ESPN Mixed Martial Arts

In the UFC, the latest winner will always have the most compelling case. That’s the nature of hype, and hype has always been the game. More specifically, hype is the essence that drives the thing forward.

By know everybody knows this. And if they don’t, they should pay attention to Donald Cerrone.

Last week Nate Diaz beat Jim Miller to claim the disputed top contender seed behind titleholder Benson Henderson and challenger Frankie Edgar. On Tuesday, Cerrone beat Jeremy Stephens for three loud rounds only to make his case even louder in the aftermath: He’d like a fight in Denver at UFC 150, against anybody, but preferably against Nate Diaz, who put a surgical beatdown on him in December.

This was of course fishing on “Cowboy’s” part.

Cerrone knows the likelihood of the UFC granting a rematch of a one-sided fight that happened only a few months ago isn’t great. Having thought of that, he made another point clear: That he wasn’t himself that night in December. With that being his fifth fight in 2011, he was just an old husk, not the full ear of corn. Besides, he fought a dumb fight. Just too stubborn.

Now, the Donald Cerrone that methodically picked apart Jeremy Stephens -- that was the genuine article. That’s the one who would threaten Diaz’s bearings if the UFC would give him the chance.

Cowboy was just planting seeds. He knows he has a point. He was smart enough to make his point while momentum was on his side, having just beat Stephens impressively. Forget that Stephens isn’t a top ten lightweight, in the 155-pound division jockeying for position is mandatory. On UFC on Fuel’s post-fight show, Chael Sonnen said he’d like to see Cerrone catapulted into a title shot right away. That’s how swift the tide rolls back in for the latest victors.

Problem is, there will be others soon enough, and they will have arguments of merit and timing and will carry updated casualty lists.

So, just where do things stand in the UFC’s lightweight division? Because on June 22 in Atlantic City, N.J., Clay Guida and Gray Maynard -- two perennial contenders -- would like to know. The winner of that fight then becomes the day’s fresh case-maker. To help promote that fight, we’re sure to hear about the winner being in the proverbial title mix. We’ll hear each guy make his case for it, too.

At this point it might be easier to hold a raffle for the next lightweight title shot, provided that Diaz has the most tickets in the bowl. There are so many deserving fighters hovering near the top.

Was Cerrone overshooting to throw Diaz’s name out there? No. His aim was just right. Maybe his doing that gets Diaz’s blood boiling enough to call matchmaker Joe Silva to book it. And why not? Over the course of years, the UFC has been good about listening to those audacious enough to call their own shots. If Cerrone’s not given Diaz, he’ll likely get one of the scintillating young stars like Edson Barboza -- should he get by Jamie Varner at UFC 146 next week -- or Anthony Pettis. Pettis has been dog-eared for that title shot since downing Joe Lauzon at UFC 144 with that head kick. He’s the forever No. 1 contender B.

Where does the winner of Maynard/Guida factor in? What about if/when Eddie Alvarez makes his way into the UFC’s 155-pound cluster? It all depends on the what/when/where at lightweight. Who went last, who did what, who got the last word.

But if you can’t pass half a dozen contenders in one swoop, call out the guy at the front whom you suspect isn’t cut out for idling for months on end. Call out Diaz in a rematch, the guy who displaced you. And if that can’t be arranged, settle for a top-five fight in your hometown of Denver. That’s how you handle things coming off a dominant victory over a career .500 UFC fighter like Stephens.

Ask for it all, and settle for something far better than you might deserve.

We’ve come to expect, even look forward to the passionate postfight ramblings of the Diaz brothers.

It wouldn’t really feel like a Diaz victory, after all, without copious shout-outs to the homies. It wouldn’t feel right without some chest-thumping on behalf of the 209, or Stockton, or NorCal, or just California in general (it seems the place the Diazes call home gets bigger the farther away they get). The evening just wouldn’t be complete without the now obligatory praise for a newly vanquished opponent and at least one out-of-the-blue announcement to make us all narrow our eyes at the TV a little bit and go: “Huh?”

On Saturday night in New Jersey, it was Nate Diaz’s turn.

Diaz had just defeated Jim Miller at UFC on Fox 3 to solidify his position as top contender for the organization’s lightweight title. In an absolutely appropriate summation by UFC color commentator Joe Rogan, Diaz had “completely handled” Miller en route to dealing him the first stoppage loss of his MMA career via funky second-round guillotine choke. It was Diaz’s third win in a row since dropping back down from welterweight last year. He seems to have suddenly come into his own inside the Octagon and is now set to take on the winner of the Aug. 11 do-over between champion Ben Henderson and ex-champ Frankie Edgar.

When asked by Rogan how he views his own standing in the sport’s most competitive division, Diaz first stumbled through the typical clichés about wanting to be top dog, but then tacked on an addendum that -- while not exactly surprising -- speaks to the unique landscape of the 155-pound division right now.

“I’m trying to be the No. 1 in this world,” Diaz said. “There’s only one person above all of us and that’s Gilbert "El Nino" Melendez, the true world champion lightweight.”

Diaz, of course, is terribly biased. He and Melendez are longtime teammates on the Cesar Gracie fight team, so it’s in no way shocking that he would use a live mic on national television to give the Strikeforce champion his propers. However, it is somewhat surprising that anyone on the doorstep of a UFC title shot would so readily and publicly admit he thinks the best fighter in his weight class competes elsewhere.

Also, even if Diaz didn’t know it, he had a point. His words actually did much to underscore the fractured state of the lightweight ranks right now.

For perhaps the first time in the modern history of the sport -- or, at least, in recent memory -- there are no fewer than five fighters who can lay somewhat serious claim to being the No.1 lightweight in the world. Sure, maybe not all of them could make overwhelming cases for themselves, but you wouldn’t immediately laugh any of them out of the room, either.

Since, as Diaz sort of pointed out, several of said guys don’t fight in the UFC, it makes the question of who is truly the best in the world more difficult to answer than ever. It also obviously makes the 155 pound class one of the most interesting in the sport.

Considering that what we typically do when we fill out MMA top 10 lists is just insert “Whoever has UFC Title” at No. 1, Henderson is the conventional pick as top lightweight of the moment. In the former WEC titlist’s case, however, his meteoric rise is undermined a tad by the razor-close decision in his championship victory over Edgar at UFC 144.

At least some observers think Edgar rightly should have gotten the nod in that bout and people who subscribe to the old adage that it's necessary to “take” the title off a standing champion might be able to make a convincing case that Edgar is still the best lightweight on the planet. That matchmakers granted him an immediate rematch against Henderson at UFC 150 only adds fuel to that argument.

Michael Chandler is the undefeated 155-pound champion of Bellator and the 26-year-old Xtreme Couture product has spent the last couple of years laying waste to most of the competition in MMA’s highest profile mid-major organization. His title victory over Eddie Alvarez was a fight of the year candidate for 2011, but the back-and-forth nature of that affair’s three-plus rounds might lead some to wonder if Chandler is truly even the best lightweight in his own promotion right now. As long as Bellator doesn’t move to set up a Chandler-Alvarez rematch, instead appearing content to book its champ in quizzical, non-title fights against guys like Akihiro Gono, we might never know how good Chandler actually is.

Since that loss in November, Alvarez might have the least compelling case as a legitimate world No. 1, but nonetheless still deserves to be in the discussion. Prior to that defeat, he’d won seven fights in a row dating back to 2008 and last month followed up the loss of his Bellator title by dispatching erstwhile top-10 lightweight Shinya Aoki (also the last guy to beat Alvarez prior to Chandler) in just two minutes, 14 seconds. Alvarez is just barely hanging onto his own top 10 spot in the latest ESPN.com rankings, but remains the sort of guy who could beat any other lightweight on the list on any given night.

You can’t have a conversation about who's the best without at least mentioning his name.

Then there’s Melendez, who can likely make the best case for the top spot of any non-UFC fighter. At 20-2, he too is undefeated since 2008 and has avenged both his career losses during that current stretch. In his last four fights, Melendez has looked every bit the part of the world’s best lightweight but, similar to Chandler in Bellator, Strikeforce just doesn’t have the clout to offer him many new an interesting tests, especially with Zuffa still opting not to lessen its own glut of lightweights by sending them Melendez’s way.

At this point, it seems the most Strikeforce can do is book him into an endless series of rematches against Josh Tompson. They’ll fight for a third time on May 19 and if Melendez wins, his tenure in Strikeforce will seem more pointless and maddening than ever.

Should Melendez lose? Well, that seems like an even worse outcome.

Lightweight remains the most vibrant and hotly-contested weight class in our sport, but it’s also the most maddening, considering the wealth of high-level talent spread out over numerous promotions. There are enough contenders jockeying for position in the UFC alone to keep us busy for the next few months, but the question of who can lay legitimate claim to the 155-pound throne will be too-close-to-call until all the top fighters congregate under the same banner.

Until then, at least we know who has Nate Diaz’s vote.

Since capturing the Bellator lightweight title on Nov. 19 from Eddie Alvarez with a fourth-round submission, Michael Chandler has refused to rest on his laurels.

Chandler is determined not to be a one-and-done champion so he has upped the ante in training camp. He's worked extra hard to improve every aspect of his game, especially his striking.

The extra work paid off Friday night as Chandler stepped into the cage for the first time since becoming a champion to face veteran Akihiro Gono.

Though his title wasn't on the line, the younger, stronger, faster and more determined Chandler wasted little time quashing any hopes Gono might have had of pulling off an upset.

Chandler landed a hard right hand that dropped Gono less than a minute into the Bellator 67 main event in Rama, Ontario.

He would follow the punch with another right hand, that forced Gono to cover up. With Gono making no attempt to mount an attack, Chandler began delivering right and left hands, many of which found the mark.

That was enough for referee Yves Lavigne, who jumped and waved the fight off at the 56-second mark.

Despite the impressive win, Chandler (10-0) preferred to downplay his effort. He has set his goals high, and knows there is much more to do before they can be achieved.

“I have a lot of work to do,” Chandler said. “By no means am I complacent. I promise you I am going to be the best lightweight in the world, and I’m working toward that.

“I’m blessed with great sparring partners and trainers. It’s going to be tough to take this [title] away from me.”

Gono, 37, has now lost three fights in a row. His professional record stands at 32-18-7.

In possibly the most important fight of his career, former Bellator lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez exacted revenge against Shinya Aoki.

Alvarez, who entered the bout with just two fights remaining on his Bellator contract, dropped Aoki with a right hand. But patience has been one of Alvarez’s glaring weaknesses.

That wasn’t the case Friday night at I-X Center in Cleveland. Alvarez paused before jumping on the downed Aoki, who saw his seven-fight win streak come to an end.

With the victory behind him, Alvarez turned his attention to Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney. The two are sure to begin discussing Alvarez’s future with the promotion.

“Bjorn Rebney, show me the money,” Alvarez said after improving to 23-3.

The win might also help remove some of the pain Alvarez has felt since losing his title to Michael Chandler in November.

“I was in a bad spot the past couple of months,” Alvarez said.

For Aoki, finding success in the United States remains elusive. It was his first appearance here since April 2010, when he was on the short end of a unanimous decision to Strikeforce lightweight champion Gilbert Medlendez.

That fight took place in Nashville, Tenn. The rematch with Alvarez was Aoki’s third U.S. appearance.

The first outing between Aoki and Alvarez took place on Dec. 31, 2008, in Saitama, Japan.

Aoki is now 30-6 with one no contest.

Spang gives Rogers a taste of his own medicine

Brian Rogers takes pride in knocking out opponents in impressive fashion.

His latest fight, a middleweight tournament semifinal bout, ended similarly. This time, however, Rogers was on the wrong end of a second-round counter left hand from Andreas Spang.

The punch, which put Rogers flat on his back, came at the 3:34 mark.

Rogers nearly finished Spang early in the second round by landing hard right hands. One of the right hands wobbled Spang, but a tired Rogers could not apply the finishing touch.

That allowed Spang (8-1) to clear his head briefly and deliver the fight-ending punch.

“Brian Rogers is an incredible opponent,” Spang said. “He caught me with some hard shots.

“My left is my go-to weapon when I am hurt.”

Rogers drops to 9-4.

Hard-hitting Falcao gets past Vasilevsky

Not many fighters last three rounds with hard-hitting Maiquel Falcao. And with 23 of Falcao’s 29 wins coming by knockout, most refuse to stand with him.

But Vyacheslav Vasilevsky was undeterred and for two rounds held his own against Facao. But once the striking dust cleared, all three judges preferred Falcao and awarded him a 29-28 unanimous decision.

With the victory, Falcao moved into the middleweight tournament final.

“I don’t want to say too much,” Falcao said. “I just want to wait for the finals. I came here to win the title.”

One reason Falcao might have opted to say little was the difficulty he experienced standing with Vasilevsky in the opening round. Falcao was dropped by a right early in the first.

He also ate several left-light punch combinations in the second round. Falcao (29-4, one no contest) earned the win with a dominant third round, when he nearly finished the fight with a hard right hand.

Vasilevsky, who entered the bout on a 15-fight win streak, falls to 16-2.

Patient Hawn finishes Woodard in second round

Rick Hawn refused to allow the aggressive Lloyd Woodard to take him out of his fight plan. Instead, he remained patient and waited for his opportunity to open up.

That opportunity would come 10 seconds into the second round, when an over-aggressive Woodard left himself open. Hawn seized the moment and landed a hard right hand that sent Woodard to the canvas.

He would not get up, sending Hawn into the lightweight tournament final.

“We had a game plan for this guy,” said Hawn, who improved to 13-1. “We knew what he was going to do and that’s come out strong. I wouldn’t get sucked into that.”

Woodard falls to 12-2.

Weedman edges Michel by split decision

Brent Weedman believed striking power would serve him well in his lightweight tournament semifinal bout with Thiago Michel.

But in the end, it was actually Weedman’s superior size and strength that led him to a split decision victory.

Two judges scored the fight 29-28 for Weedman, while the judge had Michel winning 19-28.

Michel (10-3) got the better of the striking exchanges, but Weedman -- a former welterweight -- was able to get the fight to the ground repeatedly. On the ground, Weedman (20-7-1) controlled the action and landed knees to the body.

Eddie Alvarez, perhaps for the first time in his career, appears to be in a tenuous position.

The 28-year-old Philadelphian, a nine-year mixed martial arts veteran, is ranked outside the top 10 of the lightweight division for the first time in three years. He's coming off a title-ceding, physically taxing loss, just his third in 25 fights. And tonight's bout against Shinya Aoki, the man responsible for Alvarez's second defeat in 2008, is one of two remaining on his contract with Bellator.

"Obviously this fight has got enormous impact for his career," Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney said of Alvarez, who was among the promoter's first signings and represented an early lynchpin of the company. "He can jettison himself right back into the top echelon of lightweights in the world, in terms of the overall industry's perception, or not. It's a big fight. There's no denying this is a big fight for Eddie Alvarez."

There's big. And then there's career-defining big. Alvarez is dealing in the latter. Yet he hasn't shown any signs that the stress has gotten to him.

"I'm sort of emotionless. I left all of my emotions in the gym. I've been away from my family training in South Florida and all my preparation is done," he said. "I feel better than I ever have going into a fight and that's not just a cliche statement. I really do. I feel like it's just another day. I don't feel any emotions toward anything.

"There's no questioning. There's no doubt. There's no fear of the future. What might happen? What may happen? I go into fights with a lot of that baggage and I don't know why, but I was able to let that go coming into this fight and it feels really good."

Working with a new camp, the Rashad Evans-led Blackzilians, and its associated management group, Authentic Sports Management, Alvarez underwent a "natural progression in my career," he said.

Regression, however, is a distinct possibility if he doesn't do to Aoki (30-5, 1 NC) what he could not when the Japanese lightweight finished a heel hook submission in 92 seconds.

"I really didn't respect leg locks in 2008," Alvarez said. "I didn't see them used much in MMA. I didn't see many people finished with them in MMA. So I didn't respect them enough to train properly for them. I went about my normal training and neglected that strength of his and I paid for it. It's different this time around. I respect his strengths and I made sure I had the ability to avoid them and defend them, and use what I'm good at."

Aoki comes into Friday's bout at the I-X Center in Cleveland, Ohio, ranked sixth by ESPN.com at 155 pounds. He called the 2008 result "lucky."

"This fight will test both of our skills," said the 28-year-old submission specialist. "That's how the fight will be."

Alvarez was tested to his limits last November against Michael Chandler. The fourth-round stoppage, widely acclaimed as one of the best bouts of 2011, cost Alvarez his standing as Bellator's only lightweight champion and forced him to the sidelines for six weeks with torn rib cartilage. Alvarez said he spent time away from mixed martial arts with his wife and children, all of whom have been fixtures at his fights over the years.

Where MMA takes Alvarez and his family is unclear. Redemption over Aoki, whom Bellator holds options on for multiple U.S.-based fights, would likely return Alvarez to the top 10 ahead of the final fight on his contract with Rebney.

"He was with me driving around in a crappy rental car, flying Southwest Airlines when we were trying to get this thing on ESPN Deportes," Rebney said. "He was a big piece of it. So I want Eddie to do as well as he can possibly do."

Alvarez believes Aoki is improved from the version that beat him three years ago. The Japanese fighter now has better striking, especially kicking, Alvarez said; yet he offers essentially the same threats as he did in 2008.

"He's a little bit different in the cage, but at the end of the day a fight's a fight no matter where it's at," Alvarez said. "The person with the biggest spirit, who comes focused that night, is going to win.

"It will be a display of just how much I've grown in the last three years. I was young, wasn't too confident in my abilities, and made mistakes, just like people who are young and immature do. ... My goal is the same as it was when I first started this sport, and that's to beat the guy on the other side of the cage. It will never change."

There are plenty of signs that 2012 might turn out to be a tough one for Bellator Fighting Championships.

The de facto second-best MMA organization in America has a broadcast deal with SpikeTV lined up, but legal tendrils from Spike’s previous agreement with the UFC mean Bellator will remain marooned on MTV2 for most of this year.

As if being mired in that suspended animation wasn’t bad enough, the company’s Friday timeslot will soon put it up against “WWE Smackdown” and on the same night as the new “live” incarnation of “The Ultimate Fighter.”

None of that is great news, but if you want perhaps the best indicator of how weird things are at Bellator right now, consider this: The company just booked its hottest star a fight with Akihiro Gono.

Yes, that Gono. The 37-year-old journeyman who is currently riding a two-fight losing streak and is 3-5 dating back to 2008. The one who didn’t fight at all during 2011. The one who these days is better known for funny ring entrances than anything he’s done between bells.

He’s assumedly the best Bellator could find when it went in search of an opponent for Michael Chandler. Chandler leapt to the forefront of our collective consciousness when he took the promotion’s 155-pound title off perennial Top 5 lightweight Eddie Alvarez in what many thought was the best fight of 2011. He’s been idle ever since, and if the wave of momentum is still rolling underneath him, at this point it’s trickling dangerously close to shore.

In other words, now is definitely a strike-while-the-iron’s-hot kind of situation for Chandler and Bellator.

So ... yeah ... Gono. Pretty much the equivalent of trying to jump start a party by asking the four people still hanging around your apartment at 3:15 a.m. if they want to watch your high school football highlight tape.

The saddest part is, it’s not really even Bellator’s fault.

This is simply the reality of trying to run a mom-and-pop MMA promotion in 2012. Last year’s Chandler-Alvarez fight proved that Bellator can create homegrown stars, but right now it has precious few options for what to do with them after that.

It’s not as if there are a ton of compelling lightweights floating around out there who aren’t already under contract to one Zuffa property or another. Until Bellator’s season six 155-pound tournament produces a challenger, there just aren’t a lot of options for Chandler, short of guys like Gono or a rematch with Alvarez.

These upcoming six months of inactivity won’t do him any favors, either. Chandler is currently hanging on at No. 10 on the ESPN.com lightweight power rankings, but to sit around from November 2011 until May 2012 knowing the best your employer can do is Akihiro Gono? That’ll make your mind wander.

And it’s no secret there aren’t a lot of other places in this industry to wander off toward. Just one very big one.

Frankie Edgar's UFC lightweight title defense in Tokyo against Benson Henderson, the main event for UFC 144 on Saturday, screams "action fight."

While we've heard that tune aplenty in the run-up to UFC events, including, disappointingly, the recent Carlos Condit-Nick Diaz tilt, there's every reason to suspect these two 155-pound mixed martial artists will make good on expectations. Presuming that happens, Edgar-Henderson would join a distinguished list of high-paced, meaningful lightweight fights that graced Japanese soil.

The division has long been one of Japanese MMA's strongest points. Built during the early days of Shooto and given the light of day when Pride adopted the class (technically, that was 160 pounds), lightweights have long looked to Japan as the place where they could get a tough fight against world-class opposition. In part that was due to Zuffa axing the lightweights in the mid-2000s, but that doesn't paint a complete picture. The division has produced many world-class Japanese fighters, and would have done so regardless of what was happening in the States.

With Zuffa's wrong having long been righted, it's fitting Edgar-Henderson will go down on the island nation's shores.

My expectation is the fight will join the pantheon of top lightweight bouts we've been fortunate to see unfold in Japan. If so, Edgar-Henderson would join these bouts -- most replete with major stakes, all delivering high drama -- as the best of the bunch.

Why six? Because I couldn't bring myself to cut one from the list.

Caol Uno SUB3 Rumina Sato (Shooto: 10th Anniversary Event, May 29, 1999)

Sato was Shooto's golden child, the man fans and promoters hoped (and dreamed) could grab hold of the sanctioning organization's 154-pound title (a welterweight title in Japan) and become a star. It was never meant to be.

The first sign Sato, whom many considered the most exciting fighter in the world at the time, was snake-bit came in his endeavor against the gritty Uno, who later went on to fight multiple bouts for the UFC.

Headlining an event that included eventual UFC champions Dave Menne, Matt Hughes and Carlos Newton, Sato-Uno opened at a frenzied pace. Sato scored early control, nearly finishing Uno by rear-naked choke. But as was proven throughout his career, Uno is exceedingly difficult to finish this way. Sato failed to finish and eventually succumbed to Uno's tenacious takedowns and solid ground-and-pound.

Late in the third round, with Sato fading, Uno sprawled his way out of a single-leg takedown, took Sato's back and, to the roar of a small but passionate hard-core audience in Tokyo, forced a tap by rear-naked choke.

Uno defeated Sato a second time a year and a half later, then departed Shooto for a UFC lightweight title shot against Jens Pulver, the co-headliner on Zuffa's first card since purchasing UFC from Semaphore Entertainment Group.

Takanori Gomi TKO2 Dokonjonosuke Mishima (Shooto: Year End Show 2002, Dec. 14, 2002)

A slept-on fight pitted Gomi, the undefeated heir apparent to Uno and Sato, against eccentric grappler Dokonjonosuke Mishima. Gomi, Shooto champion after out-pointing Sato (his third try at winning the 154-pound title), faced his first defense of the belt -- and what a test it was. Gomi's mode for victory early in his career was control. But against Mishima, he showed flashes of the heavy-fisted brawler who would go on to become Pride champion and No. 1 ranked lightweight in MMA.

Mishima put Gomi on the canvas and landed a series of strong punches to earn the first round. But at the start of Round 2, Gomi countered a wild punch with a perfect left hook that dropped the challenger. Shooto's rules included standing eight counts and breaks on knockdowns. Gomi was in destroy mode. When Mishima stood, "The Fireball Kid" swarmed, scoring with punches and knees leading to Mishima nearly being driven out of the ring.

In his next title defense, Gomi ceded the belt to Joachim Hansen, prompting a trip to Hawaii to fight B.J. Penn.

Joachim Hansen KO3 Caol Uno (Hero's 1, March 26, 2005)

Japanese MMA was on the rise in 2005, and K-1 stepped in the game with their own brand of the sport labeled "Hero's." That first card was mashup of kickboxing, MMA and the Bob Sapp circus. Hansen and Uno, both former Shooto champions, put on a war that, even if it had not ended by spectacular knockout, would be among the best fights the division has put together.

This bout had it all, especially when it came to grappling, and was extremely competitive until the end, when "Hellboy" Hansen slammed his knee into Uno's jaw. The cold knockout was brutal and capped what was arguably the best display of mixed martial arts in 2005.

Takanori Gomi SUB1 Tatsuya Kawajiri (Pride: Bushido 9, Sept. 25, 2005)

If you were a top lightweight in MMA, the Pride Bushido 9 tournament was where you wanted to be in 2005. The three-round event, which featured quarterfinals and semifinals on the same night, brought some of Japan's best against the likes of Yves Edwards and Jens Pulver. The highlight of the night, without question, was the quarterfinal bout between Gomi and Kawajiri.

Gomi was on a seven-fight roll, all under the Pride banner, while Kawajiri, then the Shooto champion, hadn't dropped a bout in his last nine. This was the big one among Japanese MMA circles in the lightweight division, and it did not disappoint.

All action from the start, Gomi made Kawajiri feel his power early, and chopped away at "The Crusher" throughout the 10-minute opening round. "The Fireball Kid," in perhaps his finest performance, finished in high style. Body shots led to combinations to the head, and though Kawajiri was game, he simply had no answer.

Gilbert Melendez UD2 Tatsuya Kawajiri (Pride Shockwave 2006, Dec. 31, 2006)

Melendez, the current Strikeforce champion, ranked No. 2 in the world by ESPN.com, went to war with Kawajiri, who had recovered from the loss to Gomi by winning four straight. If you haven't seen this fight, do yourself a favor and find it online. Of all the fights listed here, this stands out most for its ferocity. Both men moved forward. Both threw punches and knees as hard as they could, and both connected. The grappling exchanges were solid. There's no downtime in this fight. An incredible display by both.

Eddie Alvarez UD2 Joachim Hansen (Dream 3, May 11, 2008)

In 2008, Alvarez joined Dream, the promotion that sprang out of Pride's demise, and engaged in a hellacious series of fights. The middle of that stretch matched the Philadelphian against Hansen.

It was a stylistic bonanza.

Alvarez's first punch dropped Hansen, setting the tone for the fight. In a bit of a miracle, the Norwegian survived, recovered, gave back as good as he got, threatened Alvarez numerous times with submissions, and participated in one of the most frenzied decisions you'll ever see. Neither man backed down for 15 minutes. Truly impressive.

Alvarez followed up with another war against Kawajiri, but fell short of going 5-0 that year when he tapped to a Shinya Aoki heel hook on New Year’s Eve.

The year 2012 will be an interesting one for former Bellator lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez. For starters, his contract with the promotion is up in October, meaning he could end up making the leap to the UFC around that time. That’s a prospect that makes plenty of fans happy, considering how deep the lightweight pool there is.

Or he could stay with Bellator, of which the Philadelphia native has grown into his role as its flagship fighter. In the meantime? Alvarez will have at least one more fight, and that’s an opportunity to try and avenge a 2008 loss to Shinya Aoki.

At least, that’s the nearly official plan.

“As far as I’m being told the fight’s going to happen,” Alvarez says. “I just don’t get why I can’t get it confirmed 100 percent. Right now it’s ‘verbally agreed,’ and that’s where we stand.”

Alvarez/Aoki II is penciled in for April 20 and will be held in the United States, though the exact location is still to be determined. As much as Alvarez would like the fight to take place in Atlantic City or in his hometown of Philadelphia, he doesn’t think that will be the case due to amount of cards Bellator has held recently in those markets. What he does know is that he was asking for this rematch well before he fought Michael Chandler. The last time the two fought at Dynamite 2008 in Japan, Aoki submitted Alvarez with a heel hook just a minute and a half into the fight.

That loss has sat in his craw for a long, long time.

Cut forward three years and Aoki and Alvarez remain two of the biggest non-Zuffa stars going. In fact, you could argue that Alvarez/Aoki is the biggest non-Zuffa fight that can be made right now, with both fighters still considered top-10 lightweights in consensus rankings, even with Alvarez having lost his belt to Chandler this past November. Alvarez has gone 7-1 since his first fight with Aoki, while Aoki has gone 11-2.

“As much as I wanted it, it was something that I thought I’d never get,” Alvarez says of the rematch. “When I went to Japan every other time before [the Aoki fight], it seemed like I was getting fan acceptance because I was fighting guys from other countries, like Brazil and Norway. Yet when I finally fought Aoki, I went over there and they treated me different. They nicknamed me the ‘American Knuckle Star,’ and pitted it as ‘Japan versus America.’ It really changed.

“

... when I finally fought Aoki, I went over there and they treated me different. They nicknamed me the 'American Knuckle Star,' and pitted it as 'Japan versus America.' It really changed.

” -- Eddie Alvarez, on the hostile environment he stepped into when he faced Shinya Aoki

“So it’s good to get the revenge back in my country -- just to come off a loss like the one I just came off of [to Chandler], and get back into a rankings fight finally. It rarely happens in our sport where you get two guys who are actually ranked, top name guys who get to fight each other. It’s a good fight.”

Where does this leave Chandler, who choked out Alvarez at Bellator 58 in a back-and-forth war that many considered the fight of the year? Alvarez says that though he wanted Aoki and ended up with Chandler the first time through, this time he wanted Chandler and ended up with Aoki. His druthers are being met, only completely out of order.

“Yeah, the Chandler rematch was my first option that I wanted,” he says. “But Bellator wasn’t going to let that happen, and I was sad that they opted to put me back in a tournament when I felt like the fight warranted a rematch in some way, shape or form. So, I was disappointed about that, but there was nothing I could do about it. It’s not what I want, it’s what the promotion is willing to give me.

“But this Aoki fight was something I asked of them even before the Chandler bout. And although we don’t have 100 percent contract in hand yet, it seems like they’re getting it done. I’m grateful they are going to bring Aoki over, someone who is in the rankings and someone where, if I actually beat him, it would do good for me.”

Alvarez’s future beyond Aoki is uncertain. It’s possible that April 20 will be the last time he represents Bellator in the cage. Whether or not that’s the case, he’s looking to close out his contract with a big bang to put himself in a coveted position.

“With Bellator, I have either two fights or eight months,” he says. “After that, we’ll see. They’re either going to give me Aoki and then another fight, or I have about eight months left.”

Either way, Alvarez refuses to look beyond April 20, because nothing good comes of speculating too far ahead.

“It’s out of my hands at this point,” he says. “Going into the Mike Chandler fight, I was too focused on what everybody else thought, about what the media thought, and things like that. I just need to relieve myself of that, and focus on the things that I can control, and that’s winning fights, going in there and performing and beating my opponents. Everything else just seems senseless to me.”

And to focus, Alvarez is training right now at Imperial Athletics in Florida with the star-studded cast of the Blackzilians. He says he’s proceeding with the understanding of an April 20 fight with Aoki, and in two weeks he’ll relocate back to his familiar Philadelphia gym to dig into the crux of his camp.

What’s he expecting to see come fight night? The same Aoki he saw the first time, with a few new wrinkles.

“I know he’s been in Singapore training a lot of Muay Thai, so I’ll be expecting more kicks to set up his takedowns,” he says. “But, I don’t think it’s any secret -- regardless of whether he wants to stand for a little bit or stand for a long time -- I know his ultimate goal, and that’s to try and get it to the floor. He’ll want to create some sort of scramble and get it to the ground. I feel like that’s his strength and that’s what he’s going to stick to.”

Cung Le attempted to beat Wanderlei Silva at UFC 139 with an unlikely game plan -- that of fighting like Cung Le.

It nearly worked. Le tried to kick Silva’s liver through his spine, but in the end he was downed with a barrage of strikes that left his nose in crescent form. The scrap was good enough to be a candidate for "fight of the year" but was unfortunate enough to be only the third-most exciting bout of the night. That was the same evening Michael Chandler won a back-and-forth battle with lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez in Bellator, and Dan Henderson outlasted Mauricio Rua in a five-round grind.

But the immediate reports back seem to be that Strikeforce fighters like Le are faring pretty well in the UFC. These were supposed to be the B models, slogging it out in a nice regional show. They weren’t supposed to be able to compete with the elite of the world. At least that’s what we heard from carnival barkers whenever somebody had the audacity to compare a Strikeforce fighter with a UFC fighter.

Yet, since the Zuffa purchase of Strikeforce and the great integration, it looks like Strikeforce had its share of equals and betters. This weekend Nick Diaz will fight for the interim welterweight belt against Carlos Condit after belting B.J. Penn at UFC 137. Win it, and he gets his long-awaited shot at Georges St. Pierre. Meanwhile, Fabricio Werdum takes on Roy Nelson in a fight with very loose title connections in the heavyweight division. Should Diaz and Werdum win -- and Vegas thinks they should -- it will continue a trend that makes Scott Coker look vindicated for something deep inside that could use some vindication. It also diversifies things for matchmaker Joe Silva.

Last weekend, Lavar Johnson scored a knockout of the night against Joey Beltran in Johnson's UFC debut. Former Strikeforce light heavyweight champion Henderson came back and beat Rua and is now patiently waiting in line for the Jon Jones-Rashad Evans winner. Strikeforce titlist and linear champion Alistair Overeem kicked Brock Lesnar into retirement, and next faces Junior dos Santos for the UFC heavyweight strap. Other Strikeforce fighters (not named Gilbert Melendez) are making their way from the hexagon to the Octagon, too. In fact, just about anybody who’s anybody in the clearance of Strikeforce heavyweights will soon be in the UFC: Antonio Silva, Chad Griggs, Daniel Cormier, Josh Barnett, et al.

The floodgates are open.

Granted, some of the Strikeforce fighters coming over are UFC retreads. But in the early returns the worst you can say is that Jake Shields, who jumped ship to the UFC before the acquisition, hasn’t lived up to billing. Most Strikeforce fighters are having a happier time of it than when the UFC/Pride partition came down, and the Pride fighters faltered. Same with the WEC, given the potential of Condit and Ben Henderson. Yet most of the WEC’s talent competed in the bantamweight and featherweight divisions, which didn’t exist in the UFC until the beginning of 2011, so it’s hard to make a full spectrum comparison.

But think about it -- in mid-to-late 2012, as many as three reigning Strikeforce champions could be wearing UFC gold (Diaz, Henderson and Overeem). If Melendez was ever released from exile, he could challenge for the lightweight belt, too.

What does it all mean? Maybe nothing. Or maybe it’s something that we’ve always suspected and debated about. While the best fighters in the world are generally thought to be in the UFC at all times, there are fighters dying for the chance to be brought in for no other reason than to prove them wrong.

And knowing just how short the fight society’s attention span can be, the UFC is only too happy to be wrong when they do.

Rankings, in mixed martial arts, are a funny thing.

For all intents and purposes, they don’t matter. Nobody ever won a title just because fans and media ranked him No. 1. They’re 100 percent subjective -- meaning as long as one can argue his or her rankings, they are just as correct as anyone else.

They are, however, a lot of fun to debate.

And this weekend, something happened in the lightweight division I feel compelled to point out and ask -- Can we get some clarification on this, please? Moving forward, is there some sort of rule we can draw up for this specific instance?

In the ESPN lightweight rankings on Nov. 15, then-Bellator champion Eddie Alvarez was ranked the No. 4 lightweight in the world. His upcoming challenger, Michael Chandler, was unranked in the top 10.

Chandler, of course, was victorious in a back-and-forth fight with Alvarez, taking a thrilling submission win in the fourth round last weekend.

In this week’s updated rankings, that win was enough for Chandler to make his debut on the list at No. 8 in the world (tied with the UFC’s Jim Miller). One member of our panel ranked him as high as No. 5.

Alvarez, meanwhile, dropped to No. 10 and fell completely off three of our panelists’ lists.

Now, here’s my question: If a highly ranked fighter (Alvarez in this instance) fights a close fight with an unranked fighter (Chandler, who probably wasn’t even in anyone’s top 15 entering the weekend) how far does that move them?

I ask, because I was the only one of our six panelists to not include Chandler in my top 10. Is that wrong? It’s not that I don’t think he’s a terrific fighter, but the thought that Chandler (9-0) is ranked the same as Miller (20-3), is baffling to me.

For the record, I’m not all about records. Jon Jones (14-1) is my No. 3 fighter in the world pound-for-pound, despite being relatively inexperienced. For me, rankings are not based solely on the end-results of fights. There is some analysis to be added.

For example, I still have Alvarez on my top 10 above Chandler, despite the fact he just lost to him. My logic behind that is:

1. I believe if they fought 10 times, Alvarez would win at least six.
2. His performances in the past three years have still been more impressive than Chandler's.
3. If they each fought the other nine fighters on my top 10, I think Alvarez would finish with the better record.

To me, Chandler rising to No. 8 overall on our list is similar to the “Fedor Emelianenko-Fabricio Werdum” effect. Werdum shot up the heavyweight rankings last June after beating the widely regarded No. 1 heavyweight, Fedor Emelianenko, in the first round. I had, and still have, beef with this.

First of all, we’ve all come to realize a win over Emelianenko at this point in his career is not the monumental achievement we thought it was. Werdum also won that fight in the first 70 seconds, “catching” Emelianenko with a submission.

I’m not taking away from Werdum’s win. It was a historical upset and a phenomenal job by him to capitalize on an opportunity, but here we are 17 months later, and you still hear pundits rationalize about having Werdum in the top five based, primarily, on that one win.

My bottom line is, if we’re going to discuss rankings and pretend they are this all-powerful thing, can we come up with a way to prevent ONE win from meaning so much?

Chandler is a terrific fighter and his win over Alvarez was absolutely no fluke, but ranking him in the top 10 in the world, alongside a name like Jim Miller, based on pretty much one fight doesn’t make sense to me.

But then again, these are MMA rankings. They often only make sense to the individual making them.

Free was nice, and free was big -- and big was always the intention.

But now that we’re through with the privilege of bonus title fights on network television and dangling MMA in front of bemused pop culture, it’s back to our secular intrigues. Or, you know, back to opening the pocketbook to feed the MMA fix.

This weekend, if you want to enjoy the entire spectrum of fights going on -- and it’s a pretty stacked slate of fights spread over three promotions -- it will cost you approximately $75. A little more if you order UFC 139 in high definition (recommended). A little less if you prefer to skip watching Fedor Emelianenko take on Jeff Monson from Moscow at cockcrow (it’s your dime). But around $75 if you want to catch all the action going on behind the pay wall, along with the free preliminary bits and Bellator.

And if planned right, with DVRs and griddles, it actually looks like a ridiculous MMA marathon -- the exact opposite of the showcased 64 seconds of action from this past Saturday’s big event between Junior dos Santos and Cain Velasquez.

Saturday night, UFC 139 is quietly one of the best looking cards of the year -- on paper anyway (which as you know is flammable). There’s the return of Dan Henderson to the UFC, who may or may not be fighting for a title shot against Jon Jones, taking on former champion Mauricio Rua. Their paths never crossed in the halcyon days of Pride when both were champions, a bit of restraint that plays nicely over the back-story -- but that’s a modest allure. The thing is, somebody will be knocked out. Could be Henderson, who never gets knocked out. And the same goes for the co-main event of debutante Cung Le and Wanderlei Silva. Le fights are rare, but he is the “Human Highlight Reel.” Silva is one knockout from either continuing on as he'd like to, or some alternative (which he refuses to contemplate).

Then there’s the Urijah Faber/Brian Bowles fight to determine who’s next for a shot at Dominick Cruz’s bantamweight belt; Martin Kampmann/Rick Story, which could headline a Versus show; Stephan Bonnar/Kyle Kingsbury, Ryan Bader/Jason Brilz, Tom Lawlor/Chris Weidman. It’s stacked. Miguel Torres is buried on the Facebook undercard fighting Nick Pace. Ditto Rafael dos Anjos and Gleison Tibau. And that’s just the first bill of fights.

There’s also one of the best Bellator cards happening on MTV2, with two belts up for grabs. Eddie Alvarez, who ESPN has ranked No. 4 in the lightweight Power Rankings, against Michael Chandler, and Hector Lombard in a middleweight title defense against Trevor Prangley. Bonus? Marlon Sandro and Raphael Dias. And when all that is through, at 7:30 a.m. on the East Coast the next day, Emelianenko fights Monson for $29.95. It’s a steep price for nostalgia on a three-fight skid, but it’s Fedor, and there are hopes and denials all over the place. The other thing? Somebody will get knocked out.

That’s a big bank of highly combustible MMA action for those willing to splurge. Four former Pride champions, three former WEC champions, two current Bellator champions, one former UFC champion, one reigning Strikeforce champion, and the teetering legacy of Stary Oskol all in a 12-hour window. Not all of it will be free, yet -- especially if you won’t be duped into early morning Fedor -- taken as a whole, this weekend’s fights can’t help but live up to the billing they barely received.

In other words, if you begin with hype and end with the price tag, it’s everything that last weekend wasn’t.

Eddie Alvarez may get his chance at revenge on Shinya Aoki yet.

Sherdog.com has learned that a clash between Bellator and Dream's respective lightweight champions Eddie Alvarez and Shinya Aoki is being targeted for early 2012 in the Bellator Fighting Championships cage.

Bout agreements have been distributed, and both fighters are expected to sign shortly. Sherdog.com confirmed the news with sources close to the situation on Wednesday.

Though both men are reigning champions in opposite organizations, neither title will be up for grabs if and when they clash.

Alvarez and Aoki met on New Year's Eve 2008. The Japanese submission specialist ended the American's night early, slapping on a tight heel hook and forcing Alvarez to submit in just 92 seconds.

Since that defeat, Alvarez has yet to lose, rattling off seven straight victories in Bellator and Dream. The Philadelphia Fight Factory export won Bellator's lightweight title in 2009, running through the promotion's inaugural 155-pound tournament to capture the championship.

Alvarez has defended his title successfully once thus far, earning a hard-fought unanimous decision over Pat Curran this past April. Up next for the champion is another title defense this fall, as Alvarez will put his strap on the line against Season 4 tournament winner Michael Chandler at Bellator 54 on Oct. 15.

Aoki has won eight of his last nine fights, including five straight victories. The 28-year-old most recently submitted former UFC talent Rich Clementi, battering the American at Dream “Fight for Japan” on May 29 en route to a second-round finish via neck crank.

As Dream's lightweight champion, Aoki is no stranger to crossing the sea and fighting on American soil. “Tobikan Judan” has competed in Strikeforce twice in the last two years with mixed results.

Though he was dominated by Strikeforce champ Gilbert Melendez in April 2010, Aoki made quick work of Lyle Beerbohm when he returned to the hexagonal cage one year later.

Aoki is currently scheduled to meet former WEC champion Rob McCullough at Dream 17 on Sept. 24.

Dana White didn’t like Dennis Hallman’s get-up at UFC 133 based on what is believed to be strict aesthetic preferences.

There was too much information to Hallman’s cage presence, which trumped a near offender earlier on the card called Alexander Gustafsson, whose shorts were closer to hot pants than Hallman’s skivvies. In the end, White paid Brian Ebersole $70K for scrubbing his eyes of the spectacle.

The UFC’s backstage handlers surely took a tongue-lashing yesterday back in Las Vegas for letting Hallman proceed to the cage this way.

If White was surprised, imagine how Brian Ebersole felt -- he's used to being the oddity in the cage, and here he was getting out-bizarred before the opening bell.

But this whole episode raises the question of what fighters can and can’t wear versus what they should and shouldn’t wear. It needs to be defined by the UFC just as it is in other professional organizations.

There are some fighters, like George Sotiropoulos, who have been accused of essentially wearing pants in the cage for using knee and ankle braces. Sweat is one of the enemies of late-round submissions, and a slick jiu-jitsu practitioner might be angling for an unfair advantage here by ensuring traction.

On the other end of the spectrum, Georges St. Pierre likes a snug fit, but he covers (accentuates?) his thighs. In fact, he and Eddie Alvarez feel like fish out of water in board shorts.

It doesn’t need a strict dress code to homogenize the fighters, but Hallman -- who says he wore his tiny trunks on a bet he lost -- just thought it’d be funny. It was, and it wasn’t against the rules. As it turns out, Hallman just became the rule. Which means that the UFC has to detail a list of what can and can’t be worn in the cage, down to how much thigh can be exposed. The NFL has a fine-enforced standard for tucking in jerseys and keeping their socks exposed. Similar rules exist in other sports for uniform protocol. The NBA even enforced a mandate for its players to wear something akin to business attire before and after games. This went over like a Machiavellian power play for guys who liked to keep things real loose.

For the UFC, it boils down to protecting an image and appearing as a professional. Dana White wants professionalism in his sport, not inside jokes. Hallman’s appearance will be one of the more memorable moments of UFC 133, and as funny as that is, it’s exactly why White is mad about it.

PHILADELPHIA -- Less that two years ago, Bernard Hopkins -- Philadelphia’s most famous name in the prize ring -- likened MMA to adult entertainment. This was his way of saying he didn’t like it and nor would he be interested in renting its videos. Then he went to see a Golden Boy Promotions' recruit spar (Hopkins himself is a member of Oscar De La Hoya's Golden Boy stable) and was transfixed by the other guy. The one who wasn’t on his radar yet was beating down the recruit.

That fighter turned out to be Bellator’s lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez, who was shooting a documentary at the time ahead of his title defense against Roger Huerta.

From that moment on, Hopkins had a newfound respect for mixed martial artists. Alvarez is the reason B-Hop changed his tune about MMA, as has been evidenced in the WBC’s light heavyweight champ’s interviews with MMA media this week.

“I got a chance to meet Bernard, and he didn’t look at MMA as anything too serious,” Alvarez said from Tenth Round gym in Fairless Hills, Penn. “We happened to be training in the same gym together and I caught his eye. I sparred against a guy Golden Boy was looking at and I did really well, and that kind of changed Bernard’s mind, that MMA guys aren’t just sloppy boxers. He actually saw behind the scenes, how hard I work and the effort I put into my training. He had the utmost respect for that, and I appreciate it.

“If you’re talking about Philadelphia and fighting, the first person you think of is Bernard Hopkins. So he inspired me in a way, and I look up to him. It’s cool to see he respects our sport.”

Alvarez, who grew up in the rough-and-tumble Kensington area where the original Rocky movie was filmed, will be on hand for UFC 133 tomorrow, just as Hopkins will. Alvarez has a title defense lined up against wrestler Michael Chandler for Oct. 15 in Atlantic City, N.J. One of his frequent training partners, the UFC’s lightweight champion Frankie Edgar, is prepping for Gray Maynard. Maynard trains with Chandler at Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas.

It’s east versus west.

“Me and Frankie have been training together and helping each other out since [the] B.J. Penn [fight in April 2010], even before that,” he told ESPN.com. “It’s just one of them things, a weird coincidence. Me and Frankie, we’re always together and we’re actually fighting two training partners from another gym. We’ve got to represent for the east coast and hold it down. It’s going to be a whole Biggie/2Pac deal.”

After the Chandler fight, Alvarez will have two fights left on his contract, and will be free go where he chooses. He is aware that there are a lot of fans who are either pining for him to fight in the UFC, or are discounting him for not fighting in the UFC. And right now he says he’s pretty open to returning to Bellator -- but he’ll be all ears if the UFC gets motivated enough to bring him over.

“This was my thinking, when I first started with Bellator, it was ‘hey, this is a new company and I’m an up-and-coming fighter, and the company’s up-and-coming, and we can help each other grow,” he said. “They look like they’re growing, and I’d be more than happy to stay with Bellator and do that. It’s really up to the powers that be.

“When I tell people that it’s completely out of my hands, that it’s not my decision where I go, it really isn’t my decision. When my contract’s up, if people want to see me in the UFC, it’s not up to me. It’s up to Dana White to come up with a number that Bellator can’t match. If they want to get mad at something because I’m not there, you get mad at him, not me. It’s a clause in my contract, right of first refusal. When that contract’s up, if I’m not in the UFC after that, it’s not my decision.”