ESPN Mixed Martial Arts

The reality show is wrapped. The spring break title defense against Chael Sonnen is in the books.

It's time, is it not, for Jon Jones to get back to business?

The 25-year-old UFC light heavyweight champion spun his wheels over the last seven months, and all he had to show for it was a busted up arm and horribly mangled toe. If "Bones" is going to pay a price for stepping in the cage, let it come against a legitimate threat (perceptually, at least) to his title.

Recognizing that fights with Vitor Belfort and Sonnen weren't intended, that they were the product of the craziness of the fight promotion business, and that Jones was simply doing what was required of him as champion by taking on these contests, opponents exist who appear capable of forcing the immeasurable talents of such a dynamic fighter to the surface.

Alexander Gustafsson, the confident Swede, seems to rank at the top of Jones' list.

Anderson Silva, of course, leads everyone else's.

The last thing Jones has done is clean out his division, though many believe he will, and it's hard to argue otherwise. But there are others: a rematch with Lyoto Machida; the ageless wonder Dan Henderson; a surging Glover Teixeira; an improving Phil Davis.

Then there's Daniel Cormier, the heavyweight. Maybe Jones meets him there. Maybe Cormier cuts to 205. But this is a bout that seems destined to happen, and can you say with certainty that Jones will walk away with a win? I can't, which at this point is all I'm looking for.

There's no time to waste with frivolous, meaningless contests like Saturday's, which featured Jones pelting a guy that didn't stand a chance. Think of the hysteria that would have ensued had referee Keith Peterson allowed Jones to wail on Sonnen for 30 more seconds; had he deferred to Sonnen's considerable experience, recognized a title fight was ongoing, and given the man a chance to get out of the first.

Just imagine Jones in his corner, his left big toe pointing east while the rest of his piggies looked north, a New Jersey ringside physician seeing this, doing what was required and calling the fight. Sonnen, hands raised, belt around his waist. Bye-bye, consecutive title defense record-tying result. For what? A fluke. Against a guy that didn't belong anywhere near Jones' belt. There's too much that can go wrong in an MMA bout for the UFC to waste Jones on a scenario like that.

No more, thank you.

Thankfully, Jones seems to get it. Look at what he did in 2011, running a gauntlet against Ryan Bader, Mauricio Rua, Quinton Jackson and Machida. Look at how much he improved over that span. He did this while he wasn't nearly the fighter he is today, which isn't remotely close to the predator he'll be in 12 months time. He needs more of that. More challenges. More pressure. More threats. This is the only way Jones will know how good he can be, and this is the only way we'll get to see him at his best.

Jones comes across like a redemptive fellow. He should wish to save himself and his fans from having to pay to watch contests like Belfort and Sonnen.

Give us Gustafasson. Give us Silva. Give us a stud heavyweight. Give us someone whose justification for getting a shot isn't their speaking ability. Give us Jones against a man who might beat him on paper.

That's a start. The rest will take care of itself.

The truth is Jones could turn out to be so good it wouldn't matter if Sonnen or Silva were standing opposite him in the Octagon. And that's why it's high time Bones gets back to business, because there's business to be done.

We're watching, and we're not interested in waiting.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Gilbert Melendez’s long, winding ride to the UFC concludes Saturday, not so far from where it began.

The 31-year-old Californian, a Strikeforce lightweight champion and longtime resident of top-10 lists, enters the Octagon for the first time against Benson Henderson -- making him a rare rookie title challenger inside an arena that played host to some of his greatest moments as a professional mixed martial artist. All of this will be taking place an hour’s drive from where Melendez was introduced to the sport, on a whim, while wrestling at San Francisco State.

"It doesn't hurt that the Octagon is going to be in the HP Pavilion, where I've been plenty of times,” Melendez said. “So in some ways it's unfamiliar but in some ways it's so familiar.”

This could very well describe Melendez’s presence in MMA since 2002.

Compiling one of the most impressive outside-the-UFC résumés of any fighter in the sport, Melendez (21-2) fought at 143 pounds in Japan at a time when that meant something. Moving up to 155, “El Nino” dominated a strong contingent of contenders in Japan and the U.S. There isn’t a man he fought whom he didn’t defeat. Yet on the verge of his UFC debut -- a scenario he heavily though begrudgingly campaigned for in recent years -- Melendez is of the opinion that his numerous accomplishments don’t matter.

"This is the UFC. I'm 0-0 here,” Melendez said. “This is my coming-out party. Am I a certified fighter or not? Am I a joke or not? I could have a bad day and people would still think I'm a joke. I could lose and they'll think I'm a joke. But I have to win.

“I've stepped into rings. I've stepped in places where you can stomp on peoples’ faces and knee them in the head [on the floor]. I've been to other countries and other states with different rules. This is a different size cage, different rules, different organization, different title. So, yeah, I'm definitely walking in as a challenger."

The opportunity comes at the right time. Melendez readily admits he reached a plateau in Strikeforce, a promotion that couldn’t provide him with the kind of challenges he wanted, especially after Zuffa took control of the company in 2011.

"The politics behind Strikeforce, Showtime and UFC played with his head quite a bit,” said Gilbert Melendez Sr., a strong presence since the beginning of his son’s career.

Melendez got away with simply showing up in shape because it was his sense he was better than everyone he fought. “It hindered me not because of the talent of the people I fought, but the motivation,” he said. So his desire to improve waned as he struggled mentally with not being where he wanted to be. Among other reactions, frustration set in.

“You're Strikeforce champ, you can't be like, 'Hey, I don't want to be here anymore,' " said Jake Shields, who introduced Melendez to MMA and was similarly a Strikeforce champion before fleeing for the UFC when his contract was up. “He was getting paid, so he was happy in that sense but you could just see he didn't have any motivation. His training camps were suffering. I could see it.”

Rather than improving as a fighter, save taking the time to heal a nagging back injury, Melendez spent his days focused on his personal life, which included a fiancée, Keri Anne Taylor, and a baby girl. Melendez also opened an expansive gym in San Francisco’s warehouse district, not far from AT&T Park, where a full training camp was spent preparing for gifted UFC champion “Smooth” Henderson (18-2).

"He's on beast mode. He's ready to go,” said Nate Diaz, Melendez’s teammate and younger brother-in-arms. “I don't think there's anyone better than Gilbert in the lightweight division. This is his time.”

Diaz was the last member of Melendez’s crew to get a crack at a UFC belt, falling to Henderson on points in December.

"The thing with Gilbert is he really steps his game up for competition,” Diaz said. “When he's set to win, he wins. He does even better in fights than he does in training most of the time, and right now he's unstoppable in training. I think Henderson has his hands full."

All told, the Cesar Gracie jiu-jitsu team is 0-5 in UFC title contests -- a fact Melendez is keenly aware of but not consumed by. Their experience was built from the ground up, a distinctly Bay Area crew that molded itself into one of MMA’s most respected teams. All of that is undeniable and powerful should Melendez choose to call upon on it, though he knows on fight night, it’ll be just him and Henderson alone in the Octagon.

"Benson's a mixed martial artist,” Melendez said. “A lot of guys are Muay Thai guys that fight MMA. Or wrestlers that fight MMA. He uses all his tools. He's a good striker, good grappler, great submissions -- but he shines when he puts it all together. I'm also that guy, though. I'm not just a striker. I'm not just a wrestler. I'm not just a grappler. I'm an MMA fighter. I think we match up pretty evenly when it comes to that. He has some pretty good kicks but I think my hands are a lot better. Wrestling and grappling will be interesting.

“I've been thinking about this a long time. You want the respect. You want to brand yourself. You want to be be ranked. You want all that, but it's easy to put it aside. It doesn't matter: I got the opportunity.”

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- On camera and off. In the gym before, during and after workouts. One-on-one or in a group. Unbeaten heavyweight contender Daniel Cormier is the furthest thing from shy.

Expressing supreme confidence in his ability to remain undefeated on Saturday against former heavyweight champion Frank Mir at the HP Pavilion, Cormier, 34, believes that "when it comes to heart and drive I beat [Mir] every time."

"When I sit back and I honestly think about the fight I have a lot of advantages, and if I use them I should be OK," Cormier said prior to a recent training session at the American Kickboxing Academy. "He's a good heavyweight but when you really think about it there's a difference between a lifetime athlete and a guy that started doing something a little bit older. I think it's going to show in the fight.

"I've been competing my entire life. It's what I do. That's what I plan to do on April 20th. And if he's ready to raise himself to that competitive level then I'm going to have a tough fight on my hands. But if he isn't, then I'm just gonna run right over him."

Cormier makes his Octagon debut three and a half years after transitioning from amateur wrestler to professional mixed martial artist, and while it conflicts with his general disposition, the Strikeforce Grand Prix champion admitted that even he's surprised by how quickly he picked stuff up.

"I didn't anticipate having these kind of fights as soon as I did," Cormier said.

Stopping Antonio Silva and dominating a five-round decision against Josh Barnett sent a clear message that Cormier, squat and quick, is a name was worth remembering. Expectations set in, especially after Barnett, and he was matched with Mir for a bout late last year on one of the last Strikeforce cards. When Mir was injured, the fight was postponed and Cormier went from facing a highly dangerous and respected former champion to facing Dion Staring.

The contrast messed with Cormier, especially on fight night.

Competing in hostile environments around the world since he was a teenager didn't help make the situation any more comfortable for Cormier. Fighting Staring, an opponent nobody thought could win, prompted Cormier's impermeable confidence to spring a leak. Everything was about him and his future and not the competition, and that was different and uneasy.

"I think the most pressure situation I had was the last one because I knew that if I won that fight I was in for some really big fights," Cormier said. "I don't know what would have happened if Dion Staring would have beaten me, and that's what scares you: the unknown.

"There was a lot of pressure to just go out there and beat him up. That's not how it works. We're all professional fighters."

Yet if things line up the way Cormier expects them to, he sees himself running through Mir en route to the top of the heavyweight division, which is currently ruled by his friend and training partner Cain Velasquez. As a result there have been calls for Cormier to drop to 205. Mir suggested that he'll be the guy who proves Cormier's less-than-prototypical heavyweight frame will cost him at the highest level -- though results against Silva and Barnett suggest the opposite.

As far as light heavyweight goes, Cormier is willing to fight there despite a history of health issues related to weight cutting -- including kidney failure -- because, he said, regardless of whom he fights, including Jon Jones, he'll hold a significant edge.

History. His, to be specific.

He trusts his competitive experience and his natural ability will carry the day against all comers. It sounds cocky, but it's not. Cormier's confidence is infectious and heavily influenced by his drive and determination to be good at whatever it is he chooses to do.

The package, as Cormier described it, is the antidote of fear rather than the disease of arrogance.

"I'm determined to be the best that I can be, whether that be UFC champion or No. 1 contender or maybe I never fight for a belt," he said. "But if that's the best I can do as Daniel Cormier, then that's the best I can do. I'll be able to go on to the next phase of my life and be OK. I have a desire to be good at everything I do and I work my tail off to accomplish it.

"I'm fighting the best guys in the world now, you never know what's going to happen, but for me personally on April 20 I anticipate winning that fight in a manner that's going to make my teammates and coaches proud of what I did."

As a matter of fact, mixed martial arts is an exercise in proving what you're made of.

Cormier's success hasn't required that he show the world any special mettle yet, however "I know if I need to I'll be willing to."

California has long been inundated with mixed martial arts gyms, which isn't the sort of thing that just happens.

The Gracie family settled near Los Angeles in the 1980s, and therefore so did Brazilian jiu-jitsu. After several years, the UFC arose out of an idea centered on marketing and selling what the Gracie family embraced as a value system. This was so successful that competitors flocked to the West Coast with some looking for grappling expertise and others just seeking a fight, of which there were plenty.

Soon the Golden State, particularly its southern half, was regarded as the "Mecca for MMA," especially as events and fighters and camps were covered by a burgeoning press that proliferated on the Internet as the sport struggled to gain traction in more traditional settings.

California approved the first set of codified MMA rules 13 years ago this month. Many of the UFC's early top draws -- from Royce Gracie, Ken Shamrock and Tank Abbott to Tito Ortiz and Chuck Liddell -- made their homes there. Anyone who knew anything about MMA is aware of the cultural impact of TapouT, a Southern California-formed company. Most of the MMA fights that took place on Native American lands from 1993 to 2003 were sandwiched between Fresno and the U.S.-Mexico border.

Over the past decade, however, in the wake of regulation and the sport's movement away from underground events, there's been a shift to the North in terms of where the best fighters and camps are located in California.

In 2013, California's world-class training facilities feature some of MMA's best fighters, including seven Northern Californian residents set to enter the Octagon on Saturday in San Jose. And while Southern California continues to hum along, producing a massive amount of talent as it goes, the appearance of vibrant fight teams in the mold of Shamrock's San Diego-based Lion's Den, or Ortiz's crew in Huntington Beach, is more likely a northern phenomenon.

Three major groups have come to represent NorCal MMA: Cesar Gracie jiu-jitsu, American Kickboxing Academy and Urijah Faber's Ultimate Fitness. Their impact on Saturday's card is undeniable. At the same time, SoCal teams have seemingly fallen apart. Shamrock is almost all but forgotten. Ortiz's crew splintered many times over. There are pockets of consistency, including the Inland Empire which features Millennia jiu-jitsu and Dan Henderson's Team Quest affiliate in Temecula. But it's hard to argue against the reality that the North has taken over the South for the state's MMA supremacy, particularly when it comes to raising homegrown talent.

During Saturday's main event on Fox, Gilbert Melendez will attempt to bring home UFC gold to a group of guys who have been together for well over 10 years (a fourth title try in the Octagon for the Cesar Gracie crew in 24 months). The co-feature: AKA's unbeaten rising star Daniel Cormier against former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir. The next chapter in a competitive but mostly friendly rivalry between AKA and Cesar Gracie, camps situated about an hour drive apart, pits Josh Thomson and Nate Diaz. On the undercard, the Faber-influenced trio of Chad Mendes, Joseph Benavidez, and T.J. Dillashaw will get in some work.

Major Southern California promotions aren't happening like they used to -- a product of saturation, fan complacency and promotional indifference -- so events that mattered in terms of finding talent, say those put on by King of the Cage in the early 2000s, haven't been relevant in years. Meanwhile, NorCal gyms cultivated direct pipelines into Stikeforce or UFC.

The competitive shift from SoCal or NorCal can be traced to several factors, none more noteworthy than the emergence of Strikeforce as a platform for Bay Area fighters.

Big California fight camps once synonymous with Orange County or the Inland Empire haven't been for some time. This seems tied to opportunity more than anything else, yet NorCal fighters like to suggest it has as much to do with their grittiness and determination as it does with promotional platforms. SoCal fighters would disagree, but this is how the guys up North view what's happening in the state.

And results suggest they're on the correct side of things.

There it goes, picking up steam. The Uriah Hall bandwagon, ladies and gents, is in full effect.

Dana White has touted Hall, who fights Kelvin Gastelum this Saturday in Las Vegas for "The Ultimate Fighter 17" crown, as the meanest, toughest, bestest fighter in the history of TUF. Like, ever. But he's a promoter and he's selling a TV show and a fight card, so anything he says has to be viewed through the looking glass.

That doesn't mean, though, that the rest of you get a pass.

While writing I was distracted by a tweet from a radio host in Houston who positioned Hall as the "2013 version of Mike Tyson."

How about the next Anderson Silva? People have somehow mustered the fortitude to suggest this as well.

Seriously.

Well how about a real world reality check -- people seem to need it. The top fighters Hall faced (Costas Phillipou and Chris Weidman) beat him. Phillipou wasn't remotely close to the fighter he is today. Weidman had just three fights, and finished Hall in three minutes.

So, can we hit the brakes on that out of control train? At least until Hall beats someone you've heard of, maybe a grappler.

GSP admits he was overweight

Deafening silence.

That's the Quebec Boxing Commission response to quotes from UFC welterweight Georges St-Pierre made this week to the Associated Press that, as best as he can recall, he weighed-in 170.4 pounds the Friday before defending his belt against Nick Diaz.

Credit the champion for saying what he did. I doubt taking the time to shed 0.4 pounds would have mattered on fight night. It's highly likely St-Pierre would have cut the weight and defeated Diaz. But anything is possible. If St-Pierre couldn't hit the contracted weight, history would have been rewritten in a significant way.

So the spotlight is thrust back on the Regie, whose reaction to this controversy has been less than ideal. When the story first broke a couple weeks ago, I pressed commission spokesperson Joyce Tremblay on whether or not St-Pierre was above 170 on the scale.

She confirmed, unequivocally, that St-Pierre did not stand on the scale above his contracted weight. Well, so much for that.

(Oh, right, the Regie doesn't count decimals. Even if their rules clearly state that they do. And even if the Regie, based on the leaked video featuring UFC vice president Michael Mersch, would have given the title contestants an hour to cut extra weight -- which seems in retrospect like a silly concession since decimals apparently didn't matter.)

And so there appears to be no reason to expect this bungled handling of a major championship fight will move past the bungling stage. While the Regie won't acknowledge its error(s), the UFC should be aware that this makes them look bad, too.

What else has the Regie messed up? How effective are their drug testing protocols? Their licensing procedures? Which of their other codified rules aren't they following?

I don't see why the UFC would want to be associated with a regulator like that.

The only reason the MMA world cared about Montreal on March 16 was the fact that a UFC championship fight was scheduled. A fight set at 170 pounds. Not 170.9 or 170.4. And therefore the promoter/sanctioning body/league/global leader in MMA should refuse to promote in Quebec again until the commission gets its act together.

Michigan House moves on amateur MMA legislation

A report from CBC News on Wednesday citing the St. Clair County medical examiner indicated Felix Pablo Elochukwu, a 35-year-old Nigerian-born amateur mixed martial artist who died at an unregulated event in Port Huron, Mich., April 6, found no evidence that his death was caused by trauma from the fight.

Elochukwu, living in Canada on a student visa, collapsed after three rounds in an Amateur Fighting Club event.

The name of the promotion is a misnomer. There's no such thing as "amateur MMA" in Michigan, because regulation isn't in place to make it so. State lawmakers had planned to fix that, and the timing of Elochukwu's death highlighted the urgent need for such a change.

On Wednesday, the Michigan State House passed Bill 4167, which would put in place regulations to govern the amateur side of the sport.

"For too long, the health and safety of amateur MMA fighters have been needlessly at risk because of the lack of state oversight," Joe Donofrio, a Michigan MMA promoter, said in a statement. "Sadly, during this time of unregulated combat, a fighter needlessly died. This bill rightly honors the memory of Felix Pablo Elochukwu by ensuring in the future that amateur fighters will be competing under the safest conditions possible."

The bill is headed to the State Senate.

What if: Aldo versus Curran?

Allow me a reprieve from the news.

What if UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo fought Bellator featherweight champion Pat Curran?

Aldo is unanimously ranked No. 1 at the weight for a reason, and Curran has quickly shot up the rankings. In ESPN.com's estimation, he sits behind only the UFC king.

Curran is big for the weight. He's a very good athlete. He seems not to make mistakes. He strikes (offensively and countering). He can wrestle. And he can pull off dazzling submissions.

Aldo, of course, is a furious combination of speed and technique. He's a special breed, rightly residing No. 4 on this site's pound-for-pound list.

Could Curran pull off the upset? Sure. His defense is good enough to keep him safe over a five-round fight, and Aldo seems to go through spurts over 25 minutes where he fades or takes time off.

But the pick has to be Aldo. For all of Curran's attributes and success against multiple styles, including agile strikers and strong wrestlers, Aldo operates like he's on a different level.

With the clock ticking towards zero regarding wrestling's place as part of the Olympic program, all hands are on deck.

"No one should be deceived into thinking it's going to be easy," Bill Scherr, chairman of the Committee to Preserve Olympic Wrestling, told ESPN.com this week.

The International Olympic Committee's executive board will meet at the end of May in St. Petersburg, Russia, to determine which sports to include in the 2020 games. A final vote is set for the IOC general assembly in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in September.

"We need to get put on that short list," Scherr said. "We're competing against seven other sports. If we don't get on the short list of three or four, we're done. So we need that. Once we're done with that we start the clock towards September."

As part of the effort, the wrestling community in the U.S. has publicly aligned itself with the most powerful entities in mixed martial arts -- a full reversal for groups, such as USA Wrestling, which receives a significant portion of its budget from the U.S. Olympic committee, that were once leery of attaching wrestling to MMA.

"Wrestling would be in the Stone Age if we didn't recognize that the UFC is mainstream sport," Scherr said. "We embraced and privately loved it for years. Publicly it's time for us to embrace mixed martial arts as a mainstream sport like the rest of the world has. I think people in wrestling are ready for that.

"I believe that wrestling people now understand the importance of doing everything they can to create publicity and awareness for their sport. Wrestling has contributed in many ways to mixed martial arts' success. And mixed mixed martial arts has already contributed, without formally trying, in so many ways to wrestling. I think if we formalize that communication, partnership and coordination both organizations can be benefited."

CPOW, a composite group that includes, among others, representatives from the International Federation of Associated Wrestling Styles (FILA) and USA Wrestling, reached out to the UFC, which was extremely receptive to the cause. Discussions between the groups, Scherr said, led UFC president Dana White to suggest Bellator MMA and its ownership group, Viacom, should join the fight as well. USA Wrestling reached out to Bellator, and the promotion's CEO, Bjorn Rebney, told ESPN.com that his group would do what it could in support of the effort.

There are murmurs Bellator MMA could host a pay-per-view this summer linked to CPOW's cause, but Rebney told ESPN.com nothing has been determined. In terms of events prior to the May hearing in Russia, expect a public relations push, perhaps mentions of the fight to preserve wrestling in the Olympic program during UFC broadcasts, as well as a set of public service announcements featuring athletes and celebrities. Over the long haul, folks in the wrestling community will educate themselves on the ways in which MMA has positioned itself as a popular television property.

"The sentiment has been positive and amazing from Dana White and the UFC, and Bellator in their desires to help us."

Scherr, a bronze medalist in freestyle at 100 kilos in 1988, said the IOC's targeting of wrestling says "more about the presentation of the sport, the organization of the sport by the International Wrestling Federation, the current modern rules as they are in Olympic wrestling, and the lack of participation in the Olympic sports movement that wrestling showed in recent times. That's what they're commenting on. They're not commenting on those millions and millions of people that love wrestling globally, and the vibrant growth the sport has seen around the earth and in the United States.

"I think this is a time period in which the International Olympic Committee has given wrestling a great gift."

So wrestling must adapt, and the community has turned its attention to mixed martial arts, which itself underwent a famous resurrection from an outlaw venture into a mainstream sports property.

"You want the Olympic program to reflect sport within the global community, and I think it should change," Scherr said. "And it will change. Wrestling wants to be part of that. So if we're not successful here in Buenos Aries, we're going to push and continue to work to improve the sport so we are eventually successful in being a part of the Olympic games."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Who gets the call? That’s difficult.

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

So that leaves four.

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

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

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

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

Guillard in no man's land

What's to become of Melvin Guillard?

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

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

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

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

Je ne parle pas Francais

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

WSOF waiting on title fights

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

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

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

Georges St-Pierre is the most dominant 170-pound mixed martial artist the sport has produced.

His supreme class was on display Saturday in Montreal during yet another shutout of an experienced fighter inside the Octagon. And so it has reached the point with St-Pierre and the welterweights that clean-slate title defenses are expected, and therefore dismissed as if they aren't incredibly impressive. Thus the division itself, long residing beside light heavyweight as the UFC's money class, is perceived to be less than interesting because no one can seem to touch the man at the top.

Well, stop all that.

Welterweight has never been better, and St-Pierre is lined up to face the most difficult challenges of his career. An emerging contingent of contenders appear capable of beating the French-Canadian fighter. And not just in the maybe-he'll-win-a-round-or-make-it-competitive sort of of way. Like actually stopping St-Pierre from doing what he wants, and maybe, just maybe, stopping him outright.

There are, in my estimation, three fighters at 170 right now that can do this: Johny Hendricks, Demian Maia, and Jake Ellenberger. And others appear to be legitimate threats. Carlos Condit is young enough and dangerous enough to pull something off if he gets another shot.

Tyron Woodley looks specially built to test GSP. You’d be a fool to sleep on Tarec Saffiedine, even if wrestling isn’t in his blood.

First up, according to UFC president Dana White, comes a deserving Hendricks, whose fight of the night brawl with Condit stacks up just fine against anything 2013 has produced thus far.


Hendricks comes off like a smaller, left-handed version of Dan Henderson. He believes he's the best. He simply has no fear. He can punch with anyone. And if a fighter is going to wrestle with St-Pierre, the physical two-time national champion wrestler from Oklahoma State would be the guy.

Hendricks is so dangerous that St-Pierre could come to the conclusion it's finally time to fight Anderson Silva. Don’t be surprised if that's how it went down, presuming Silva handles Chris Weidman in July. Both bouts provide the UFC and its fans everything they could ever want, though at this stage, crazy as it sounds, I'd rather see St-Pierre against Hendricks. To me it’s the best intra-divisional fight the UFC can make.

Ellenberger's first-round destruction of Nathan Marquardt signaled that "The Juggernaut" won't go away before all the hard work he's put in over the years pays off in a title shot. Should it come against St-Pierre, the champ will have to contend with a heavy hitter who can wrestle and scramble and do so for a high pace over a long stretch. Bottom line: No one wants to be hit by Ellenberger.

Then there's Maia, the Brazilian grappling master who made it look too easy against Fitch in February. Maia's entry into the class has been a delight. If he can own Dong Hyun Kim, Rick Story and Fitch on the canvas, doesn't he at least seem like a fighter who can hang with St-Pierre? Sure does to me. At a minimum, he's not a contender the current champion will want to spend much time on the floor with, because Maia is that good at jiu-jitsu.

Since regaining the belt in 2007, St-Pierre has lost only seven of the 43 rounds he's fought in the Octagon -- that includes duplicates based on three judges scoring a contest. He's essentially been perfect. But what's done is done. There are new threats on the horizon, a beckoning group eager for a chance.

As that gets sorted out, UFC welterweights will jockey for their spot. UFC 158, which featured 12 170-pounders, offered a revealing showcase for what's to come. A warhorse like Rick Story looked great. A kid like Jordan Mein made a statement in his UFC debut. A veteran seeking new life like Patrick Cote squeezed by, while his opponent, Bobby Voelker, looked good too. Rory MacDonald, who was originally scheduled to fight on Saturday but fell off the card with an injury, has all the tools. And on and on.

The division that produced Pat Miletich and Matt Hughes has never been better, and that seems indisputable.

Georges St-Pierre swears he isn't angered by Nick Diaz, yet his body language and promoter tell a different tale.

"Georges is being weird right now," UFC president Dana White said Thursday. "Georges isn't close to being Georges.

"There's no doubt this thing has messed with his head. I just think he's pissed. He's a in a different place than he's ever been because he's mad."

“

Georges is being weird right now. Georges isn't close to being Georges. There's no doubt this thing has messed with his head. I just think he's pissed. He's a in a different place than he's ever been because he's mad.

” -- Dana White on Nick Diaz's head games before his showdown with Georges St-Pierre.

White said he visited the 31-year-old welterweight champion in the Montreal hotel hosting UFC fighters this week and the man wasn't his polite self. St-Pierre was curt. He was "different, weird." St-Pierre's sighs and eye rolls and perturbed facial expressions at the final news conference before meeting Diaz at the Bell Centre on Saturday sure were hard to miss. At a minimum he appeared frustrated with having to listen to Diaz rant again, that "uneducated fool." At most, he’s steaming mad, like White suggested, and thusly off his game.

As UFC 158 approaches, the intrigue hangs on St-Pierre’s attitude and whether it will impact what he attempts to do to Diaz in the cage. Will the estimable champion’s distaste for Diaz lead him to try to bury the challenger from California? Or will he lift off the gas and stay conservative, a recoiling reaction to what he’s feeling inside?

Control has always been the name of St-Pierre's game. Mentally. Tactically. Physically. Emotionally. He does not go off the rails because he just doesn't. Well ... hasn’t.

"As crazy as Nick Diaz seems,” White insinuated, "there's strategy in it."

Has that strategy worked on a man with just one fluke loss in 17 fights since 2004?

Asked whether St-Pierre really is upset enough with Diaz ahead of another monster fight in his hometown to do something foolish, John Danaher, the champ’s jiu-jitsu trainer and cerebral guru, demurred.

"He is a professional and a tactician,” Danaher said. “He knows that technique wedded to physical preparation guided by strategy wins fights; not emotion."

St-Pierre, to be fair, is also a man, one -- based on recent evidence -- seemingly not above wearing frustration like his tailored pinstripe suits. Even the best of us are capable of succumbing to that reality from time to time, no?

"A man who extolls high-percentage approaches to gain competitive advantage,” Danaher responded. “Emotions are for amateurs."

How is this even possible in a hot-blooded sport like MMA? To be so detached as to remove all emotion?

St-Pierre has been tagged as some sort of automaton, so if there’s a person able to live above the fray, perhaps it’s him. Yet his reactions to Diaz, the pressure that comes with fighting in the city that raised him, the expectations built into a St-Pierre fight ... none of those things come across as emotion-free.

Which thoughts will prevail in his head as he stands across from Diaz on fight night:

Anger? Hate? Self-preservation? Control?

For all of White’s selling of St-Pierre as somehow off his French-Canadian rocker, it is a difficult notion to accept. Nothing in St-Pierre’s history, at least caged history, indicates he’ll forgo tactics for a firefight. Nothing. He’ll walk into the cage having been buoyed by the preconceptions of superiority, and for good reason. St-Pierre appears stronger, more athletic, more ring-intelligent. Diaz gets hit too much in the head and St-Pierre holds speed, power and reach advantages. Diaz can’t defend low kick and St-Pierre will really turn into them when he wants to. And Diaz won’t be able to stay off his back against the best MMA wrestler in the sport. From his back Diaz is dangerous yet wide-open, and St-Pierre has always been aware and efficient.

You see, St-Pierre should be able to dictate what he wants, which is why the potential for him losing it is so interesting. Every perceived advantage is in his corner. He’s as pro as pro can be, and remember, emotions are for amateurs.

Given everything that’s transpired in the lead-up to this title fight, it’s difficult to picture, if afforded the chance, when risk is minimized and the advantage is clear, that St-Pierre wouldn’t attempt to pound Diaz into the canvas.

Out of anger. Or not.

Just over two years since his last fight, Mark "The Hammer" Coleman officially retired from mixed martial arts this week. The 48-year-old mixed-style pioneer, a brutal force when he was at his best, will be remembered as one of the most influential heavyweights this demanding sport has produced.

Defeating Dan "The Beast" Severn in 1997 to become the first UFC heavyweight champion (MMA heavyweight championship lineage timeline), Coleman, a 1992 Olympian in Barcelona after winning an NCAA title at Ohio State University, established himself as the dominant force in UFC with a 6-0 start. Then the wheels fell off. He dropped three straight in the Octagon before taking another defeat, albeit a dubious one versus Nobuhiko Takada in Pride.

Coleman, the "Godfather of ground-and-pound," delivered the highest of highs and lowest of lows -- emblematic, one could say, of the man himself.

Immediate UFC dominance

Try as he might, Moti Horenstein, Coleman's debut opponent in 1996, had no hope of defending takedowns. Gary Goodridge lost by exhaustion. And while Don Frye, as hard a fighter as there ever was, managed to push Coleman into the 12th minute, he failed to match Coleman's speed, power, wrestling ability and unmerciful ground attack. That was UFC 10, an eight-man tournament Coleman used to introduce himself to the MMA world. Two months later, he won a four-man bracket at UFC 11, beating little known Julian Sanchez and well regarded Brian Johnston in a combined 185 seconds. That success led him to a title unification of sorts with Severn, then the reigning UFC Superfight champ, which he won. He undoubtedly inspired wrestlers to join up, a trend that significantly benefited MMA over the years.

Ground and pound master

There wasn't anyone worse to have on top of you in a fight than Coleman, especially when rules were liberal and he showed up in shape. Takedown to control to punches and headbutts. He ushered in this way of fighting at a time when grappling in the UFC meant the jiu-jitsu man held an advantage.

Rule changes

Pressure from politicians had as much to do with the tightening of UFC rules as anything else, and Coleman's pounding head trauma was a perfect example of that. The visage of him slamming his head into another man's while on top of him was gruesome. But so, so effective. After the UFC prohibited headbutts in Oct. 1997, Coleman seemed to lose steam. He was limited in terms of skill and relied on simply overwhelming the man underneath him. That was bound to catch up with Coleman at some point, and the rules adjustments hastened that reality.

Hammer House

Coleman became the frontman for a group of wrestlers turned fighters based out of Columbus, Ohio. They were never known for their skill, but man could they punish people. In fact, that's what training consisted of. Just beating the snot out of the other guy. Coleman's success propelled the team, which also included eventual UFC heavyweight champion Kevin Randleman.

Takada episode

After struggling through four straight losses, Coleman was matched with well known Japanese pro wrestler Nobuhiko Takada, Pride's first star. There's no way Takada should have defeated Coleman, even in this topsy turvy sport, but he did, and it immediately drew questions. Coleman has said he took the fight because he needed to support his family and was guaranteed another contest. He's never come out and admitted the bout was in fact a work, but he's never denied it either.

Pride Grand Prix 2000

Following the Takada mess, Coleman's record stood at 6-4, leaving him desperate for a turnaround. Over the next year and a half, he did exactly that, reeling off six straight wins, four of which leading to his resurrection as the Pride Grand Prix 2000 champion. The tournament was epic, and Coleman, largely dismissed heading into the 16-man competition, memorably bounced off the Pride ring ropes after stopping Igor Vovchanchyn to win it all on May 1, 2000.

The Smashing Machine

Several years after the Pride GP 2000, HBO aired "The Smashing Machine," a documentary that tracked Coleman and his friend Mark Kerr during their participation in the tournament. Kerr's story of drug addiction stole the director's focus. Coleman was grounded and professional by comparison, almost serving as a hero at the end. It remains one of the best pieces of film ever done about MMA.

Allan Goes destruction

Serving as a reminder of just how devastating he could be with less restrictive tools at his disposal, Coleman engineered one of MMA's scariest results when he repeatedly kneed Allan Goes in the head at Pride 13. This was the event the Japanese promotion opened up such tactics, including stomps and soccer kicks. Goes was forced to the hospital with bleeding on his brain, and Coleman seemed poised to dominate yet again. But a new breed had arrived, and his momentum was halted by Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira in his next fight.

Shogun win, Chute Boxe brawl

Fresh off one of the best stretches any mixed martial artist has ever put together, Mauricio "Shogun" Rua, the 2005 fighter of the year, was matched with Coleman. The contest ended in 49 seconds after Coleman drove Rua to the floor and the Brazilian suffered a broken arm. Coleman, however, continued to attack Rua, apparently unaware of what happened, and the Chute Boxe camp, including Wanderlei Silva, stormed the ring. It was wild. Silva was rabid. Phil Baroni, a member of Coleman's corner, responded in kind. It even spilled into the locker room area, with "The Axe Murder" declaring "war" on anyone associated with Hammer House.

Coleman consoles daughters after losing to Fedor

Of all the images Coleman produced over his career, none was more poignant than the sight of his two young daughters sobbing in the ring after their father was armbarred by Fedor Emelianenko. Afterwards the loss he spoke over a house microphone at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas, speaking of his love for his daughters. They stepped through the ropes, leading to incredible image of "The Hammer," his left eye horribly swollen, reaching out to his girls who seemed utterly terrified. Pride folded and Coleman returned to the UFC, where he lost a rematch to "Shogun," beat Stephan Bonnar at UFC 100, and fell to Couture.

The predominant story line heading into UFC's card this weekend has focused on Wanderlei Silva's Nippon homecoming. After all, the legendary Brazilian spent his best years mauling stud light heavyweights and hapless punching bags alike inside the Pride ring. Since he hasn't been back for fights since 2006, this is a fine angle to take so long as it's acknowledged that Silva, 36, is hardly the Axe Murderer he used to be.

In some ways Silva hasn't changed much from the man who ripped out hearts and shattered faces. This was Silva as Pride's first light heavyweight champion. This is the guy that predicts violent knockouts with a matter-of-factness. So, in case you weren't aware, he said he’ll finish American Brian Stann in the third round of their main event at Saitama Super Arena.

"I'm so proud to fight back here," Silva said Wednesday during a press conference promoting the Fuel TV card from Tokyo. "That stadium, Saitama, has given me some of the best moments in my career."

“

He's forgotten more about MMA than I'll ever know. He's done more for the sport in any two years than I've done in my career.

” -- Brian Stann on Wanderlei Silva's career.

After going 27-3-1 from Nov. 1996 through Oct., 2004, Silva came back to the pack in a big way. He steps into the cage with Stann sporting a 32-12-1 record. If nothing else, and it's almost come down to that, the Brazilian icon remains, in bursts, fun to watch. Silva's last two contests earned money bonuses from the UFC for their frantic action.

"He's forgotten more about MMA than I'll ever know," Stann, 32, said of Silva. "He's done more for the sport in any two years than I've done in my career."

Stann and Silva fight Saturday at 205 pounds, the Brazilian's fighting weight during his best years as a pro. He hasn't campaigned there since Quinton Jackson knocked him out in the Octagon at the end of 2008. Silva admitted having a difficult time making 185, and catch-weight fights are in short supply in the UFC, so The Axe Murderer has bulked up, again, and he should be as wild as he can be against the 32-year-old decorated U.S. Marine.

"The popularity of my opponent, Wanderlei Silva, is very well deserved," said Stann (12-5). "I myself, when I first thought about coming into this sport, my favorite fighter was Wanderlei Silva. I would watch his fights in Pride and I would just marvel at the tenacity that he brought inside of the ring and how he fought. Not only that, but the way he treated other people and the way he conducted himself, I've always admired all of those qualities in him."

Like Stann, heavyweight Stefan Struve, who fights another Japanese mainstay, Mark Hunt, spoke in reverential terms.There’s no shortage of fighters and fans willing to speak similarly about Silva, remarkably a day away from the 49th bout of his career.

Make no mistake, Silva is not the fighter he once was. There was a time when pressure and pace were Silva’s closest allies. One way or another he was going to overwhelm the man opposite him. Silva was so dominant his coach at the time, Chute Boxe maestro Rudimar Fedrigo, famously promised Silva would remain unbeaten for 10 years and retain the Pride title the entire time. Silva lasted about half of that. Technically he held onto the title for six years, though he lost non-title bouts prior to getting knocked out by Dan Henderson in 2007 and was clearly slipping. That crystalized when he entered the Octagon.

Since returning to the UFC for the first time since losing to Tito Ortiz in 2000, Silva is 3-5 in the Octagon. He’s only 1-5 against American fighters, though, and they don’t get much more American than Stann, who agreed to move up 20 pounds to fight Silva at 205.

“I would watch his fights in Pride and I would just marvel at the tenacity that he brought inside of the ring and how he fought,” Stann said of Silva. “Not only that, but the way he treated other people and the way he conducted himself, I've always admired all of those qualities in him."

That was when Silva burned like a flare. Now he may very well just be burned out. There won’t be any conjecture about that, unfortunately. Silva has all the markings of a fighter that won’t know when it’s time to walk away. He loves the show, like he always has. He’s not a UFC lifer, so don’t expect much lobbying from the promotion to leave fighting behind. Or a job to walk into when it’s all done.

There was so much more to Silva than what we’ve seen from him the past few years, which is why Stann and Struve and others regard The Axe Murderer the way they do.

Speaking about his return to Japan, Silva confirmed that fighting there again means a great deal to him. Indeed. Memories run deep.

I'm not going to defend Matt Riddle, who seems intent on messing up a good thing after being popped a second time for pot in three fights.

The massive welterweight will likely lose another hard-earned win to marijuana, meaning rather than riding a four-fight win streak and a record of 9-3 into the upper echelon of the division, the 27-year-old is 7-3 (2 NC) and a free agent after having his contract terminated by the UFC.

We can argue all day whether or not testing for weed and classifying it a performance enhancer (or a Schedule 1 drug alongside the likes of heroin) makes sense. But forget that for now. Bottom line is Riddle, a self-described medical marijuana user who hasn't fought outside the Octagon as a pro, couldn't stay clean based on UFC's testing in London.

As a result, he fell prey to bad timing (with all of these cuts) and UFC's inconsistency in matters such as these. The timing issue, well, that's life. Arbitrary lines in the sand from UFC? Well, I guess that's life, too. But at least that's something that can be improved upon, and based on a statement the promotion put out Wednesday, it may have already.

"The UFC organization is exercising its right to terminate Riddle for breach of his obligations under his Promotional Agreement as well as the UFC Fighter Conduct Policy," according to a statement published on the UFC web site. "The UFC organization has a strict, consistent policy against the use of any illegal and/or performance-enhancing drugs, stimulants or masking agents."

I have long advocated for something similar when it comes to steroid users in the Octagon. Hey, even if a cut is sure to happen after two steroid-related episodes, it would send an urgently needed message: Use this stuff anywhere but here. Instead, UFC has selected who to stick by and who to dump, which basically makes it impossible for fighters to draw any conclusions.

Maybe that day is done. Maybe the takeaway from Zuffa's response to Riddle is that screw-ups, even screw-ups that might win -- dare I say screw-ups who are also great fighters -- don't have much room to operate in the UFC right now.

We'll see how the next one is handled. But heads up to Dave Herman (twice popped for pot offenses in the UFC), Nick Diaz (pot and press conferences), Jon Jones (the DWI), Chris Leben (steroids and drugs and DUIs), Jeremy Stephens (alleged to have participated in the beating of a man in a parking lot) and the rest.

Maybe your time has come.

Injury bug attacks flyweights, too

If you were under the impression that flyweights were immune to the injury bug, it's best to just forget that.

Demetrious Johnson won't fight John Moraga at The Ultimate Fighter 17 Finale after it was learned the UFC 125-pound champ, Johnson, had been injured. With no reason to keep Moraga on the card, UFC churned out an interesting bantamweight contest that should pique some interest.

Urijah Faber, fresh off an impressive win over Ivan Menjivar, takes on his old pal Scott Jorgensen in the new main event on April 13 in Las Vegas.

"[Two] buds punching each other!" chimed in Faber on Twitter.

"Crazy, I wouldn't be fighting if he [hadn't] talked me into [it] in college!" tweeted Jorgensen.

With the recent roster trimming, the ability for friends and training partners to avoid fighting one another is likely to dwindle. It will be interesting to see how things play out if guys like Faber and Jorgensen aren't willing to step in the cage. More will be, but not all. Those that refuse could pay a heavy price.

As for the fight, give me Faber, but it won't be easy. Also, beating Jorgensen wouldn't be enough, I don't think, for fans to demand "The California Kid" receives yet another title shot. Though it would move him down that path.

Shamhalaev deserving of Bellator title shot

Injuries, obviously, aren't restricted to the UFC. On Tuesday, Bellator lost its next featherweight title fight when it was revealed Daniel Straus injured a hand while training to fight 145-pound champion Pat Curran.

The tournament format that delivered Straus also produced Shahbulat Shamhalaev after the 29-year-old Russian knocked out Rad Martinez in the second round last Thursday. Shamhalaev appears to be a legit contender to Curran's title and I'm glad Bellator slotted him into the fight, which they did Wednesday.

Shamhalaev wrapped an especially grueling tournament thanks to two postponements. There was some concern he wouldn't have time to put in a proper camp, which he obviously deserves after bowling through last season's 145 field. But the heavy-handed featherweight agreed to take the bout. That's good news because another option for Bellator was a rematch between Curran and Patricio "Pitbull" Freire. While their five-round fight on Jan. 17 was good, it wasn't memorable enough for fans to clamor for an immediate rematch. Not from what I've seen, anyhow.

Curran-Shamhalaev should make for a high-paced, well-contested title contest, which despite Curran's ability, could result in another Russian staking his turf in Bellator. I wouldn't put it past Shamhalaev as featherweight ranks among Bellator's best weight classes.

If there's a debate to be had about that, the light heavyweight division would not find many supporters. Thursday at the Santa Ana Star Center in Rio Rancho, New Mexico, Christian M'Pumbu defends his light heavyweight belt against Atilla Vegh.

More interesting, perhaps, is the next leg of the 155-pound tournament, which includes top prospect Will Brooks. Saad Awad will try to rip his head off. Also, David Rickels appears to have gained an advantage on the field by fighting alternate Jason Fischer, whom "The Caveman" out-pointed in November.

Brooks is the guy to beat, especially after Alexander Sarnavskiy was injured.

I didn’t see much from Lyoto Machida on Saturday that makes me think he’ll fair better a second time around against Jon Jones. Presuming Jones beats Chael Sonnen in April,
that fight is up next at 205, UFC president Dana White said following Saturday’s card.

Earlier this week “The Dragon” told me that even after Jones strangled him unconscious in Dec. 2011, he’s "not convinced.” He spoke of wanting a rematch, which is rare for him since he hardly ever speaks of wanting anything.

"I'm living every moment as it comes," he said. "I enjoyed being champion but that it's gone. It's like this conversation. It will be gone in 20 minutes. It's behind, but could happen again."

Well, as of Feb. 23, Jones-Machida 2 is on.

"He's the No. 1 contender,” White told ESPN's MMA Live Extra. “Dan was the No. 1 contender. Machida beat him. That makes Machida No. 1."

However if people aren’t fired up what are the chances Zuffa finds a way to hold off? What happens if Alexander Gustafsson blows the doors off Gegard Mousasi? Or if it goes the other way? I bet both fighters would interest fans more than seeing Machida challenge Jones right now. So too Glover Teixeira, a teammate of Machida’s at Blackhouse, if he tops Ryan Bader in May.

Even Machida sounded less than sure of where he stood afterwards.

Said the 34-year-old Brazilian: "I thought I won the fight because I frustrated him and kept the fight where I wanted it."

Machida had an opportunity to assert himself over Dan Henderson and undoubtedly claim the shot. Instead, his effort was significantly less than definitive. Machida set out to stay away from Henderson's right hand and keep the contest standing. There was plenty of feinting, some nice movement to diffuse Henderson’s pressure, and the occasional punch and kick combinations punches. But nothing in the neighborhood of damage. Nothing that troubled Henderson, who wasn’t his sharpest either.

Nothing that made me think Machida was closer to having the right stuff to beat Jones.

Then again, to be fair, who does?

That adds to the point. We’ve seen Machida try already. He actually gave Jones a fight for the first five minutes, moving well and landing punches. Then Jones found that second round choke and Machida fell on his face. Considering that, Machida deserves credit for finding the courage to remain unconvinced.