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For what it’s worth, my personal scorecard now has Benson Henderson 1-3 in UFC title fights.

And what it’s worth, of course, is a hill of beans. In the real world, Henderson on Saturday moved to 4-0 in UFC championship bouts, tying BJ Penn’s record of three consecutive lightweight title defenses as he edged Gilbert Melendez via split decision in the main event of UFC on Fox 7.

Like a lot of people, I had Melendez taking it 48-47, thinking he stormed out to an early lead in the first two rounds, lost his momentum in the third and fourth and then rebounded to craft an ever-so-slight advantage in the final stanza. It turned out we were wrong, and the judges allowed Henderson to retain his belt on a wildly eclectic assortment of scorecards.

The crowd booed. Henderson asked his girlfriend to marry him. She said yes. They booed some more, and somewhere in there another fight between the two best lightweights in the world failed to produce a decisive victor.

The decision was not an outrage. The action here was too good and too competitive for anyone besides Melendez to be heartbroken about the outcome. The UFC’s official statistics backed up Henderson’s win and rather than continuing to doom the lightweight title to a series of equally impenetrable rematches, company brass moved quickly to say the champ’s next fight will be against the winner of the Gray Maynard-TJ Grant bout at UFC 160.

That’s fine. No argument. It may not be fair to Melendez, but after years and years of questionable decisions in MMA, we’ve been conditioned to let the close ones go. Really, we have no choice, because the alternative would do nothing but keep us up at night.

Make no mistake, however -- there is a disquieting trend developing in the UFC lightweight division, wherein it’s getting increasingly difficult to tell the winners from the losers. In a sport that places such a premium on tangible consequences and decisive results, that’s sort of a problem.

Saturday’s back-and-forth struggle was just the latest in a spate of 155-pound championship fights that have been exciting, technically exquisite and ultimately impossible to score. Dating to 2010, six of the past eight lightweight title bouts have gone to decision, many of them nail-biters. Three of those produced split verdicts and three times we saw rematches effectively put the rest of the division in limbo while we cleared up messes at the top.

Lightweight has long been regarded as MMA’s most competitive and treacherous division,and this series of ratchet-tight title fights only underscores the point. The parity is a testament to the weight class’ depth, but it also makes answering simple questions like who’s the best? and who should be champion? and even Who won? trickier than it ought to be.

At first we blamed the uncertainty on Frankie Edgar, whose diminutive stature and pesky style seemed scientifically engineered to produce close fights.

Now though, Henderson looks well on his way to establishing a similar rhythm. All seven of his UFC outings have gone the distance, as compared to just two decisions in six earlier bouts in the WEC. Officially, he’s won all seven Octagon appearances, but his pair against Edgar and now this one with Melendez all easily could’ve gone the other way.

That alone makes trying to figure out who is the best lightweight in the world a daunting task.

Henderson’s latest victory obviously means he keeps his belt and likely retains his ESPN.com Power Rankings place as No. 1 in the division and No. 5 pound-for-pound. At 19-2 overall, having matched Penn for most successful title defenses and owning wins over Edgar, Melendez and a host of 155-pound notables, any reasonable debate about who is the greatest lightweight in UFC history now also must include him.

Unless, like me, you scored both Edgar fights and the Melendez bout for the other guy. If that’s the case, then -- yes, like me -- you’ve got a real quandary on your hands.

None of this is to say anything particularly negative about Henderson, mind you. His size, speed, strength and skills still have him looking every bit like the prototype for the next generation of successful UFC lightweights. He’s a great fighter who already has defied the expectations we lowered after watching him drop his WEC title to Anthony Pettis in December 2010 in a fight that came down to yet another very close judges’ decision.

But after this weekend, am I prepared to say Henderson is better than Melendez? I am not.
Am I prepared to say he’s better than Edgar? I am not.

Am I prepared to say he’s better than Pettis or Maynard or Michael Chandler or Eddie Alvarez? No, I am not.

Truthfully, I am not prepared to say much at all about who is tops in the lightweight division right now. I won’t be until someone, anyone, does something other than eke out a controversial decision.

CHICAGO -- Winning a UFC title is every fighter’s goal. For the few who are able to accomplish this feat, the celebration doesn’t truly begin until they make their first successful title defense.

UFC bantamweight titleholder Demetrious Johnson will attempt to solidify his position as a true champion Saturday night when he meets top contender John Dodson. The two will battle at United Center in Chicago.

In addition to defending his title, Johnson wants to put on an entertaining fight. Putting on a fan-friendly performance is something Johnson also relishes. And it’s something Johnson thought was being accomplished in September when he held off Joseph Benavidez to claim the 125-pound belt.

Johnson put on a stand-up fighting display. He demonstrated textbook footwork, head movement and striking en route to a split decision. But throughout the five-round title bout many fans in attendance at UFC 152 booed.

The booing continued when Johnson was declared the winner, and Johnson learned that being liked by fans is something he has no control over.

“You can never predict how fans will see you because there are some fans out there who just love my style: How I’m just a humble guy, but I have great technique, I have great footwork, the cardio, I have great confidence and I love video games,” Johnson told ESPN.com.

“On the other side of the board, there are guys who hate everything about me. They don’t care what I do, they hope I lose; they hate my ears, the way I look. So my job is to just go out there and perform the best I can.”

Teixeira seeks KO against Jackson

Not many fighters have entered the UFC with as much hype as Glover Teixeira. And in his first two Octagon appearances, Teixeira has not disappointed. On Saturday, he faces the stiffest test of his pro career, and fans will find out if the hype is warranted when Teixeira faces former UFC light heavyweight champion Quinton "Rampage" Jackson.

Teixeira believes he will defeat Jackson, who fights in the UFC for the last time Saturday. But he also believes victory won’t be enough to prevent his stock from tumbling if he struggles. So Teixeira is determined to end Jackson’s UFC career early.

“My motivation is to be a champion, just like he was. I’m hungry,” Teixeira told ESPN.com. “I want this. This is a big fight for me, the biggest of my career.

“Rampage is a tough guy, he’s hard to put away. But that is the key. You go into a fight, that’s why people love fights, because of the knockouts and the submissions. I’m going in there to finish the fight. And it does matter to me how I win.”

Cerrone to clash with sharper, more mature Pettis

It has been nearly one year since lightweight contender Anthony Pettis has fought inside the Octagon. That’s a long layoff for any fighter, except Pettis.

The former WEC champion says when he steps in the cage Saturday night to face Donald Cerrone, he will be as sharp as ever. Cage rust is never an issue for Pettis.

“I don’t think there is ring rust when it comes to fighting,” Pettis said. “A fight’s a fight. If I have to fight somebody tomorrow, I’ve got to be ready to fight.

“This is my job. This is what I’ve been training for; this is what I’ve been doing for a long time. I’ve kind of grown up with fighting, so I don’t think ring rust is going to be a problem.”

Pettis is also better prepared to deal with any unexpected situations -- inside or outside the cage. He takes all his responsibilities much more seriously these days.

“I’ve matured a lot,” Pettis said. “I’ve got a daughter [1½-year-old Aria] now; I’ve matured a lot with decisions outside of my training -- what time I go to bed, what I’m eating, what I’m putting in my body.

“I’ve really matured in every aspect of my life. I’ve just matured as a man.”

Quick hits

• Former lightweight contender Clay Guida makes his featherweight debut with a bit of a chip on his shoulder. Despite what he says, the outcome of his June bout with Gray Maynard and the criticism that followed still sting. “My striking was pinpoint; I out-struck Gray. I out-grappled Gray,” Guida said. “Go down the list, I beat him everywhere, except in the judges’ eyes. But I’m beyond that now. And Hatsu Hioki is going to pay for it Saturday night.”

• Jackson talks often about no longer being happy in UFC and looks forward to leaving the promotion after Saturday night’s bout against Teixeira. But Jackson won’t be all smiles when it’s over. “I will miss a lot of things. I will miss Burt Watson backstage. He’s funny; he’s cool to hang around,” Jackson told ESPN.com. “Honestly, if you are on Dana’s good side, he’s one of the coolest guys. Lorenzo Fertitta’s always been cool with me; and Frank [Fertitta]. I will miss the good fans. When you’re walking back to the locker room, when you win, the fans are cheering you on. There are a lot of things about the UFC that I will miss.”

• Dana White would love to have Eddie Alvarez on the UFC roster. And he is willing to pay handsomely for Alvarez’s services. Now White is challenging Bellator to do the same. “This kid isn’t their world champion and his contract is up,” White told ESPN.com. “Everybody talks about Bellator like they’re some poor little company. Viacom owns Bellator! Bellator like you used to know it is over. Viacom sits on $5 billion in cash. Pay the kid! Pay the kid the exact monetary offer we made to him, and you will deserve the right to have him.”

It’s always a good problem to have two (or three) contenders with strong cases to fight for a belt. That’s the perpetual state of the UFC’s always-bountiful lightweight division. Ever since Frankie Edgar clogged the top with his battery of rematches -- BJ Penn, Gray Maynard and Benson Henderson -- the challengers have been consistently two and three deep.

To be a 155-pound contender, all you need to have is continued patience and awesomeness.

And that is the ongoing norm for Anthony Pettis, particularly now that it’s been confirmed that Benson Henderson is fighting reigning Strikeforce champion Gilbert Melendez on April 20 at UFC on Fox 7. Pettis’s own fight with Donald Cerrone on Jan. 26 in Chicago is all about the sliding stakes. It’s for understudy purposes; for the right to be next next. In essence, Pettis needs to beat Cerrone to continue his holding pattern. That’s not entirely ideal.

Here’s the thing, though: Pettis-Henderson II has a nice, long shelf life. The attraction of that rematch will hold.

The same’s not necessarily the case for Melendez, who has been ranked on pound-for-pound lists since Henderson was fighting Diego Saraiva in Evolution. Until now, he was unavailable to UFC challenges, and we’ve been pining for just such a scenario as this. Now, in a twist of organized fate, he gets his shot at the UFC belt in San Jose, where Melendez has always been right at home. Strikeforce was headquartered in San Jose, where it did burst the seams of “regional.” Melendez was a big reason the thing grew like it did.

Now he gets Henderson and a chance at the UFC strap, and the selling point boils down to one vital thing: curiosity.

Is he as good as we think he is? Melendez has won seven bouts in a row. He hasn't fought in anything other than title fights since 2008. All he does is beat the guy in front of him, even if you (or I) dub that guy a step down from the names he’d see in the UFC. Complaints towards the quality of his opposition don’t belong at his door. He’s always wanted to fight the best there is, even as he’s had to settle for the best available.

The bigger issue, though, is that Melendez only has this kind of unique timing on his side once. He’s coming to the UFC right when all the inter-promotional intrigue is still intriguing. If the UFC cuts a “champion versus champion” type promo for UFC on Fox 7 -- much like it attempted with Nick Diaz versus Georges St-Pierre for UFC 137 -- you’re catching these confluences at just the right time. Melendez, for so long sequestered in Strikeforce where he was dominant and under-challenged, against Henderson, who has lofty aims of one-upping whatever records Anderson Silva leaves behind.

If you stack Melendez against a Gray Maynard first, you run the risk of him being “Lombarded.” And if that seems like an exposure point to Melendez’s detractors, so be it. The truth is, the UFC operates on hype, in which strong hunches, one way or another, play as key of a role as documented fact.

For Henderson, it’s a title defense. For “El Nino,” this fight plays closer to justification.

Is Melendez the best lightweight going? That’s the question that makes him a polarizing figure for fans. He has apologists, and he has detractors, and he has haters. He has believers, too. Strong ones. Insistent ones. Is he as good as his believers say? There’s one way to find out.

And that happens, at long last, on April 20.

As for Pettis, he has history in his back pocket. If Pettis wins at UFC on FOX 6, the much-awaited rematch of WEC 53 looms in the shadows of UFC on Fox 7. There’s an active, deep-rooted vendetta in play for that bit of fence magic Pettis punctuated things with in the last fight with Henderson. He can be on hand in San Jose to challenge the winner.

In reality, nothing much changes other than Pettis -- presuming he beats Cerrone -- has three added months to let things play out. Three months isn’t that long for a guy so accustomed to waiting.

LAS VEGAS -- It's been a long 2012 for Jim Miller, who lost to Nate Diaz in May and was resolved to the idea that he would have to wait to fight again until 2013.

But as has been the case all year with the UFC, one man's misfortune becomes another man's opportunity. Gray Maynard, who was expected to fight Joe Lauzon at UFC 155, had to drop out with a knee injury. Enter Miller, who'd been in a holding pattern since Cinco de Mayo.

That's a long time to contemplate tapping for the first time in a seven-year career to a guillotine choke.

Must have been a difficult seven months, right?

"For me it's actually pretty easy," Miller told ESPN.com. "I know what I'm capable of. I know that I could have beat either of those guys that beat me on that night had things gone my way. I've had to deal with other things in the past that were out of my control, and you gain a sense of maturity with that, and I know when that door closes it's just me and my opponent. A lot can go right, and a lot can go wrong. I'm just looking to fight to my abilities."

It's not like Miller's recent skid was against slouches, either. He lost a title eliminator to eventual champion Benson Henderson while suffering from a kidney infection and mononucleosis. That decision snapped a seven-fight winning streak. His loss to Diaz in a big headlining spot stung, but sandwiched in between was a submission victory over Melvin Guillard.

In other words, a fairly normal stretch by any other fighter's standards is a novel experience for Miller. Losing isn't something he's used to (his only other losses in seven years are to Frankie Edgar and Maynard). And then again, neither is waiting around.

Maybe that's why Miller says he's "fired up and giddy" heading into Saturday's bout with Lauzon. Being giddy is something you don't loosely associate with a blue-collar grinder like New Jersey's Miller. But the prospect of facing Lauzon, who takes home more end-of-the-night bonus money than everybody not named Anderson Silva, is a fun temptation.

"[Lauzon's] a very aggressive fighter, and he comes forward," Miller said. "He's obviously very dangerous with his strikes, and he hits hard. So [for me] it's just fight clean, and not give him those opportunities to do what he excels at. I'm good in the scrambles myself. It's kind of just not getting going too much where he might pull out and advantage, but do what I am good at doing, and just take the fight to him. He's very aggressive, and he's always attacking. I try to do the same things when the fight hits the mat."

As for Lauzon's ability to capitalize on mistakes?

"It's different than most guys because most guys have that little voice that says 'I might end up in a bad spot.' But [Lauzon] really doesn't care about that, because he's going to string another sub off of it," Miller said. "So it's difficult, and you've got to be careful, and if you're worried about a triangle the next thing you know you're in an armbar type of deal, and also every time you attack you leave yourself open for counters and passes and that kind of stuff. I just got to be sharp, let it all go and have some fun in there."

The "fun" Miller's forecasting extends to his coach, Mike Constantino, who can't help noticing the similarities in the styles.

"Lauzon likes to set things up with speed and accuracy from the scramble -- but I constantly instill the guys with scramble ability, and winning the scramble. And as you know with Jim's fights, he's a scrambler-based, too," Constantino said. "I just think this thing's going to be like a dust-up -- like a cartoon -- all over the cage.

"I agree with what Joe has been saying, that the first one to make a mistake will obviously lose, but somebody might graze somebody with a strike to set up the submission and that could be the difference in the fight."

So a frenetically paced fight that will be contested on virtual eggshells, with the first one to make a mistake losing? For a competitor like Miller, the opportunity was too good to pass up, and giddiness comes with the territory.

All this talk of Frankie Edgar and rematches makes for a potentially uncomfortable situation brewing in Denver. What if Edgar wins a close fight over Benson Henderson this weekend at UFC 150? What if it’s an egregiously controversial decision, the kind that has Dana White fuming about the judging and Twitter exploding into a million little protests?

If it’s indistinguishably close in Edgar’s favor, will not Henderson have the same argument that Edgar did in requesting an automatic rematch?

Fair is fair is fair.

As absurd as the notion seems, it’s a legit question. Everybody knows that Edgar adjusts and adapts and comes on stronger in repetitions. In his recent history of rematches he’s always showed better the second time through. In trilogies, Edgar is 1-0 with a knockout of Gray Maynard (who never gets knocked out). Though he’s navigated his career as a bargain bin underdog, he brings it doubly in playbacks. He’s being slept on a little bit ahead of the Henderson sequel, too. Bendo’s too big, too athletic, too strong.

And you know what? Edgar’s right at home with that.

Before that late second round upkick at UFC 144, Edgar was very likely leading two rounds to none over Henderson. In the rarified altitude in Denver, where the championship rounds are being contested, it might be Edgar pushing the action at the end. He’s been training in Colorado Springs at around 6,000 feet for the last week to acclimate. That doesn’t hurt. If he pulls out a close fight, the UFC will be in a familiar situation with what’s right, and what’s right.

It sets up double standards, and it will force hands. It’s simply not ideal.

And we all know what Dana White would have to do -- he’d have to essentially snub his nose at Henderson, or else leave the lightweight division hijacked for another four months (at least). Worse, be upsetting Nate Diaz, who is in the on-deck circle waiting for the winner after beating Jim Miller, not to mention all the guys hovering just below -- guys like the winner of Donald Cerrone/Melvin Guillard and Anthony Pettis. Traffic must resume, or we need to strip Edgar of his nickname “The Answer,” and use something more apt.

Something like Frankie “The Series” Edgar. Or perhaps “The Monkey Wrench.”

The UFC doesn’t actively root for any situation, but here’s a hunch that life would be easier if Edgar were to drop out of the picture for a little while. As the world’s smallest lightweight, he’s an unlikely elephant in the room. If he loses, he can begin contemplating how to overcome Jose Aldo in the featherweight ranks. Aldo could use some new challenges, and Edgar/Aldo is fun to think about (even over the course of a series). Just about everybody's on board with that.

And White himself has been the ringleader for Edgar competing at 145 pounds. He’s said it on more than one occasion. An Edgar loss on Saturday night facilitates the move, and it opens up the 155-pound division for business again.

It’s Edgar’s job to ignore all of this and do what he does best, which is to win the fights people just assume he’ll lose. The UFC will obviously let the chips fall where they may, but if it’s Edgar, you can understand the hope being that it’s Edgar clean and emphatically.

Otherwise, things will get that much more complicated.

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- Kalib Starnes was vilified, punished by the judges, and ultimately fired when he ran from Nate Quarry at UFC 83.

Friday wasn’t like that exactly, but Clay Guida’s performance against Gray Maynard was closer to it than made UFC president Dana White comfortable.

In fact, White said Guida’s performance was exactly like that. Or maybe worse, given that this one was a main event.

“The fight sucked; I don’t know how to expand on it any more,” White said in the postfight news conference. “It’s one of those situations where you know, a guy like Guida, his style is to move forward. I think that’s the style that’s made him who he is, the style that’s made him a crowd favorite and won him fights. Is he the most talented, most well-rounded mixed martial artist’s in the world? No.

“But his thing is he’s got stamina for days. He’s in your face, he stays on top of you, he wears his opponent down and he takes them out or he goes out on his shield. That’s been his thing.”

Not on this night. Maynard was awarded a split decision victory (48-47, 47-48, 48-47) over Guida.

How it got there is a matter of open query -- this was a bizarre fight that played out almost exactly the opposite of what expectations were. Most people had the same idea of how it might go -- Maynard early, and Guida late. Instead, it was Guida early, and Maynard late. It was Guida circling, and Maynard closing. It was the crowd chanting Guida’s name early, then chanting Maynard’s name even louder late.

It was the greatest shift in rooting interest since Rocky IV.

“Nobody can win or lose a fight when a guy is running around in circles,” White said. “[Guida] was literally running. I had some guys, some fans on Twitter who were saying ‘great footwork.’ This isn’t f---ing "Dancing With the Stars," you know what I mean?”

Guida employed an elusive stick-and-move game plan in the headlining bout at UFC on FX 4. At first it looked smart. He was his usual bionic self, using head movement and footwork to present himself as a mirage to the stalking Maynard, who had his right hand coiled the whole time.

Then it looked like he was orbiting Maynard. Finally, just as the fight was closing in on what are traditionally called the “championship rounds,” it looked like running. At least to the 4,652 people that gathered at the Revel Resort and Casino. And it had to dawn on Maynard that Guida, reluctant to engage, was going to remain reluctant to engage.

The game plan surprised him as much as it did the crowd. One of Gray Maynard’s cornermen, Josh Thomson, told ESPN.com on Thursday night that the idea was to avoid chasing Guida.

Turns out Maynard didn’t have a choice.

“It took me two rounds just to know that, I think this guy’s going to do this the whole fight,” Maynard said afterward. “Personally, I wouldn’t act like that. This is a fight. I was p---ed off. I am human too, and I get mad. I’m here to work. Let’s work.”

By the time people understood that Guida’s game plan was to bounce and move and never stay close, the tide had already turned. When Maynard grabbed hold of Guida in the forth round and kneed him along the fence, the crowd went into raptures. When the fight then went to the ground and Maynard applied a guillotine, it was deafening in the arena.

Yet just before any of that happened, the unthinkable had already occurred -- people were booing Clay Guida, the one man who had always been a spark plug on fight night.

“It motivates me even more [to hear the boos],” Guida said later when asked what he thought of the crowd turning on him. “We’re on the Jersey shore, and I think there’s a misconception of what mixed martial arts is. Yeah, it motivates me even more than anything. The boos motivated me, and I was just getting into my groove. Three rounds is a warm-up; five rounds [and] I was still bouncing around.”

The game plan was scrutinized all the more -- overtly by White, and blatantly in the media -- because it was installed by Guida's coach, Greg Jackson.

Jackson, you might remember, has been accused of turning one-time exciting fighters into strategists. We saw it last with Carlos Condit, who steered clear of Nick Diaz at UFC 137 in the welterweight interim title fight. In that fight, Condit executed the game plan to perfection an got the "W."

Guida wasn't so lucky, though plenty of people on press row scored the fight for him. Dana White wasn't one of those. He said he thought that the split decision was bogus, that Maynard won it easily.

But given the turncoat nature of the fans on hand, ESPN.com asked Guida the question: If knew the crowd would turn on him going in would he have stuck to his game plan? Would he have changed anything?

“I’d stick to my game plan,” he said, his left eye swollen shut. “The game plan that they’re used to, just going in there and playing Rock 'Em, Sock 'Em robots and get my head kicked off and get punches in the face? No. I stuck to a smart strategy and wasn’t there for big punches. I liked my game plan.”

Turns out he was in the vast minority of those who did.

Learn a lesson from Gray Maynard.

The 32-year-old lightweight contender felt "stagnant" and "boxed in." He wasn't living in a place he or his fiancee wanted to call home. So he did what many people often discuss but rarely do: He took action.

"I didn't want to talk about it a year or two later," Maynard said.

A month prior to fighting Frankie Edgar for a third time, he parted ways with Xtreme Couture, the only MMA gym he knew, and set up his own shop.

Maynard admits the situation "wasn't good, but it's not an excuse. That's why I never made it a big deal. It was my choice and I have to deal with it."

A few weeks after losing a chance to become the UFC lightweight champion when Edgar finished him in the fourth round, the 155-pound powerhouse left Las Vegas in the rearview mirror, headed west and settled in Santa Cruz, Calif.

"It's hard to leave a gym," Maynard said. "It's hard to leave your home. It's a tough move. It's not like I was gonna leave for [one training] camp. I was like, let's move. It kind of happened quicker than we were planning on, but it was good to do that."

As a result of the journey, when Maynard steps into the cage Friday night in Atlantic City against Clay Guida, he'll do so with a revamped corner and a new view on what it means to be a mixed martial artist.

"I felt like I hit a plateau, and it was time to get some new ideas," he said. "I needed a change. Xtreme Couture is where I started; it's awesome, I love them all there. I just had to evolve more. There's a lot to the game."

Maynard's 10-1-1 record serves as testimony to the effectiveness of his wrestling skill and raw power. He is strong and hits hard, which is why it was easy to succumb to the boxer-wrestler trap while forgoing other areas of his game.

His first stop was the American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose, Calif.

"He was only doing one or the other when he first came to the gym," said AKA-trained lightweight Josh Thomson. "He was only boxing or wrestling, but the combination from punch to [takedown] shot wasn't that clean. It was decent but wasn't clean."

Maynard credits Thomson, whom he helped prepare for a May contest against Gilbert Melendez, heavyweight Daniel Cormier, AKA coaches Javier Mendez and Bob Cook, boxing trainer Rick Noble, UFC veteran Mac Danzig and the Nova Uniao camp for getting his "juices flowing again."

In Brazil, Maynard worked with UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo in advance of what turned out to be a late first-round stoppage against Chad Mendes. Maynard said he was impressed by the camp and its approach to MMA.

"I just saw a lot about the whole game," he said. "Nova Uniao, they're good in all areas. It was a lot more of the MMA game, and it got me going again, got me thinking about stuff."

He brought that attitude back with him to California and continued upgrading. Maynard expects to show some of those new skills and mentality against Guida in the main event of UFC's latest offering on FX.

Thomson, who works Maynard's corner alongside Noble and Danzig, acknowledged that the No. 4-ranked lightweight according to ESPN.com has "got a lot of things going through his mind right now as far as how to try and use the new tools he's developing."

Still, Thomson said the changes Maynard implemented in recent months are paying off in the gym.

"I just want to see how it meshes and comes together in a real fight," Thomson said. "He's not going to do it overnight."

Fans shouldn't expect spinning back kicks from The Bully, but his transitions between striking and grappling realms are said to be crisper. His boxing application looks tighter, more efficient and requires less energy. As a result, combinations are flowing the way he'd like them to. He also honed in on his wrestling roots with the impressive Cormier, Strikeforce's heavyweight grand prix champion.

Guida, ranked No. 7, will provide a stern test, which Maynard welcomes.

"It was a good choice for us," Maynard said. "He brings a little bit different approach for each bout, but he always goes hard. That's all I can ask for."

As for what unfolds in the cage, regardless of where he trained or the level of shape he worked himself into, Maynard is mindful that the plan of attack is up to him. He may have new tools to use, but it would be a mistake to shift too far from the attributes that brought him to this point.

Sometimes change is good. Sometimes it's not.

As has been the case with all of his fights, lightweight contender Clay Guida approaches Friday night’s showdown against Gray Maynard determined, focused and confident. Guida knows Maynard is a very tough out. And like Guida, the 10-1-1 Maynard enters their UFC on FX 4 encounter having lost his most recent bout. Neither contender can afford a second straight setback in the crowded 155-pound division. They meet in a five-round main event at Revel Casino in Atlantic City.

Despite the high stakes, Guida is as calm as ever. Under similar circumstances, most fighters would struggle to get their nerves under control.

That just isn’t the case with Guida. He could not be in a more peaceful state of mind days before what is possibly the most important mixed martial arts contest of his professional career. For one, Guida has no doubt that his hand -- not Maynard’s -- will be raised when the five-rounder concludes -- if it lasts that long.

Then there is the matter of what’s happening in Guida’s non-UFC world. Things are so good in Guida’s personal life that training camp has been a virtual breeze. That’s what happens when a fighter isn’t experiencing personal distractions -- especially those of a financial nature.

“I have a couple of good business things going on outside of mixed martial arts,” Guida told ESPN.com. “I have a very successful gym [Clay Guida’s MMAStop Fitness in Crest Hill, Ill.].

“There are good people looking over my gym back home. I’ve made some good investments with people I grew up with, and good financial advisors. This makes it easy for me, knowing that I can train every day to become a better fighter and get closer to my dream, which is to become the lightweight champion.”

Guida is extremely happy with the growth of his gym. It doesn’t hurt that several high-profile fighters and trainers have taken time to visit and offer instructions to wide-eyed youngsters. UFC interim welterweight champion Carlos Condit is slated to conduct a seminar there on June 30, and he's just the latest in a line of mixed martial arts' celebrities to grace the gym with their presence.

Former UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez, trainer Greg Jackson, lightweight contender Donald Cerrone, retired light heavyweight Matt Hamill and UFC bantamweight titleholder Dominick Cruz are some of the fighters who’ve conducted seminars at the gym.

The fighters, however, aren’t simply offering specific mixed martial arts instructions. Guida is quick to point out that he isn’t running your standard MMA facility.

“It’s a family fitness center,” Guida said. “It’s not necessarily a mixed martial arts or fight gym. It’s targeted toward families and kids, who want to try kickboxing, wrestling, jujitsu and personal training, things like that.

“It helps them build a healthy lifestyle.”

And maintaining a healthy lifestyle isn’t limited to nonprofessionals. Guida (29-12) is the biggest beneficiary of practicing what he preaches. While many big-name fighters have been hit by the injury bug recently, Guida has taken extra precaution to reduce the odds that he will join the list.

Being in the best physical condition possible for his bout with Maynard is a very high priority for Guida, and it's a delicate balancing act.

“It’s about pulling back the reins,” said Guida, who still trains at Team Jackson-Winkeljohn in Albuquerque, N.M. “We train hard, but we’re also very smart about our training. We’re not trying to knock each other out in the gym. But at the same time we are going at it 100 percent and trying to give each other the best workout we can.

“It’s just about being careful. But when you lighten up in practice, sometimes that’s when you get hurt. And when you lighten up, you’re not getting the most out of your training session. So it’s 50-50; anything can happen.”

Everything has been clicking for Guida during this training camp. His weight is on point, his timing couldn’t be better and his confidence level is off the charts.


It’s not enough to win against Maynard; Guida wants to deliver a strong message as well: that he is as deserving of a lightweight title shot as anyone in the division.

“Finishing Gray Maynard puts me right back to being the No. 1 contender," Guida said. "It puts me right there."

“I know they said Nate [Diaz] is getting the title shot. Nate has beaten three guys in a row -- one of my teammates [Donald Cerrone], Takanori Gomi and Jim Miller, [but] who did he beat before that? Before I lost to [Benson] Henderson, which was a very close fight, people say it could have gone either way, I won four in a row -- three submissions, and I beat two former world champions on the way.

“Gray Maynard hadn’t lost in two or three years. But a finish over Gray is what I’m looking for.”

In the most compelling of the 22 UFC fights going on this weekend, Gray Maynard and Clay Guida will scrap in Atlantic City.

It’s a fun fight to handicap. It’s an aggravating fight to try and figure out exactly what it is that’s at stake for the winner.

Let’s start with the obvious -- the Friday night headliners on the Jersey Shore have a lot in common. They both have wrestling, though Maynard’s is thought to be better. They both are coming off losses to current and erstwhile champions. They both hover near the top of a division where the UFC hoards its talent.

They both beat Nate Diaz.

It’s this last thing that makes everything complicated and turns promises into fleeting little things. Diaz, riding a three-fight winning streak, is penciled in as the next in line to face the winner of Frankie Edgar/Ben Henderson. That fight isn’t set to take place until Aug. 11 at UFC 150 in Denver (and here we should knock on wood, given the rash of injuries plaguing this summer). That means Diaz could be in limbo until at least November, depending on how badly they hinder each other.

Realistically, Diaz could be looking at December should he wait.

But the winner of this UFC on FX 4 fight will have three things going for him. One, he will have beaten the other. Two, he will have beaten the other plus Nate Diaz. Three, he will have won last, and everybody knows what’s latest has a way of becoming what’s most relevant.

Of course, it gets even more complicated when you stick the recovering Anthony Pettis into this company. Guida beat Pettis, too. But Pettis beat Henderson. Henderson beat Guida. It’s a mad round-robin that could give matchmaker Joe Silva existential vertigo if he doesn’t have a stubborn battle plan.

So what’s at stake for the winner of Maynard/Guida this weekend? Search me, brother.

If Maynard beats Guida, perhaps he’s too early for another title shot. A bout against Pettis -- whom he’s had choice words for in the past -- could be in the cards. Or, if Diaz can be tempted into redeeming himself from that Fight Night card back in 2010 where he lost a split decision to Maynard, maybe the UFC syncs up the schedules and makes that a No. 1 contender’s bout.

Then there’s also the off-chance of Maynard/Edgar IV, should Edgar win too. After all, they are 1-1-1 in the series. (This couldn’t possibly happen, could it?).

But if Guida wins, it’s a little different. Guida has wins over both Pettis and Diaz, so he would look like a more obvious No. 1 contender. The problem there is the UFC may not want to play back Guida/Henderson, the greatest Facebook fight of all time that took place on the first UFC on FOX card in November. Guida lost a decision to Henderson in that one. So, if Guida were to win Friday night, it would either be Diaz again -- whom he beat by split decision at UFC 94 -- or Edgar, should he beat Henderson. That is, unless Edgar beats Henderson controversially to dial up the trilogy.

In other words, there’s absolutely nothing clear about where the winner of Guida/Maynard will stand. There are so many trump cards in play that it’s going to boil down to druthers. Right now, it looks like Diaz is next for a title shot. By Saturday, it could look like Guida. Or Maynard. The only thing we can be semi-certain of is that the UFC will try and avoid unwanted repetition.

Looked at as a whole, Guida and Maynard will be fighting for, if not for title contention, at least the right to hold onto their arguments.

Rich Franklin said recently he'll consider testosterone replacement therapy because, at the age of 37, his hormone levels aren't what they once where.

Stop the presses. This is called getting old, and it's among the biggest reasons TRT comes off as a farcical medical treatment for athletes.

But have you ever wondered what the fight world would be like if mixed martial artists like Franklin didn't hesitate to take substances likely to help them in their pursuits? Think of it. No drug testing. All problems solved. Bye-bye bad headlines and missed fights. What a world!

On its face this sounds preposterous, though that hasn't stopped some people from arguing it's the way to go. Where would you peg usage rates if fighters were essentially allowed to dope for lack of deterrents? We're still talking illegal drugs, just no testing. How would that tug at the moral fiber of fighters who, under today's testing requirements, have thus far remained PED-free?

I'm thinking, despite known repercussions, use would be off the charts. Maybe you'll have some guys who won't on principle -- yes, principle -- but I wouldn't assume many. Junior dos Santos? The way he's addressed PEDs, the guy is either a shining beacon or total hypocrite. We have no reason to suspect the latter, yet in a test-free environment, would temptation prove too much?

Tito Ortiz made the claim recently that he would still be champion were it not for multiple surgeries that plagued his career. What if a substance banned under current regulations/law could have a) prevented his ailments or b) helped repair them quickly so he could fight at full strength? Wouldn't it be worth allowing him to use unencumbered? Let the chips fall where they may over time, but in the moment, if it kept him fighting, and others were free to use if they wanted, what could be so bad about that?

Hey, I'm glad testing exists. I hate that it needs to, but the fact that it's there -- as disjointed and inconsistent as the practice is worldwide -- gives hope that the sport won't just drown in drugs.

Why does it matter?

What it comes down to, I think, is this: I want to see the best fighters in the world compete. And I want to knowing their accomplishments aren't insured by a steady baseline of synthetic testosterone. Yes, even if that means they're more likely to stave off injury and fight more often over a longer period of time. (Though use could have the exact opposite effect, as penalties, such as weakened tendons, make injury more likely.)

Based on past conversations, I'm aware many fans don't care. They'd be fine if regulators walked away from testing programs and Zuffa washed its hands of PED interests. A virtual free-for-all makes them salivate.

I'll make just one request. If this ever happens (it won't), can we at least get a tale-of-the-tape that includes "drugs used" next to height, weight and reach? That could be fun for a little while.

Atlantic City, hello

For the first time in five years, the UFC returns to Atlantic City this weekend, featuring two of the promotion's best lightweights, Gray Maynard and Clay Guida.

The UFC has a tradition of holding memorable events by the Jersey shore (which hosted the company's first regulated event prior to Zuffa entering the equation in 2001), and Maynard-Guida looks well suited to join an impressive list of fights.

In descending order, these are my favorite A.C. bouts:

8. Rich Franklin mauls Evan Tanner to win the UFC middleweight title. This was ugly. Though Tanner knocked Franklin down with a right hand in the opening round, he spent the rest of the fight being brutalized to the face, rendering the him nearly unrecognizable by the time a ringside physician stopped the contest.

7. Shonie Carter spins his way past Matt Serra. As you'll soon realize, UFC 31 is one of my favorite events ever. Carter-Serra produced a spinning backfist finish that, at the time, was rare and stunning. Down on the cards late in the fight, Carter faked a kick, spun through with his arms, and connected with a glancing shot that dropped Serra to the canvas for good.

6. Matt Hughes teaches youngster Georges St. Pierre a lesson. Ten months after losing the UFC welterweight title to B.J. Penn in 2004, Hughes regained the strap against a talented French Canadian kid who'd go on to do big things. Hughes treated GSP appropriately before locking in a perfectly setup armbar from the top that brought a tap at 4:59 of Round 1. St. Pierre credits lessons learned in this fight for his subsequent championship run.

5. Jens Pulver claims first UFC title of Zuffa era. Technically this was for the bantamweight title at the time, though we now know 155 pounds to be the domain of lightweights. The fight, a majority decision favoring Pulver over Caol Uno, was extremely close and well contested.

4. Tito Ortiz pummels Evan Tanner. Ortiz never appeared more dangerous than this frightening slam that rendered Tanner unconscious and injured. The impact of Ortiz lifting then driving Tanner to the floor still stands as among the UFC's most violent moments.

3. Randy Couture returns, wins back belt. After winning and relinquishing the UFC heavyweight title against Maurice Smith in 1997, Couture returned to the promotion three years later for its regulated debut in New Jersey. Couture handled fellow wrestler Kevin Randleman in an exciting contest that ended with punches late in Round 3.

2. Carlos Newton stuns Pat Miletich. Trying for his sixth UFC title defense, Miletich failed when he made the mistake of sticking his head where it didn't belong, prompting nice guy Newton to squeeze as hard as he could when he wrapped Miletich in an old-school playground choke. The result opened the door for Matt Hughes, a Miletich student, to fight for the belt.

1. Heavyweight war of attrition. Among my favorite fights of all time, Randy Couture and Pedro Rizzo produced a wild heavyweight title fight at UFC 31. Rizzo dominated Couture in the opening round, nearly finishing the American within the first five minutes. Couture returned the favor in the second, pounding on Rizzo for a full round. They were understandably slower the next 15 minutes, yet this is one of the great battles in MMA history.

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.

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- When Nate Diaz bolted the 155-pound division 2½ years ago, he had lost three of four fights and was in need of a change. He tried to kick-start his career as a welterweight; and yet, after four fights there, he went 2-2.

For as promising as his UFC career started -- going 5-0 after winning Season 5 of "The Ultimate Fighter" -- people weren’t talking about Diaz after his one-sided beatdown at UFC 129 against Rory MacDonald at UFC 129.

Nick Diaz’s little brother had essentially plateaued.

Yet on Saturday night, in just his third fight in his reimagining as a lightweight, Diaz is now in pole position for a title shot in what might be the promotion’s most competitive division. His second-round submission of New Jersey native Jim Miller put an exclamation mark on his latest run. Diaz tapped out the hometown hero with a guillotine choke -- on national television, no less.

To put that in perspective, consider this: Nobody -- not Gray Maynard, not Frankie Edgar, not Benson Henderson -- has ever stopped Miller (now 10-3 in the UFC).

“I just trained hard for the fight, and I just went in there and fought hard and it went good,” said a terse Diaz at the postfight news conference.

Indeed he did. Saturday was the night that Nate Diaz truly arrived. And talk about a turn of events -- who would have thought six months ago that, when discussing a Diaz in a title fight, it would be Nate instead of Nick.

But that’s where we’re at. Since returning to lightweight, Nate Diaz finished Takanori Gomi, landed a record number of strikes against Donald Cerrone and now became the first fighter to finish Miller. What’s up with the resurgence?

To hear him say it, it’s all about pushing the right buttons in training.

“I’m getting matchups with top contenders at lightweight, and that’s a little motivating,” he told ESPN.com. “It’s hard to stay motivated and fight somebody that nobody knows, who you’re kind of more popular than. I don’t mean to sound like I’m all popular, but sometimes it’s hard when everybody expects you to win. I like fighting a top contender and being counted out.

“I feel it in training,” he said. “[Miller] is supposed to beat me? We’ll see.”

The Stockton native will likely be an underdog in his next fight, too. It was announced tonight that the new No. 1 contender in the 155-pound division will wait out the Edgar/Henderson bout to face the winner, even if the fight takes place very late in 2012.

“He’s going to wait for the title shot,” Dana White said. When asked about waiting, Diaz simply replied, “I’m down for whatever, but [waiting] sounded great to me.”

And, just like it was for Henderson, beating Miller was the way to a title shot. Miller said the game plan was to pressure Diaz and make move backward while staying out of his range.

Easier said than done. Miller couldn’t get anything going in the first round and got caught in a scramble that led to him tapping in the second. Afterward, Miller doffed his cap to Diaz’s superior game plan.

“He fought a beautiful fight, and he had my number,” Miller said of Diaz.

Diaz has had everybody’s number that he’s faced since returning to lightweight. Perhaps he said it best himself in the postfight news conference.

“Yeah, he’s tough,” he said. “It was him or me, and I’m glad it went the way it did. Guess I got lucky, just my time to shine, I guess.”

For what it’s worth, Gilbert Melendez/Josh Thomson III isn’t a bad fight. It’s just not the fight people wanted. It just feels obvious and limited and, you know, uninspired.

There was a time not that long ago when Dana White assured everybody that Melendez -- a top three lightweight who happens to be in his prime -- would not be left pining for challenges in Strikeforce. This was before his Dec. 17 Strikeforce bout with Jorge Masvidal. This was after reconciliation between White and Showtime. This was right around the time when everybody fell into reverie as to whom, and began envisioning expensive imports (maybe Benson Henderson? Clay Guida? Gray Maynard?).

Even Melendez’s camp couldn’t help but imagine the possibilities.

Things have obviously changed.

Melendez has been made into a window shopper. All those elite UFC lightweights that sit on the showroom floor? He’s left to browse and wonder with his nose smudged on the glass. Despite those early fits of optimism, Zuffa isn’t going out of its way to find Melendez challenges -- it is recycling whatever it can find in the cupboards. Somewhere along the way, things soured (again) between Showtime and White. Melendez is the biggest casualty.

Yesterday Strikeforce announced that Melendez would defend his title against ex-champ Thomson on May 19 in San Jose, Calif.; a rubber match that has an ounce of good drama. Problem is, the fight is a buzzkill for those who are interested in Melendez’s upward trajectory. Yes, they’ve split the previous two matches, but Melendez avenged the first loss easily and has won six in a row all told. Thomson has won exactly one in a row, a unanimous decision over K.J. Noons that he said afterward “was s---.” Before that, he lost to Tatsuya Kawajiri. These aren’t the kinds of credentials that earn title fights, even if there are scores to settle.

That’s one of the reasons this trilogy fight will require rose-colored glasses to appreciate. Even if the situation is deeper, it feels like "who cares" matchmaking at its laziest. That is, if you’re Gilbert Melendez. If you’re Josh Thomson, it’s an overly generous chance to reclaim the lightweight belt. And if he does, this will turn the sports world aloof. What could we look forward to then -- Thomson/Healy II? That is true tundra. Keith Wisniewski versus Chris Clements has greater import. Or we could play back Thomson/Melendez IV, and put the thing on a perpetual loop. Strikeforce might have to, because the promotion's lightweight pool is ankle-deep.

If Melendez does lose to Thomson, you’d be left wondering if something like ennui played as big a role as the “Punk” himself. That’s why it’s hard to swallow. Why should all the favors go to Thomson, the sorta-deserving challenger? Why shouldn’t Melendez, the flagship champion of Strikeforce, be better attended? Fans of MMA don’t have interest in behind the scenes politics as much as they do in watching two heads of momentum collide.

But chances are Melendez will win, live up to expectations, and then disappear into waiting for the next thing to materialize. That’s not the kind of immediate future that lights fires in competitors. Yet that’s where Melendez is in 2012 at as Strikeforce lightweight strap holder. A sort of hostage to his throne.

And if he wants to remain the most persecuted champion in MMA, at least for the rest of this year, he’ll need to stay hungry for it. Maybe that’s what White meant about finding Melendez challenges. Maybe Melendez’s biggest challenge in 2012 will be fighting through the set of circumstances, rather than whoever they stick in front of him in the cage.

Alright, so Gilbert Melendez will fight on May 19 in San Jose, only five months and two days after beating Jorge Masvidal to retain his title.

Though this isn’t major news in itself, it’s a turnaround that beats nine months of involuntary limbo. Action is good. If nothing else, we can cling to silver linings.

Now the question becomes "against whom?", and Strikeforce is spinning the mystery wheel right now to determine that. Will it be Josh Thomson, who went to Columbus under the presumption that if he beat K.J. Noons (which he did), the title shot would be his? Will it be a darker horse like journeyman Pat Healy, who put in a yeomen’s effort against Caros Fodor to make it four wins in a row? Or will it be ... wait, nope ... the other slots on the mystery wheel are all whammies.

It’s Thomson or Healy.

Or, something far bolder if Zuffa is feeling charitable. Is it possible that the UFC will lend out one of its top 10 fighters to challenge Melendez in the hexagon? It’s a sister promotion, after all, and there are starving contenders. The UFC’s lightweight title picture has had only four people in it for the last two years -- Frankie Edgar, B.J. Penn, Gray Maynard and now Benson Henderson. For anybody else, the summit has been closed off. You can see how the temptation might be there to open up an alternative pass to its second peak.

And why not? A cross-promotion fight that falls within the same company is all that makes sense for Melendez (who’s been promised big challenges) and fans (who’ve grown suspicious of that promise). Currently, there are some top-selling lightweights available for a Melendez clash.

If you follow Melendez’s manager Cesar Gracie’s Twitter feed, you know he’s dropping a couple of names right off the bat -- Anthony Pettis and B.J. Penn. Both of these look compelling (read: available) for “El Nino.” One just had a title shot snatched from his purview, and the other is semi-retired and in the process of self-discovery. Either would make for a fascinating challenge against Melendez, the only pound-for-pound top 10 fighter that spends so much time in quarantine.

In the special case of the former lightweight champion Penn, it might take a dangling carrot to motivate him -- here would be a chance to add to his collection of UFC belts with a gravy Strikeforce strap. Who knows what happens if he wins, but in some ways, who cares? He will either defend that belt in Strikeforce or expedite himself back into the UFC lightweight picture with a case of unification. Seems like a win/win, should he win. And should he lose, he’s in no worse a situation than he is now.

Pettis’s case is interesting, too (though his manager Mike Roberts says they haven't been approached). He’s 25 years old and not overly concerned with the long haul. Twice since coming over as the reigning WEC champion he’s been right there for a title shot, and twice he’s been thwarted. I have sort of campaigned that he should do what Edgar was being asked to do, that of dropping down to 145 pounds to challenge Jose Aldo for the featherweight belt. Maybe he will. That fight would be a crazy indulgence of some of the game's most dynamic strikers. It would be big business for the feathers.

And of course, Gray Maynard and Clay Guida are also out there. If they aren’t turned on each other, either could be a candidate for Melendez.

But there is one more option out there that that might not be as far-fetched as it seems. What if Aldo came up to challenge Melendez in Strikeforce while the featherweight picture sorts out? He has been tempted to dip his toe at 155 pounds anyway, ever since the weight cut nearly ruined him when fighting Mark Hominick. With Hatsu Hioki not quite ready enough (or marketable enough) for a title shot, and Chan Sung Jung/Dustin Poirier slated for a May fight of their own, can you imagine the potential for fun there? Would that not make for creative matchmaking?

Either way, whoever Zuffa is thinking of putting against Melendez, you have to wonder if there’s a trick tucked away up their sleeve. Because right about now there are so many good fights for Melendez that a marquee of “Strikeforce: Melendez vs. Thompson III” in San Jose can’t help but feel a little cheap by comparison.

A lot of things should go into booking Benson Henderson’s next fight, beginning with marketability and ending with scruples.

Does the UFC book an immediate rematch with a very deserving Frankie Edgar? Or do they give the shot to Anthony Pettis, who was the last man to defeat Henderson back at WEC 58?

Never mind the merits of Nate Diaz and Jim Miller for the time being. They are set up on a distant horizon, too distant to factor into a demanding public’s want of matchmaking immediacy.

And still, both situations are complicated.

If the UFC eschews Edgar’s request for a rematch, it looks like he’s getting a raw deal for a guy who has been nothing but a model champion for the last two years. Did he complain about having to back up his victory over B.J. Penn? Under his breath, maybe. He also handled the Maynard series with the kind of professionalism that fans could get used to. For all his deeds, how can the UFC simply ignore the case he’s presenting for rematch in a fight that was so close enough as to warrant one?

There are plenty of reasons, and most weigh around 155 pounds.

The fact that Edgar has been involved in consecutive rematches at the top of the lightweight division means it’s been off limits to contenders for going on two years. That’s a long time to hijack a division, fair or not. For one disgruntled former champion, there’s a mob scene going on just below him of people who have their own cases to hear. The perpetual logjam at the top at 155 pounds isn’t Edgar’s fault, or Pettis’s, for that matter. Or Jim Miller’s, or Melvin Guillard’s, or Donald Cerrone’s.

If the UFC books Edgar/Henderson II, all the contenders who have been looking for an opening for that belt will effectively be snubbed yet again. “What’s right?” Edgar asked at the postfight news conference at UFC 144, meaning he’s done right by the UFC, and now it’s time for the UFC to do right by him.

Maybe so, but “what’s right?” in this case is a complicated question.

And of all the wayside contenders to lose out in a new rematch scenario, Pettis would be the one most affronted. He was the one who lost out on the last rematch scenario. Remember, it was the reigning WEC lightweight champ Pettis who came into the UFC as the No. 1 contender to fight the Maynard/Edgar winner to start 2011. When the fight went to a draw, Pettis, who was then 23 years old, didn’t want to sit out and wait and so took a stay-busy fight with Clay Guida. Then he lost, and that set him back a full year. Now he knocks out Joe Lauzon and re-establishes himself as a (less clear-cut) No. 1 contender, and his reward could be to stand aside again.

Or to take a fight and stay busy while this thing sorts out.

That’s not an ideal situation to be in once, much less twice. People fight to make money, but also to earn a chance at a belt. That’s the ultimate goal, and at some point it becomes a goal held in vain when no opening in the title picture can be found.

So what does the UFC do? Does it book the rematch with Henderson and Edgar, and do what’s right by one deserving man? Or does it open the belt up for business, and allow Pettis to finally walk toward the light?

Tricky stuff. But you can see why Dana White is so bent on having Edgar drop down to 145 pounds to challenge Jose Aldo. It’s the only scenario where everybody more or less wins -- and traffic can get moving in both divisions.