavyweights by ESPN.com, will strengthen his case for another shot at Jones, who submitted Machida in the second round at UFC 140.

Davis is equally determined to make his case Saturday night for a title shot. He has lost just once as a professional, when former 205-pound titleholder Rashad Evans earned a unanimous decision against him in January 2012.

A highly skilled wrestler, Davis has significantly improved his stand-up skills. He is 2-0 with one no-contest since the loss to Evans.

A signature win over Machida could catapult Davis to the top of the 205-pound rankings. And he is not in the mood to simply let Cormier cut in front of him. Davis intends to upset Machida on Saturday in eye-opening fashion, thus ending all talk of Cormier getting an immediate light heavyweight title shot.

"What it really comes down to is being able to sell the fight and being able to perform [well]," Davis said. "After this fight, I think fans are going to be begging for me to fight for the title. It's as simple as that."

When Anthony Pettis went down with a knee injury in June -- an injury that forced him out of his UFC 163 featherweight title bout with champion Jose Aldo -- the promotion turned to Chan Sung Jung, rather than the consensus “next best thing,” Ricardo Lamas. That decision raised quite a few eyebrows.

The decision to go with him over Lamas even caught “The Korean Zombie” by surprise.

“To be honest with you, I thought that Lamas would have been the first choice as well,” Jung told ESPN.com during a recent media call to promote his title fight, which takes place Saturday in Rio de Janeiro. “But I’m happy to have been chosen.”

Lamas and Chan were slated to fight July 6 at UFC 162, but that bout was scrapped when Jung got the call to fight Aldo; Lamas is still awaiting notice from UFC officials when he will fight next.

It’s easy to make the case that Lamas should have gotten the nod to fight Aldo: He’s unbeaten at featherweight (4-0) since making his debut in the division on June 26, 2011. And Lamas is ranked higher than Jung at 145 pounds by both ESPN.com (fifth; Jung is sixth) and UFC.com (second and fifth, respectively).

Lamas is 13-2 overall and has impressive victories over two current featherweight contenders -- Cub Swanson and Erik Koch. He was among the favorites to land a title shot after Frankie Edgar came up short in his bid to unseat Aldo at UFC 156 in February. But Pettis, a lightweight contender, shook things up by tossing his name in the featherweight title mix.

A strong argument also can be made favoring Jung. After an exciting fourth-round submission victory over Dustin Poirier in May 2012, Jung seemed primed to face Aldo, before suffering a shoulder injury that has kept him out of action for more than 12 months.

While Jung concedes that Lamas is arguably the more deserving contender at this time to fight for the title, he is comfortable with being chosen. And there is a key reason, he believes, UFC officials made the correct choice in giving him the fight with Aldo.

“Maybe what made the difference were the stylistic differences. I think that this fight is guaranteed to be exciting fight,” Jung said. “That’s probably one of the big reasons why they chose me to go over Lamas.”

It’s an excellent point of view. Jung is the type of fighter who always comes forward and he’s very active inside the cage. He will definitely attempt to put pressure on Aldo.

During his current three-fight win streak, Jung (13-3) has finished each opponent. His second-round twister submission of Leonard Garcia on March 26, 2011, still remains fresh in the minds of MMA fans.

Aldo is favored to retain his belt, but Jung has the skills to make things interesting. Even Lamas expects there to be fireworks Saturday night.

“I see [the fight] going one of two ways,” Lamas told ESPN.com. “It’s either going to be a slaughter for Aldo, or one thing that we haven’t seen a lot of is guys backing Aldo down by continuously coming forward, which is what the Korean Zombie does; he closes the gap. When you close the gap, one of Aldo’s biggest weapons are leg kicks, those kicks are kind of eliminated.

“If Korean Zombie can continue going forward like he usually does, close the gap and turn it into a messy brawl, I can see him with a chance. I never count anyone out of a fight.”

“

Aldo is considered one of the most dominant champions in UFC history -- as far as the featherweights are concerned. Being the guy to beat Aldo would be way better than just being the featherweight champion by beating somebody else in the division.

” -- Ricardo Lamas, on why he relishes a title challenge against Jose Aldo

Lamas doesn’t take issue with Jung being labeled an exciting fighter, but he has difficulty accepting that the Korean Zombie’s fighting style makes for a better matchup with Aldo. As far as Lamas is concerned he too presses the action -- and cites his featherweight performances as proof.

UFC would not have gone wrong with Lamas in the cage Saturday night standing across from Aldo.

“If you look at my last four fights, I finished three of my four fights,” Lamas said. “The only one I didn’t finish, I went into it with an injury. And the fights I did finish were exciting -- a first-round TKO, a second-round submission of the night and a second-round TKO that was one of the bloodiest in UFC in a long time.”

Lamas will watch Saturday night’s main event very closely. He wants the winner, hoping it will be Aldo. The champion has hinted at possibly moving to lightweight after his fight with Jung.

Being passed over in favor of Jung still stings, but if Aldo exits the featherweight division with the title belt it will leave in hole in Lamas that he won’t be able to fill in the foreseeable future.

“Let’s say Aldo moves up; I fight somebody else for the featherweight championship and I win,” Lamas said. “There will still be those people out there saying, ‘Oh, he’s not the real featherweight champion because he didn’t beat Aldo.’ I don’t think it will be as valid as being the champion who beat Aldo.

“That would be the best. Aldo is considered one of the most dominant champions in UFC history -- as far as the featherweights are concerned. Being the guy to beat Aldo would be way better than just being the featherweight champion by beating somebody else in the division.”

Lamas hasn’t made a fuss over not being in the cage Saturday night with Aldo, but he doesn’t want to be pushed aside again. He wants to be the next guy to face Aldo. But for now, all Lamas can do is hope that Korean Zombie doesn’t get the job done first.

LAS VEGAS -- UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre has echoed recent comments made by his teammate Rory MacDonald that the two will never fight.

Speaking to reporters at the MGM Grand Hotel on Monday, St-Pierre shrugged off questions regarding a future fight between them as nothing more than media nonsense.

“You guys want a story,” St-Pierre said. “Make conflict happen with me and Rory. It’s not going to happen. Rory and I are tight. We’re friends.”

St-Pierre (24-2) and MacDonald (15-1) are longtime training partners at Tristar Gym in Montreal.

St-Pierre is scheduled to defend his title for the ninth time against Johny Hendricks (15-1) at UFC 167 in November. MacDonald, meanwhile, is coming off a heavily criticized decision win over Jake Ellenberger at a UFC on Fox event on Saturday.

Last week, MacDonald plainly stated to media he and St-Pierre had no intention to fight each other. MacDonald has climbed to No. 3 in the UFC’s division rankings.

UFC president Dana White responded that he didn’t believe MacDonald’s comments. St-Pierre was there to back him up on Monday.

“

You guys want a story. Make conflict happen with me and Rory. It's not going to happen. Rory and I are tight. We're friends.

” -- Georges St-Pierre, on why he won't fight friend and fellow contender Rory MacDonald

“Rory and I, we’re friends, you know?” St-Pierre said. “I don’t know what to say. I’m friends with Rory. We text, we call each other.

“There are many ways of doing things. Maybe I want to go up [in weight]. Maybe he might go up. There are many other options. I have a plan for my career. I can not tell you everything, guys, but there are other ways of doing things.”

St-Pierre currently sits second all-time in consecutive title defenses with eight. He trails only former middleweight champion Anderson Silva, who defended the 185-pound title 10 times in a row before losing it to Chris Weidman earlier this month.

When asked if St-Pierre would remain in the weight class long enough to take that record from Silva, his response was unclear.

“It’s a good question now that you say it,” St-Pierre said. “I don’t know.

“I’m taking it fight by fight. I don’t think about records because every fight is different and has its own problems.”

The champ also defended MacDonald’s conservative approach against Ellenberger, which led to the unanimous decision victory.

“The truth is, it’s not only because Rory is my friend, the truth is we all knew by watching the fight Rory was winning,” St-Pierre said. “It was up to Jake Ellenberger to take the risk to change the momentum of the fight, not Rory.”

So I’m just going to come right out with this ... I saw nothing wrong with the way UFC welterweight Rory MacDonald fought on Saturday in Seattle.

I didn’t even find his decision win over Jake Ellenberger to be all that particularly “boring.” Seeing MacDonald shut down an opponent as good as Ellenberger with feints, jabs, front kicks and footwork was actually very watchable to me.

That’s not the point here, though. If you found the fight boring, fine. There’s really no right way to see a fight. Either you liked it or you didn’t.

The way in which many perceive MacDonald’s performance, though -- I have to say I just don’t agree with it. You always see plenty of comments on Twitter after a high-profile UFC fight. In this case, an extreme one sent to me suggested the win shouldn’t even count. Those kinds of outbursts are expected, but reactions to this performance have gone beyond Twitter.

A lot of that can be attributed to UFC president Dana White, who influences the opinion of countless others. White accused Ellenberger of doing “nothing,” and said “Rory is one of the best in the world, but he didn’t look it tonight.”

White also said he encourages fighters the day before an event to go after "Fight Night" bonuses. “You want more money?” he said. “It’s right there, go get it.”

It’s important to remember that White is a fight promoter. This was the most highly anticipated bout of a Fox Network event and it failed to produce drama. You expect this kind of reaction from him, but there’s a lot to disagree with in his comments.

MacDonald, 24, was in the biggest fight of his career against a major knockout threat in Ellenberger. Before the fight, I wrote that standing and trading in the pocket would be dangerous for MacDonald, and I believe many of you would have agreed.

Why are we all so shocked then, that MacDonald remained conservative once he realized he could easily outpoint Ellenberger from the outside? And even to say it was “easy” isn’t accurate. MacDonald may not have been entertaining, but he dominated the No. 4 fighter in his division and that's not really easy, regardless of how it’s done.

I understand the idea that this is a fight -- it’s not a baseball game where 1-0 means the exact same thing as 20-0. Style counts in martial arts. But I would also say there is a right time for style, and Saturday wasn't necessarily it for MacDonald.

What real incentive did he have to take a risk and look to finish the fight?

Some would say a "Fight Night" bonus. Knock him out, take home an extra $50,000. Nothing is even close to guaranteed when talking about those bonuses. Robbie Lawler turned in arguably one of the best knockouts of the year against Bobby Voelker on Saturday and watched the KO bonus go to Melvin Guillard.

Others would say take the risk because of the stage. It was a high-profile fight. A spectacular win could mean -- what? Where would a spectacular win have gotten MacDonald? He was already the No. 3-ranked welterweight in the UFC standings headed into the weekend. I’m pretty sure the win didn’t drop him a spot.

Would it have got him a fight against Georges St-Pierre? A fight he says he doesn’t even want? One thing I do agree with White on is that secretly, MacDonald wants to fight St-Pierre (only because he has the title).

If that’s really true though, think about it: All MacDonald has to do is pipe up and say it. Teammate versus Teammate? The student challenges the master? Come on. The UFC will jump behind that idea any time MacDonald chooses to push it.

No. This was about MacDonald recognizing a dangerous opponent and securing a win, which he did. He didn’t look like one of the best in the world? He owned Ellenberger. In interviews for the UFC before the bout, he said he wanted to “embarrass him, technically.” He did that.

And this idea that Ellenberger wasn’t right in the fight, that he did “nothing” -- I just don’t buy that. He tried to get to the inside on MacDonald and couldn’t. Maybe he could have turned to his wrestling earlier when his striking failed, but ultimately he just ran up against a superior opponent with a better game plan that night.

It’s not lost on me that a fight like MacDonald-Ellenberger isn’t great for television and certainly not great for casual fans tuning in to watch for the first time.

In this scenario though, you lose the big picture if that’s what you focus on. MacDonald went into one of the biggest tests of his career and emerged without a scratch and two 30-27 scorecards.

If straight violence is your goal, there are limitless sources of it to be found. But one attraction of the UFC is that it showcases technical martial arts at its best. I thought MacDonald’s jab was a good example of that Saturday, and it deserves more than only criticism.

The worst idea coming out of UFC's eighth card on Fox is Demetrious Johnson already ran out of 125-pound guys to fight.

But how can a champion clean out a division if its foundation hasn't even set?

Flyweight is “not like 145 or 155, where you can have 10 fights, win nine of them, and still not be anywhere close to a title shot," seventh-ranked Darrell Montague told ESPN.com earlier in the week.

Montague is the only competitor ranked in the top 10 not featured among the 15 flyweights currently signed to fight in the UFC.

"Maybe my first fight could be against one of their top guys," said “The Mongoose." "I win that, then the next one is for the belt. Who knows?"

John Moraga put himself in position to pull it off. So can the 25-year-old Montague. Same with 19-year-old Sergio Pettis. And 26-year-old Olympic wrestling champion Henry Cejudo. Or, perhaps, a kid we haven’t heard of before. This is why it’s silly to say Johnson has done the yeoman’s work of clearing out a weight class after only two title defenses.

"There's quite a few flyweights out there because it's not a weight they have a ton of options of where they can go,” said Ed Soares, speaking on behalf of the Resurrection Fighting Alliance, a feeder organization for the UFC that promotes flyweights because the UFC does. “So, we're definitely trying to build up lighter weights and hopefully get them up into the UFC."

Many people expect Pettis to rise to Johnson’s level over the next year. Montague, currently paving parking lots for a living, got an offer on Tuesday to fight in Japan -- he’s considering it but doesn’t sound crazy about fighting just to fight. Cejudo has all the hallmarks of a bankable star, so long as he doesn’t embrace a safety-first style.

Throw in guys working their way through the UFC ranks, like hard-hitting John Lineker or green-haired Louis Gaudinot. Plus the guys we already know, like Joseph Benavidez.

Simply put, there’s more than enough available 125-pound talent to threaten for the belt on a regular basis. And considering how impressive a champion Johnson has been so far (try "very”), chances are he’ll be in position to take challenger flak for some time to come. At the moment, though, expecting him to match the dominance of established titleholders isn’t fair. The weight class he fronts isn’t mature enough. Moraga went from the first bout on Facebook to a championship main event on network television. Unknown to widespread.

This says a ton about the unpredictable mobility of flyweights, and why prospects might not be in a tremendous hurry to hit the UFC.

Several fighters that might give Johnson a run for his money aren’t on the table yet because (1) the curbed 125-pound UFC roster is tough to crack, or (2) they're simply not prepared.

Fretting over talent is the wrong way to think about this. Instead, the true battle will hinge on whether or not fans dare to care about the smallest fighters on the UFC roster. Until the answer is a chest-thumping “yes,” flyweights will struggle to receive the attention they need to flourish.

“No one really paid attention to 125 until the UFC brought them in,” said Soares. “[The UFC is] the biggest, they're the best, so as soon as they decide to do something, everyone pays more attention to it. That goes for everything. Not only flyweights, but when they brought women in. They're the leaders. As soon as they start doing something, everyone is going to pay attention."

Flyweight men and bantamweight women made their UFC debuts nearly a year apart, and their respective impacts on the promotion’s business couldn’t be more different.

Ronda Rousey is the most media-requested fighter on the roster and women have energized the UFC. Meanwhile, a hometown title defense for Johnson -- the only fighter to wear the promotion’s flyweight belt -- was overshadowed coming into the event by a welterweight co-main between Rory MacDonald and Jake Ellenberger.

No surprise then that as women and the UFC bask in Rousey’s glow, flyweight during the Johnson era has been slow to catch on. The UFC entered female MMA because of Rousey’s magnetism. There wasn’t an equivalent for men at 125, which is why the promotion held a four-fighter tournament to crown a champ. Out of that jumble emerged a bantamweight convert, “Mighty Mouse,” a heck of a competitor who’s yet to connect with the audience -- proving again it takes more than being a terrific mixed martial artist to become a UFC star.

Foregoing a showman at the top of the weight means flyweight could take longer to develop than its supporters want. But don’t make the mistake of pinning a slow response on the fighters' diminutive size.

After all, many of boxing’s most influential and entertaining stars over the years waged war at 126 pounds.

SEATTLE -- An acting role in the Hollywood movie “Expendables 3” is definitely on Ronda Rousey's radar. A rematch with Miesha Tate at UFC 168 is, too.

Newly crowned 145-pound Invicta champion Cris Justino, aka “Cyborg,” yeah, she’s also on Rousey’s radar -- but just barely, she says.

“I mean yeah, she’s always on my radar,” said Rousey at this weekend’s UFC event. “But I have a really, really full plate and she has nothing to worry about but me.”

Rousey (7-0) downplayed questions regarding a future fight against Justino, saying if Justino wants it, “she needs to get off her a-- and try to make (it) happen.”

Justino returned from a one-year drug suspension in April and recently claimed the inaugural 145-pound Invicta title in a TKO win over Marloes Coenen.

She was stripped of the Strikeforce featherweight title following a positive drug test in December 2010. She was expected to still fight in the UFC when the suspension was up, but instead requested her release from the promotion.

Justino (12-1) has constantly said she is unable to physically cut to 135 pounds. Her management has cited that as the primary reason behind her UFC departure.

Rousey was clearly aware of Justino’s recent win over Coenen, but didn’t seem overly impressed. She also reiterated she has more important things on her mind.

“I have a lot of things going on,” Rousey said. “She’s fighting random chicks. I mean, Marloes -- it took her longer and more energy to beat Marloes than it took Miesha (in July 2011).

“It’s only the MMA diehards that want to see that fight. I have so many things going on. If she really wants to make that fight happen, I’m here.”

UFC president Dana White told reporters he has had no recent contact with Justino or her manager, former UFC light heavyweight Tito Ortiz.

“I have not heard from her manager,” White said. “I have not seen any press conferences. So, I don’t know. I don’t know what’s going on with Cyborg.”

Former middleweight champion Anderson Silva was knocked out for the first time in his UFC career on July 6 at UFC 162 after absorbing a left hook from Chris Weidman.

Weeks later, “The Spider” broke down what went wrong against Weidman.

“Getting knocked out is the worst,” Silva said on the Brazilian late-night talk show "Agora é Tarde." "There are always going to be questions -- people want to know what happened, but [when you’re knocked out] you don't remember anything. You black out and that's it.”

Silva's posture and posturizing during the fight was questioned and criticized by fans and media alike. Some went so far as to say he was disrespectful to his opponent. Silva was quick to explain his actions.

“It [the awkward movement] was a technical error to keep my legs parallel; I should have taken a step back instead,” he said.

“Several factors led to the knockout. The tension in the air before the fight, you just want to burst ... it was a series of mistakes.”

Silva revealed another error on his part: Instead of returning to his corner after Round 1 for guidance, he took issue with his team’s suggestions.

“In my career, I’ve always went back to my corner [for advice],” Silva said. “Against Weidman, I went back to argue, and I should have gone back to my corner and calmed down. I didn't do any of that; I lost control."

Disdainful after Weidman’s successful takedown, Silva dared Weidman to hit him, then proceeded to showboat and trash-talk.

When asked what he said to the American, Silva explained he was trying to draw Weidman into a more fan-friendly fight, instead of wrestling and taking matters to the ground.

“I was saying, ‘Come on, let's fight standing up, look at the crowd applauding.’ Because standing up is much cooler than fighting on the floor," Silva said.

Silva intends to finish the 10 fights remaining in his contract with the UFC. The Brazilian already has a rematch lined up with Weidman, set for Dec. 28 at UFC 168.

On the one hand, another nationally televised flyweight title fight is just crazy enough to work at Saturday's UFC on Fox 8 card in Seattle.

After all, if frenetic back-and-forth action is what we want in a main event, this is the formula -- even if the guys fighting in it, challenger John Moraga and 125-pound champion Demetrious Johnson, are lighter than most sophomores in high school.

But then again, everybody loves a headliner consisting of two loaf-fisted heavyweight monstrosities trying to take each other's heads off. Given these perhaps outdated but still popular appetites, it's risky to trot out the remora instead of the sharks, is it not?

Not that these are the only factors.

By now you know that nobody knows who Moraga is, and that's why so many people are dishing the CliffsNotes. We need to learn of the fly on the fly. The 5-foot-3 Johnson is better known, but not to the dreaded "casual fans," the ones presumably being tempted toward their television sets. So what we're talking about by making two fairly anonymous fighters the main attraction on a big, widely seen card is that technique, athleticism, skill and speed -- colliding like two angry hummingbirds in a jar -- are more than enough.

The truth is, it might be. Particularly if each has his moments putting the other in trouble. The question then becomes: Does any of this change Johnson's approach? Johnson is holding the flyweight belt in part because he fights smart (a euphemism for "boring" in the minds of some people). He hasn't been involved in a fight that didn't go the distance since 2010, when he fought Damacio Page in the WEC. If he fights tactically against Moraga -- which by all rights he should and Moraga expects -- doesn't he make the least of the coveted spot?

That's all left for Saturday night. Drama is sometimes in the smaller details, and those are on display this weekend in Seattle.

FIVE STORYLINES

The introduction of Moraga

Though the flyweights carry an onus of not being able to finish fights, Moraga crushes onuses like a cold monkey wrench. In two UFC bouts, both at 125 pounds, he has finished the guy in front of him. Should he do to Johnson what he did to Ulysses Gomez (that is, knock him out), here's guessing that everybody knows exactly who Moraga is come Sunday morning.

Flyweights in the floodlights

Aesthetically, the flyweights are fun to watch and almost impossible to truly behold with the naked eye. They require remote controls and liberal use of the slow-motion button. But do we ultimately value that? Should Moraga-Johnson underwhelm, this could be the last flyweight tilt (title or no) we see headlining a big card for a long time.

MacDonald as legit contender

Who has Rory MacDonald fought, cynics want to know. After all, Che Mills isn't in the UFC anymore and Nate Diaz is more of a natural lightweight (as is BJ Penn). As for Mike Pyle? He's awfully long in the tooth. But remember, MacDonald did have Carlos Condit on the ropes until the final seconds. And if he beats Jake Ellenberger, who has won eight of nine, MacDonald puts his name into imminent welterweight contention.

Ellenberger's chance to make statement

Say that Ellenberger goes in and savagely puts MacDonald away in the first round, as he's known to do. What then? The guess is that such an outcome sets up a fight between Ellenberger and Demian Maia as a true No. 1 contender bout while Georges St-Pierre-Johny Hendricks plays out in November.

Lawler's resurgence

It's crazy, but the last time Robbie Lawler won consecutive fights was all the way back in 2007. He traded wins and losses for four years in Strikeforce, coughing up a bit of his mystique. But the upset victory over Josh Koscheck in February put a little wind back in his sail, and should he beat Bobby Voelker on Saturday, he'll essentially have a clean slate.

FIVE QUESTIONS

Can 'Mighty Mouse' finish a fight?

Truth is, Johnson looks better each time we see him in the cage. He looked good against Ian McCall the first time and better against him the second time. Johnson looked great against Joseph Benavidez. Ditto John Dodson. The knock is that Johnson is a points fighter who does just enough. Does that end against Moraga?

Can Ellenberger win a decision over MacDonald?

You ask people how Ellenberger wins his fight against MacDonald and they'll say via knockout. But what happens if MacDonald stays disciplined and is there all night? Can Ellenberger eke out a win on points? He did fade against Martin Kampmann and Diego Sanchez, and neither is as big and strong as MacDonald.

Which Melvin Guillard shows up?

Realistically, there's only one Guillard, and that's the same one who will show up in Seattle. He switched training camps (yet again) to Denver, where he's been training with Trevor Wittman. Thing is, he loves his power and trusts it to trump everything he'll encounter. Against Mac Danzig, who has gone 3-6 in his last nine fights, Guillard will once again sink or swim by his infatuation.

How does Carmouche rebound?

Fate is funny. For a few seconds at UFC 157, it looked like Liz Carmouche was about to defeat not just Ronda Rousey but the very reason for women's MMA in the UFC. It was a tense few moments when she had Rousey's back, but in the end, Carmouche went down gallantly. Facing Jessica Andrade, Carmouche -- the biggest favorite on the card -- has to guard against the spiral.

Will MacDonald come around to GSP?

This question is premature, which makes it the kind of question we love to ask. Yet should MacDonald beat Ellenberger, St-Pierre take care of Hendricks in November and the two be asked to fight each other thereafter, we have arrived at the next Jon Jones-Rashad Evans (and the hunch is MacDonald won't protest for long).

WHO'S ON THE HOT SEAT?

John Albert -- He has lost three fights in a row since beating Dustin Pague in his UFC debut. A loss to Yaotzin Meza is almost a guaranteed pink slip. But if Albert wins? Yahtzee! The "Prince" lives to see another day.

Aaron Riley -- Riley is only 32 years old but has been in 44 fights. He's been around the block a few times. In his last fight against Tony Ferguson, in 2011, he suffered a broken jaw. Should he lose to Justin Salas, if he doesn't hang up the gloves himself, the next pair he wears might not say "UFC" on them.

Trevor Smith -- The Strikeforce immigrant takes on an angry Ed Herman, who, in a fit of optimism, made a cameo appearance in Strikeforce against Ronaldo Souza and lost badly. Tough draw for Smith. Herman's relevance is at stake.

Melvin Guillard -- Yes, there's a Leonard Garcia thing going on here. Guillard always comes to fight, does so on short notice and lets the chips fall where they may. Dana White likes him. But he needs a win badly. Very badly. Then the UFC won't be forced to make any hard decisions on him.

Mac Danzig -- See Guillard.

WHY YOU SHOULD CARE

Because the flyweights have one speed, which is blue blur ... because Johnson is one of the most underrated fighters to ever carry such mastery to the cage ... because Moraga swings for the fences and is fighting for his late cousin Jay ... because there's not one, but two women's fights, and Julie Kedzie versus Germaine de Randamie will have your grandmother spitting out her tea ... because Danny Castillo does love himself a brawl ... and for that matter so does Michael Chiesa ... and Jorge Masvidal ... because Herman can't afford to lose to Smith, and when a "Short Fuse" meets "Hot Sauce," the thing gets flammable ... because MacDonald is fighting Ellenberger, and it won't cost you a dime.

John Moraga didn’t get into mixed martial arts for fame and quite frankly, he really didn’t get into it to satisfy any real hunger for competition, either.

Moraga started training to fight in 2009 with one thing in mind: Money.

“I didn’t get into this sport to be on posters or be a household name,” Moraga told ESPN.com. “Money. Let my kids grow up with everything I didn’t have.”

That’s not to say Moraga (13-1), who faces Demetrious Johnson for the UFC flyweight title this weekend at a UFC on Fox event in Seattle, doesn’t enjoy what he does. A former collegiate wrestler, Moraga is a lifetime competitor.

But the reason he trains multiple times a day and makes sacrifices in his lifestyle so he can weigh 125 pounds before a fight is to provide for his two sons.

“When my girlfriend got pregnant, that’s when I decided to get in the gym and see what I could make of it," he said. "There wasn’t much opportunity when I started, but I had faith that I would have an opportunity to make a living out of it. It’s worked out.”

Money has been a major talking point in the UFC in 2013, with several former and current fighters publicly criticizing the promotion’s current pay structure.

Moraga is an interesting case study in the discussion. Since signing with the UFC in mid-2012, the 29-year-old has fought twice, both times on the undercard.

His most recent performance, a submission win over Chris Cariaso at UFC 155 in December, was the opening fight of the event. Most of the Las Vegas crowd didn’t show up to see it. The UFC paid Moraga a salary of $22,000, according to Nevada.

Had Moraga lost, he would have made just $11,000. Half of the salary came from a win bonus, which is included in the majority of UFC contracts. Also, he would have been 1-1 in the UFC. Fighters who fall to 1-2 are routinely cut from the UFC roster.

That may seem, in Moraga’s word, “cutthroat” -- but so far, he has made the UFC pay system work for him. Shortly after his first UFC win, a first-round knockout over Ulysses Gomez, the company sent him a discretionary bonus in the mail.

When he submitted Cariaso at UFC 155, Moraga also was the recipient of a $65,000 “Submission of the Night” bonus. Just two fights into his deal, he’s in a position to win a UFC belt and possibly headline a pay-per-view event in the future.

Moraga’s view on UFC pay is that the company forces him to earn his money. If he performs to its expectations, they take care of him.

“I feel the UFC wants exciting fighters. If you go out and put on an exciting fight, if you put enough effort out there, then they’ll take care of you," he said. "I think they let their fighters earn their money, and I’m cool with that.”

Moraga is in a terrific spot now, but acknowledges things could have gone south just as easily.

In that UFC debut, the one where he knocked out Gomez and was awarded an extra check, Moraga was originally scheduled to fight Ian McCall. McCall, ranked the No. 3 flyweight in the world at the time, withdrew with injury.

Moraga’s guaranteed paycheck for that debut was only $9,000, with a $9,000 win bonus. Obviously, he would have gone into the bout against McCall with confidence, but it clearly would have been a much tougher fight than the one he ended up with.

Prior to McCall’s injury, Moraga was looking at a situation in which he was scheduled to face the No. 3 fighter in his division, potentially for a mere $9,000 -- and on top of that, a potential loss in his promotional debut.

“It’s definitely a gamble,” Moraga said of being an undercard fighter. “That’s what we sign up for. But that’s how I saw it. I saw [my undercard fights] as a little amount of money to get me on my feet and I saw it as an opportunity.

“I was supposed to fight Ian McCall. That’s a little different than your average UFC debut. At the same time, I knew I just had to prove myself.”

Moraga admits to not knowing “what the UFC makes” per event or “how much it costs to keep business going.”

Those two issues have long been arguing points in the UFC fighter pay discussion. Disgruntled fighters have complained about UFC revenue split, as the company refuses to release figures to the media on the subject. The UFC responds that it absorbs its own production costs and spends millions of dollars on advertising and promoting the sport, which opens sponsorship opportunities for its fighters.

From a personal sense, Moraga doesn’t have the time to inmmerse himself in that discussion. In his mind, if he continues to perform and fight in an entertaining style, the money will come.

That’s far more than he can say regarding other times in his career. When Moraga first started off, he says his pay was based on the number of tickets he was able to sell to friends and family, many of whom didn’t have the funds to help him out.

“I made like, ticket-sale money,” Moraga said. “Selling tickets was hard. Everyone I know is from the hood. They were like, '30 dollars? Tell me how it went, player.'

“I think the most I was ever paid for one of my fights [before the UFC] was $1,000, maybe $1,200. Before that, it was $400 here, $600 there.”

Moraga was also involved in the well-known Nemesis Fighting MMA promotion, which produced bounced checks to fighters after an event in 2010.

Moraga suffered the only loss of his pro career at that event to fellow UFC flyweight John Dodson, but was supposed to collect his largest payday. He collected nothing.

“I didn’t get paid for that fight,” Moraga said. “It was supposed to be online PPV. It ended up being a total scam of a show.”

Of course, Moraga has no concern of that happening in the UFC and now, as was the case when he first started training, he’s optimistic regarding his financial future.

Regarding his upcoming fight against Johnson, Moraga says he views it as life and death. In his mind, it may be his only chance ever at real, life-changing money.

In the current UFC pay structure, that mindset probably has a lot to do with Moraga’s success so far.

“I take it as survival,” Moraga said. “I see it as my one chance. That’s how I have to see it. Who knows what can happen? I might never get this chance again if I don’t make the most of it.”

Imagine if heavyweight contender Fabricio Werdum had gotten his wish and faced Daniel Cormier in a title eliminator. Then imagine Werdum losing. What a mess that would have left at the top of the division.

Earlier this month, UFC president Dana White revealed that Werdum requested a fight with Cormier. It was a bout UFC officials were seriously considering. Fortunately, they opted instead to have Cormier fight Roy Nelson on Oct. 19 at UFC 166 in Houston.

Here’s the deal, Cormier would have accepted the fight against Werdum; he loves being in high-profile bouts. But it’s highly likely Cormier would have beaten Werdum, and that’s when things would have gotten messy on the heavyweight contender landscape.

You see, Cormier will fight anyone UFC officials place in front of him, other than his close friend and training partner, heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez. Cormier is a vicious human being inside the Octagon, but a considerate person outside of it. He doesn’t want to do harm to the promotion in any way. And knocking off Werdum would have resulted in lots of uncertainty at heavyweight.

The possibility of Cormier beating Werdum and the problems it would have created wasn’t lost on mixed martial arts fans. And they let Cormier know it.

“I’d kind of gotten a negative reaction from the general public about that,” Cormier told ESPN.com. “They were all like, ‘Well, you’re leaving the division, why would you guys fight in an eliminator? What if you win?' "

“I am leaving the division. But I like being in big fights. I imagine that [Werdum’s] the only guy with a real strong case for a title shot right now, outside of myself. Under normal circumstances, a title eliminator between us would be logical. But being that I’m trying to get down to the next weight division, it’s not as cut and dry as it would normally be."

“I would have taken the fight if UFC had offered it to me. I will fight anybody who’s winning, anyone but Cain. So if they would have offered me the fight with Werdum in an eliminator, I would have accepted it and I would have beaten him and not taken the title shot. It would have really kind of jacked things up a little bit.”

The potential for disaster, however, has been averted. There will be no title eliminator, and Cormier is okay with that. In addition to performing against top-caliber opponents, Cormier is motivated to put on solid performances. He gets to satisfy both in his final heavyweight fight.

Nelson has name recognition and almost always puts on exciting fights. He rarely ever takes a backward step. He’s the guy Cormier wanted to fight all along.

The two have been targeting one another since early June when Nelson claimed that Cormier turned down an offer to fight him at UFC 161 in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Cormier took offense to Nelson’s allegation.

While White and UFC matchmaker Joe Silva were still weighing what to do next with Cormier, ESPN.com’s fourth-ranked heavyweight contender, he and Nelson took their spat to Twitter. And Monday night, promotion officials announced that the fight was on.

An excited Cormier told ESPN.com he couldn’t be happier. Things couldn’t be better in his pro fighting career at this time: He gets to settle matters with Nelson, look impressive doing so and make a solid case to fight for the light heavyweight title shot early in 2014.

Cormier is hell-bent on becoming the next 205-pound champion, whether Jon Jones still holds the belt when he arrives in the division or not. However, Cormier predicts Jones will defeat Alexander Gustafsson on Sept. 21 at UFC 165 in Toronto.

“I have the skills to win that fight [against Jones],” Cormier said. “But I have to get through [Nelson] first. I have to fight a fight that will strengthen my case."

“Because what I will be asking to do at the beginning of next year is something that is going to make a lot of people mad. I’m going to ask to cut the line at 205. So I have to have a fight [at UFC 166] where I am impressive. And show that my body of work warrants a title shot, even though it’s my first time fighting in that weight division.”

If Cormier looks impressive in beating Nelson and lands a title shot in his light heavyweight debut, there will be very few complaints from the masses. A Jones-Cormier title bout is sure to generate lots of excitement.

It’s hard to put a finger on, but there is something about Rory MacDonald that just rubs Jake Ellenberger the wrong way.

Maybe it has to do with MacDonald calling out certain fighters; maybe it’s the comparisons to welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre or maybe it’s the perceived lack of quality opposition on his résumé. It might be all of the above. Whatever the reason, Ellenberger doesn’t like it and plans to knock the highly touted welterweight contender down a peg Saturday night at UFC on Fox 8 in Seattle.

“He calls out BJ Penn, who’s a good friend of mine; your days of calling out guys are over,” Ellenberger told ESPN.com. “You’re claiming to be a top-echelon guy, top five in the world, and you’re asking for who you’re going to fight -- Carlos Condit. No! That’s not how this game works.

“If you’re the best in the world you take any fight that UFC offers and prove that you’re the best in the world. That’s how your training partner Georges St-Pierre does it, that’s why he’s the best in the world.

“For people to be saying that Rory MacDonald is the next GSP is absolutely ridiculous. He’s got a very tough fight on his hands; that’s for sure. I’m more than ready, more than excited.”

MacDonald is ranked sixth among welterweights by ESPN.com. Ellenberger sits at No. 4.

But being the higher-ranked fighter doesn’t soothe Ellenberger’s feelings toward MacDonald. He just doesn’t care much for the 23-year-old, who is currently on a four-fight win streak.

When Ellenberger compares his professional record to MacDonald’s he shakes his head in disbelief. How could anyone reasonably put MacDonald in his league, Ellenberger seems to say to himself.

Going down the list of opponents on his ledger, Ellenberger comes across Jay Hieron, Pat Healy, Rick Story, John Howard, Jake Shields, Diego Sanchez and Nathan Marquardt.

“

For people to be saying that Rory MacDonald is the next Georges St-Pierre is absolutely ridiculous. He's got a very tough fight on his hands; that's for sure. I'm more than ready, more than excited

” -- Jake Ellenberger

Ellenberger and MacDonald have faced Condit and Mike Pyle. But the only other highly recognizable opponents MacDonald can claim are Penn and Nate Diaz, each of whom are natural lightweights.

As far as Ellenberger is concerned MacDonald has not accomplished enough in UFC to warrant the hype surrounding him. It was enough to make Ellenberger take to Twitter in June and ask, "Which round is Rory going to melt?"

That wasn’t the first time Ellenberger had taken a shot at MacDonald’s worthiness as a high-ranking 170-pound contender -- he revealed his position during interviews to promote the bout. Each time MacDonald dismissed the verbal jabs as a small talk, not worthy of a response.

There comes a point when even the usually quiet, mild-mannered MacDonald can no longer brush off the verbal assaults anymore. And when Ellenberger took matters to Twitter, MacDonald concluded taking it lying down anymore.

So MacDonald turned on his computer, signed into his Twitter account and responded to Ellenberger’s latest insult. MacDonald said that Ellenberger talks too much, questioned his ability to take a shot on the chin and promised to shut him up in the cage.

Ellenberger succeeded: He touched a nerve inside MacDonald, something no other fighter had been able to do. MacDonald’s reaction caught Ellenberger by surprise.

It took a few minutes to figure out his next psychological tactic against MacDonald. But Ellenberger eventually concluded his work was done -- he had gotten in MacDonald’s head, gotten him riled up. He’d achieved his goal.

“I didn’t expect him to respond, but he did exactly what I was hoping he would -- take it personal,” Ellenberger said. “For me it was for laughs, but either way, whether I said something or not, we’re still going to fight.

“It’s funny because it’s really not his personality. Everybody I know who knows him says he’s very quiet, very much to himself, very introverted. I was so happy that he kind of came out. I love it; I’m glad he said something.”

But if Ellenberger’s intent was to reveal a side of MacDonald that had not been seen before, he succeeded on that front as well. Engaging in prefight trash talk isn’t MacDonald’s style; he’s known to always keep his cool. But that wasn’t the case in June.

MacDonald admits to being caught off guard by Ellenberger’s taunting. He considers responding to Ellenberger’s taunts on Twitter a minor setback and promises it won’t happen again. But MacDonald added that some good did come out of the experience.

“Yeah, he had a lot to say about me. I didn’t see it coming,” MacDonald told ESPN.com. “I heard what he had to say about me in a couple of interviews and on Twitter posts, but it really doesn’t change my mind as to the fight.

“I’m going to go in there and win this fight like any other, in devastating fashion. His words are just going to put more pressure on him and make it a bit of a harder fall from grace.

“It was kind of fun going back and forth on Twitter when you’re going through training camp and everything is kind of boring. But it won’t change anything on fight night. I’m still going to go in there and kick his ass.”