The recently announced "UFC 118: Edgar vs. Penn II" event in Boston airs on pay-per-view, but the August event also will get a one-hour "UFC Prelims" special on Spike TV.

A source close to the event today told MMAjunkie.com that two preliminary-card fights will air prior to the night's PPV airing.

Officials, though, have not decided which fights will air as part of the Aug. 28 special.

When an arena clears at the end of a Mixed Martial Arts event it’s often assumed the men (and/or women) whose blood and sweat still stain the canvas have finished fighting as it relates to that particular show. They typically pack up their gear, take care of on-site media obligations, and head to a hotel room to either lick their wounds or get dressed for an after-party where an entirely different sort of tongue-wagging may eventually come into play. Regardless of extra-curricular choices or the evening’s earlier result, those who entertain in the ring exit the venue with the closure of knowing they can move forward in life and onto the next opponent; that the work they’ve done will be rewarded with adulation from supporters, the personal satisfaction brought on by competition, and of course some level of financial gain.

Or so it’s assumed.

On May 15th, 2010 a show promoted by an organization known as the British Association of Mixed Martial Arts took place in Birmingham, England. The card featured a number of recognizable names, including those with Octagon experience on their resume like Seth Petruzelli, Matt Horwich, and War Machine. Petruzelli and the man once known as John Koppenhaver fared better in result than Horwich but all three spent weeks preparing in the gym with the mutual understanding BAMMA 3 would be like any other event.

On June 8th, 2010 all three men are still awaiting payment for the commitment each fulfilled. Apparently, BP isn’t the only dealer of dismay from across the pond with an element of slime involved. Money depended on for training costs, mortgages, general bills, food, family, and any other imaginable want or need remains a promise unkept, and thoughts originally turned towards a future competitor now look at an opponent possibly looming in a ring far different from any used in combat sports – a court of law.

News of the situation first came to light a week ago when Petruzelli and War Machine took to different realms of cyberspace to plead their cases. Said Petruzelli on popular MMA forum The Underground, “This is B.S! We feed our families with this money.” Meanwhile, the Ultimate Fighter Season 6 alumnus went the route of Twitter and addressed the topic in standard form, writing “Sure would be nice if BAMMA decided to FINALLY f*cking PAY US! Or maybe that’s too much to ask? WTF!? Really getting PISSED now! Contract said 72 hours…lol That’s 3 days right? Just wondering because it’s been 3 WEEKS!” He even went as far as to send a message to BAMMA’s account questioning whether or not they were going to pay or if the promotion felt they didn’t deserve their money.

In Horwich’s case, the woman he married a day after an IFL title defense (Kelly) spoke up to elaborate on the situation. “The promoter…had the balls to tell me he didn’t know we needed to be paid so urgently. People think fighters are rich and famous…they are normal people that need their money to eat too. We’re starving over here peoplel!!!!!” She also, understandably angry about things, made it clear she was thankful she and her husband hadn’t purchased a new house as they’d been considering, or else “WE WOULDN’T HAVE BEEN ABLE TO (HAVE) PAID THE GOD DAMN RENT!!!!!”

Fast-forward to this past Wednesday when Petruzelli stated he’d received half of his expected winnings with the remainder promised for payment later in the day while management for War Machine and Horwich, by proxy of his wife, claimed neither camp had received a dime of their purses. Hours later BAMMA apparently made good on their word to Petruzelli and War Machine, yet Horwich was left in the cold. As of Saturday, June 12th – nearly a month after the actual event – the same remains true. (UPDATE: Horwich was FINALLY paid today, a month to the day after the card’s completion.)

Unfortunately, circumstances like the above are not as uncommon as fans (and fighters) might hope nor are they limited to small shows. Far too often the men and women who sacrifice their bodies for our entertainment are victims in an industry where expectations often exceed ticket-sales and PPV buys. Quinton Jackson, among others, has spoken in the past about PRIDE shorting him and delaying payment during the promotion’s heyday. DREAM has been associated with with similar activities, most notably with current Strikeforce welterweight champ Nick Diaz after he defeated Katsuya Inoue at DREAM 3 in May 2008. The same was essentially true in the case of the mid-card fighters set to square off at Affliction III before Tom Atencio folded up shop ten days out from the event. In reality, considering the rarity of a promoter not being associated on some level with questionable financial practices, it’s really no wonder the UFC is the cream of MMA’s crop.

It’s common knowledge we live in a money-driven society where characters ranging from legitimate to downright shady will attempt to capitalize on a trend in hopes of striking it rich. As such, we have to accept the business of Mixed Martial Arts is no different, and the practice of exploiting others in hopes of turning a profit is anything but a newly invented concept. However, that’s not to say people should stand idle while athletes we respect or are personally invested in as fans pay the price after already sacrificing so much for our mere enjoyment. We need to stop focusing so much on the figures and turn our attention to whether or not a contractual agreement was actually fulfilled. When a promotion, like BAMMA, shafts a fighter you need to let your opinion be known both in written/verbal form as well as when it comes to buying future shows/tickets. Likewise, when fighters are paid on time you need to support those companies for living up to their word. Mixed Martial Artists fight for us. Now it’s our turn to fight for them.

UFC 115 will be the next UFC event to feature the Spike TV one hour special “UFC Prelims” show and will feature a couple of lightweight tilts from the Vancouver event.

Tyson Griffin (14-2) will face Evan Dunham (10-0), while Mac Danzig (19-7-1) will step into the octagon against Matt Wiman (11-5) during the one hour special.

UFC 115 will take place on June 12 at GM Place in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and will mark the promotions first show in that city. The “UFC Prelims” show will air on Spike TV at 9 p.m. EST (6 p.m. PST).

No official announcement has been made by Spike TV but official word is expected next week.

The match between Griffin and Dunham had been scheduled for the PPV card but was swapped out for a heavyweight match featuring Ben Rothwell (30-7) vs. Gilbert Yvel (36-14-1) instead. This might be an attempt by the UFC to feature more energetic and entertaining fights just before the main ppv to draw in more buyers. The reasoning is sound as the number of PPV buys from the recent ‘Aldo vs. Faber’ event certainly rose after fans witnessed the Leonard Garcia vs. Chan Sung Jung fight.

The UFC and Spike TV have contracted 10 “UFC Prelims” specials for 2010. Six shows have aired since the first show at UFC 103, drawing from 1.2 million viewers (UFC 111) to 1.7 million viewers (UFC 109).

The latest UFC 115 card now includes:

Main Card

- Chuck Liddell vs. Rich Franklin
- Patrick Barry vs. Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic
- Martin Kampmann vs. Paulo Thiago
- Ben Rothwell vs. Gilbert Yvel
- Carlos Condit vs. Rory MacDonald

Preliminary Card (Spike TV)

- Evan Dunham vs. Tyson Griffin
- Mac Danzig vs. Matt Wiman

Preliminary Card (un-aired)

- David Loiseau vs. Mario Miranda
- Peter Sobotta vs. James Wilks
- Ricardo Funch vs. Claude Patrick
- Jesse Lennox vs. Mike Pyle

Although World Extreme Cagefighting General Manager Reed Harris is waiting for the final numbers to come (and plans to keep those numbers private), the WEC's pay-per-view debut by all accounts exceeded expectations.

"I don't have the official numbers ... and it could take a couple months," Harris today told MMAjunkie.com. "We had a number internally we were [aiming] for, and we far exceeded that according to the early estimates."

With the success of those PPV "buys" - which industry insiders have pegged at up to 150,000 to 200,000 - Harris said the WEC could host another PPV show by year's end. And soon, he said, he'd like to see the organization hosting three major PPV events per year.

In an effort to write about something other than Kanye Miller and the “mayhem” he caused on Saturday night that has been poured over in every blog, vlog, website, Facebook, Twitter, and Foursquare check-in, I thought I would focus on the MMA palette cleanser of the week WEC 48.

Dana White’s newest challenge, take a free-model of extremely talented fighters on Versus and move it to PPV and charge people for the same fighters in some of the same fights.

Arguably the Forrest Griffin vs. Stephan Bonnar moment that established the UFC in the eyes of the main stream would come at WEC 38 when Urijah Faber took on Jens Pulver and then when Urijah lost the title to Mike Brown. Cards without Faber on them tends to hover around 500,000 viewers but put him on the card and you spike to near 1 million, and in a case like the Pulver fight, you get well over that.

But taking a free product and charging for it, isn’t always a sure thing. Lucky for Dana White and the WEC that not only to they have one of the best line-ups of the year but they have the weirdest 14 days in MMA history to wipe away for the benefit of the fans.

After the Anderson Silva Dancing with the Stars tryout in Abu-Dhabi and the Diaz brothers excellent impersonation of Triple H and Shawn Michaels, DX style on CBS, I think you could safely say we are ready for Faber vs. Aldo and a rematch between Donald Cerrone and Ben Henderson.

With WEC heading to PPV this weekend there is really only one question looming, is $44 too much for the first time?

Just in the last 30 days there have been two UFC events north of $50 and then add another $44 to check this card out I am just not sure the causal fan is willing to pay $200 a month in MMA Pay Per Views. Dana White knows this, so the question becomes what is a win?

The first UFC pulled in around 85,000 PPV buys and UFC 111 and 112 did 770,000 and 440,000 respectively, what does WEC need to do in order to be a win for the company and help push the monetary envelope in order to pay the fighters more as Dana has promised in more than a couple interviews this week?

While I think the WEC works much better as a free model on Versus, this certainly could help elevate the fighters to a wider audience. Common estimates say anything better than 100,000 PPV buys would be a victory and less than 50,000 a failure I am thinking 70,000 is going to end up being the number this weekend after the dust settles.

For me the price point is too high, the hardcore fan knows where to get these fights for free and the causal fan probably doesn’t care about WEC yet. However, there is no doubt that this card is stacked, it needed to be and that the fights are going to be great, because they are.

I tout the magic of the WEC to just about anyone I meet with an interest in MMA and some people who have no interest because I think they are some of the best fights in the business. I just think the timing is awful and the price is too high for WEC to be a runaway success despite the “lightning in a bottle” moment of being the first good thing out of a major MMA company in the month of April.

Are you gonna buy this weekend?

The buy rate for “UFC 111: St. Pierre vs. Hardy” did approx. 770,000 PPV buys and did very well in Canada.

A much anticipated fight for the UFC welterweight title had champion Georges St. Pierre defend his title against British striker Dan Hardy. The interest in seeing one of the best mma fighters would have definitely pushed the PPV numbers and it should be no surprise that the numbers in Canada were high. GSP has been named athlete of the year, he’s signed a couple of big sponsorship deals with Underarmour and Gatorade. The French Canadian has so many fans throughout the world, that any card he’ll fight on will always draw big numbers.

Updated UFC 111 numbers look to be coming in at around 770,000 buys. With Georges St. Pierre as the headliner, the numbers were strongest in Canada, as the top per capita markets were Halifax, Winnipeg, Edmonton, Calgary, Vancouver, Toronto, Ottawa. Montreal, Hamilton, Saskatoon, St. John’s, Windsor, Kingston, Burlington (Ont), Regina and Victoria, all Canadian markets. The top U.S. markets were Honolulu, Las Vegas, Sacramento, Seattle, Newark and Denver.

As a contrast, the biggest markets for WrestleMania the next day per capita were Guadalajara, Monterrey (Mexico, not California), Mexico City, Phoenix, Delhi, India, Lima, Peru, Marseille, France, Toronto, New York and Santiago, Chile. We still don’t have Mania numbers, but it looks like UFC beat them in the U.S., which is one that I figured would be close, and that’s still not a definite, just trending patterns show UFC 111 well ahead of Mania in the U.S.

In Canada, UFC killed.

But WrestleMania was far stronger internationally. Montreal is usually not a strong UFC PPV market. It’s a strong live event market, but that’s because a strong percentage of those at a Montreal show actually come from Ontario. It shows St. Pierre’s local fame has grown by a big margin in the past year.

A couple of notes on the numbers courtesy of MixedMartialArts.com.

Note: The PPV estimates are incomplete and still subject to change. We’ve posted the reports to give you an idea of the events progress with the cable companies.

Note II: Interesting that Seattle was one of the top markets, again, for the UFC. White has openly said he’d like to take a show there in the next 12 months and I’d expect that to come sooner, rather than later, if these market reports continue to produce such good results in that market.

HT: f4wonline.com via mixedmartialarts.com.

Are you excited or indifferent towards the UFC’s signing of James Toney? How do you think the UFC weighs the relationship between entertainment and sport? Has Miguel Torres lost his mojo? Will Strikeforce be looking for a new network to call home after their April event?

Keyboard warrrrriors….come out to plaaaay-yay!

Thank you for stopping by to check out another edition of “Grappling with Issues”, a weekly smorgasbord of insight-and-opinion featuring myself and fellow 5 Ouncer Adam Tool. As always, we will be offering our thoughts on six subjects related to MMA. However, just because we staffers get the fancy set-up, please don’t feel precluded from dishing out your own thoughts on each matter in the comments section at the bottom of the column…

Buy/Sell – After being finished in consecutive fights, Miguel Torres has officially lost his mystique.

Adam Tool: Buy. He’s still got the necessary ability to be a major player in the bantamweight division, but it was only a matter of time before someone recognized the holes in his game (namely his lack of takedown defense) and exploited them. These losses should motivate him to get better, and I think it’s safe to say that he’ll still be a challenge for any fighter that faces him.

I think this second loss only serves to open peoples’ eyes to the reality of the lighter weight classes; that is that they’re still sorting out who the top guys are. While the heavier weight classes have been competitive for many years with plenty of fighters making waves, the feather & bantamweight classes are only now really starting to get deep with talent. It may still be a few more years until we see a lower weight fighter achieve Anderson Silva-like levels of dominance in their division, but it will certainly be exciting to watch them get to that point.

Conlan: I agree with Tool, especially in regards to his latter sentiment regarding the notion that lighter weights are still behind their heavier counterparts in terms of overall development and the clear cut establishment of divisional dynamos. Other than overseas or on less-prestigious shows, there aren’t a lot of outlets for smaller fighters to make names for themselves beyond WEC. I think people in the media and fans (myself included) were a little overzealous in anointing Miguel Torres as the best out there simply based on his overall record without actually having a full understanding of his strengths and weaknesses. His mystique has been lost along with our innocence/ignorance due to the continued development of his peers and the increased exposure they’re now receiving. That’s not necessarily a bad thing either. It’s simply an indicator Mixed Martial Arts is continuing to evolve as a whole.

In regards to their WEC 47 performances, were you more impressed by Joseph Benavidez or Dominick Cruz?

Tool: I’ll go with Benavidez. I don’t want to take too much away from Cruz’s dominant performance against Brian Bowles, but we can’t ignore the fact that Bowles broke his right hand at the start of the fight and was visibly not the same afterwards. Personally I’m all for seeing Cruz vs. Bowles II down the road after Brian has had a chance to heal up and get back to 100%.

I didn’t give Benavidez much of a chance against Torres when the fight was made. I thought that Torres was too aggressive and the reach advantage would be too difficult for Benavidez to work around. Benavidez worked a solid gamelan, and was able to move inside quickly and fluster the former champion. The massive gash on Torres’ forehead seemed like it may lead to a doctor’s stoppage, but credit to Benavidez for locking up the choke and becoming the first man to submit Miguel.

Conlan: I’m also with Tool on this one, as I was extremely impressed by the rising star’s ability to overcome any nerves he may have been feeling before what was clearly the biggest fight of his career and ultimately get the better of Torres in such a dominant fashion. Benavidez was not just facing a former WEC Bantamweight Champion with a wealth of experience and polished arsenal of attacks but also one who was coming off the first knockout loss of his career. Going into the bout I thought Benavidez was simply a wrestler with a limitless amount of energy and a raw set of skills. To have handled the involved pressure, especially at his age, is telling of his future in the sport and, in my eyes, finally established him as more than simply being Urijah Faber’s protégé.

Using percentages, how would you assess the UFC’s approach to the relationship between entertainment vs. sport when delivering their product?

Tool: At the moment I’d put it around 70% sport and 30% entertainment. The various weight classes within the company are all still dominated by the top athletes in the sport, and the majority of their fight cards are filled with up-and-coming fighters looking to carve out their spot in their division. There are a few “freak show” fighters on the roster (one of which we’ll be taking more about in a future topic), but there’s still no questioning the UFC as the highest level of competition in the sport.

Conlan: I’d like to say there is a far greater focus on athleticism, ability, and performance in the ring than look, gift of gab, and even the slightest hint of former fame when it comes to the current state of the UFC, but James Toney’s signing is yet another reminder that Zuffa’s goal is to turn a profit even if MMA’s soul is sold in the process. Like Kimbo Slice, Toney was inked to entice the mainstream media into coverage and draw less-knowledgeable fans into spending cash. There are fighters who are far more deserving of a place in the UFC’s spotlight than either man based on actual accomplishment in the sport, yet lack the 15-minutes of fame each obtained prior to debuting in the Octagon and are thus relegated to relative anonymity.

I understand the point of running a business is to make money and can’t fault the UFC in that regard. Saying they’re good at what they do is a vast understatement. They are the Kleenex of Mixed Martial Arts. However, in regards to how they approach sport vs. entertainment I think the relationship is closer than Tool gave them credit for. You’re talking about a company that thrust Brock Lesnar into a title fight after going 2-1 as a professional Mixed Martial Artist and bypassed countless contenders over the past few years in favor of those who might potentially sell more PPV buys. 60/40 at best.

Without putting him in a rematch, who would you like to see Dominick Cruz make his first title defense against?

Conlan: Though Scott Jorgensen is probably the obvious choice given his three-fight winning streak in WEC, I also think Antonio Banuelos and Brad Pickett are deserving of some consideration. Jorgensen’s grappling and submissions certainly make for a legitimate threat to Cruz if things hit the mat, and his internal motor runs well enough to ease any concerns related to the twenty-five minute structure of a title bout, but Banuelos and Pickett have quite a bit more experience in the ring and a wealth of skills to utilize against the champ. Each has approximately twice as many professional wins as Jorgensen, yet the same number of losses, and both have found comparable success to Jorgensen in WEC.

If forced to pick one of the three options I’d go with Pickett based on him having finished fifteen of the eighteen opponents he’s beaten, not to mention his record shows the 18-4 Brit is as likely to knock someone out as submit them. He’s the most well rounded athlete in the bunch, trains with a great camp (American Top Team), and has won his last eight fights. The match-up would also be an easy sell to fans given the USA vs. UK angle involved and might even lead to an increase in WEC support across the pond due to the Londoner’s involvement. Call it the Michael Bisping effect if you will.

Tool: I have to agree with Brendhan in that Jorgensen is the most obvious choice, but it’s also worth noting that Jorgensen does have two losses in his WEC career. The two men that beat him, Antonio Banuelos and Damacio Page, are scheduled to meet one another at WEC 48 and I see no reason why the winner of that fight couldn’t be slotted in as the next #1 contender.

Pickett is also a good choice, although I do think he needs at least one more win over a solid opponent to be a legitimate contender. I say match up Pickett and Jorgensen and the winner of that fight would be a great choice to step up against Cruz.

On a scale of 1-10 (with 10 being the highest) how excited are you for James Toney’s UFC/MMA debut?

Conlan: I’m going with “4”, as it’s one point higher than how I rated my interest in Herschel Walker’s debut. In terms of seeing an over-the-hill athlete test the waters of Mixed Martial Arts I could care less, and similar to why I gave Walker a three, I’m definitely interested in the possibility of a message being sent through the mainstream media that MMA is a serious sport requiring whole-hearted dedication to a variety of combat disciplines. However, Toney’s boxing background and knockout power are well-documented, and as such he deserves a bit more attention than a former football player lest we forget the lesson we learned alongside two-time UFC Heavyweight Champion Tim Sylvia nine seconds into his 2009 fight with Ray Mercer.

Tool: I’ll say 2, and that’s being generous. Truth be told I didn’t even really know who James Toney was before he started his campaign to get in the UFC, as I’ve never really been a fan of boxing. He’s old as hell and has no MMA experience, which makes me wonder who the UFC can put him up against in a legally sanctioned fight. We all know he could easily knock out just about anyone he faces but we also know that he’ll be in way over his head if/when the fight goes to the ground. To me this whole thing seems to be a big step backwards in the evolution of the sport. The idea of taking a pro boxer and putting him in against a wrestler or jiu-jitsu expert just brings back memories of those single-digit UFC events that spawned the whole “human cockfighting” moniker more than a decade ago.

True/False – The next Strikeforce event will be their last for CBS.

Conlan: False, and if it is then the fault lies within the broadcaster more so than the promoter or sport. Strikeforce is offering an opportunity for fans to see top ranked fighters compete against each other on free television. There is little else they can do without more control over the station broadcasting the event. CBS, on the other hand, has dropped the ball thus far in terms of building up viewers’ interest in the show or Mixed Martial Arts in general. The UFC wasn’t an overnight sensation. Tens of millions of dollars were invested before the company ever turned a significant profit or became a ratings juggernaut. If CBS was expecting the same to happen to them without doing the legwork there is an executive or two who needs a stern reprimand if not a pink-slip. You can’t grab onto a speeding money-train without expecting your arms to get ripped off. You need to build up some momentum of your own beforehand, and that takes time.

To drum up the necessary casual interest, why not have Strikeforce fighters get some face time on CBS Late Night? Why not have them sit in the booth for a few minutes during a college basketball game or even during halftime programming? Why not create shows similar to UFC’s “Countdown” to help build interest in the bouts? You have an Olympic wrestler with a long list of MMA accomplishments (Henderson), a vegetarian who is also a single father (Shields), an outspoken All-American (Lawal), a humble pound-for-pound monster (Mousasi), a colorful, controversial jiujitsu wizard making his American debut (Aoki), and longtime Strikeforce staple coming off the biggest win in his career (Melendez). There are three title-fights on the card featuring fighters with a combined record of 123-19-2. If CBS can’t sell that to the public while the UFC/Spike are pulling better numbers with re-runs and guys who haven’t had a tenth of that success then they don’t deserve the right to show MMA.

Tool: True, although I suppose I’m a bit of a pessimist on this subject. Brendhan’s correct in his assessment of CBS’ role in the success of their live MMA events, but seeing as how they hold all the cards to determine whether or not the sport continues on their network I’m not keeping my hopes up. The simple fact of the matter is that CBS is one arm of a very large corporation, and the bottom line for them comes down to ratings. MMA events do outstanding numbers in terms of the most sought-after demographics, but on the whole the ratings for these events pale in comparison to other major sporting events. The upcoming Strikeforce card is absolutely stacked from a hardcore fan’s perspective but there’s little there to draw in that casual audience that they need so badly. When the biggest name on your card is Dan Henderson, that’s a problem. I’d love to see CBS put some promotional power behind the event, but even if they do it’s still not a card designed to appeal to your average fan that still calls the sport “ultimate fighting.” My estimation for this show’s rating is not good, and if it does do poorly I would imagine that CBS will cut their losses and step away from the sport until it becomes more widely accepted.

UFC title shots are at best inconsistent and at worst insulting to the intelligence of fans. Without an official ranking system, title fights are arranged based on their potential to attract an audience. Dana White defends this approach as preventing any obligation to put on boring fights. But there’s no denying it removes some credibility from being champion.

The current populist approach lends itself to title fights that seem undeserved. It also takes away from the whole idea of a champ being the best fighter in his weight class. A reputation for boring fights results in demotion to the undercards. However, a well-known grudge with the champ increases the chances of a title shot exponentially. All things being equal, fighting the champ has more to do with popularity than skill.

The UFC makes no illusions; they are in the business of making entertainment, not upholding moral standards for martial arts. Nevertheless, making fights based only on fan interest is not flawless; combining two popular fighters does not necessarily make a popular fight. That’s where the system can backfire. Champions should only face the best possible opponents. Impulsively arranging easy title defenses irritates fans and erodes meaning from the belts.

Current contenders Demian Maia, Dan Hardy, and Frankie Edgar all lack a definitive reason for getting their title shots. But while Maia and Edgar can be chocked up to timing and luck, the most puzzling is Dan Hardy. Originally, the number one welterweight contender fight was between Mike Swick and Martin Kampmann at UFC 103. Swick pulled out, so Paul Daley stepped in and knocked Kampmann silly. Then Swick lost by decision to Hardy at UFC 105 and suddenly Dan Hardy is fighting Georges St. Pierre. Coming off a split decision win over Marcus Davis before the Swick fight, Hardy has never proved himself to fans, and that bogs down any hype for his fight against GSP.

The situation is difficult because a real ranking system could produce equally undeserved title shots. Gray Maynard vs. Nate Diaz serves as an excellent example of the pitfalls of trying to rank fighters. Maynard has the win over Diaz on his record, and a 7-0-1 record in the UFC– technically he should be the number one contender. But his performance against Diaz was far from outstanding, and showed fans that he is not ready to fight lightweight champ BJ Penn. Quality of a win is a difficult thing to factor into rankings, but it will make all the difference for the business side of MMA.

A healthy compromise would be the inclusion of occasional tournaments to establish contenders in a weight class. Similar to Pride’s Grand Prix, they could be spaced out over several weeks but longer, about 8 weeks rather than four to allow time for fighters to recover. Sixteen top fighters from a weight class compete, with top level names mixed in with some unknowns from the undercards, three wins lead to the final (PPV) matchup.

The Ultimate Fighter has long-since outlasted its usefulness; fighters can get into the UFC much more easily by getting their start in smaller promotions. Furthermore, the fights have been getting less exciting, with last years “Heavyweights” starring Kimbo Slice being a near-complete dud. A tournament show would be far more interesting because truly established fighters would be competing instead of newcomers. Not only would the quality of the matchups increase dramatically, but imagine how much more credibility Hardy would have if he had beaten Paul Daley, Paulo Thiago, Jon Fitch, and/or Josh Koscheck to get his title shot.

A tournament win does not need to mean a guaranteed title shot. If the final bout is unimpressive, matchmaker Joe Silva can just go back to his old method of feeling around for big PPV buys. But at least it would provide a clearer picture of where the top-tier fighters rank in terms of skill.

UFC titles will never be purely about who’s the best. Being a UFC champion does not make you the best fighter in the world or even in a weight class. That’s fine. Figuring out who is actually number one is not the most important thing in MMA. If the greatest fighter in the world is a man who jumps all weight classes, and can go 100-0 by way of a secret ancient Chinese leg-hugging technique that forces opponents to tap from exhaustion, then I’m happy to see him denied the fame and glory of a UFC title.

Including tournaments would give fighters a way to demonstrate their skills and prove they have a shot at beating the champ, without awarding a title-shot based on something like a DQ win. They could do more to help legitimize title shots, and hype MMA than ten more season of “The Ultimate Fighter.”

UFC light-heavyweight the “Dean of Mean” Keith Jardine (15-6-1) is looking to give his career a shot in the arm against undefeated Ryan Bader (10-0).

Both men will face off this Sunday in Sydney, Australia as part of the PPV portion of UFC 110. Due to the time change, the ppv portion will be shown in North America at 10 p.m. EST (7 p.m. PST).

“I’ve not even been thinking about him too much,” said Jardine of Bader. “I’m thinking about myself and restarting my career.

“It was a bad year,” he admits. “But I’m just excited to start a new year and a new chapter.”

“I’ve had so many ups and downs in my career, and there have been little subtle things that I’ve been doing wrong, and that’s what I’ve been trying to attack (in this camp). Those subtle things aren’t so apparent when you watch film, and I feel like I’m patching everything together finally now.

“This is the best shape I’ve ever been in, no question about it, and hopefully I’ll get a chance to show off. I’ve been in training camp for the last four months, I haven’t taken any time off, and I’m just so motivated to turn the next chapter of my career and start over again. I didn’t even care if I was on the undercard when I got this fight and I didn’t care who it was. I just wanted to go out there and fight again and kinda start from scratch a little bit. I’m very excited, and it could be anybody I’m fighting; I’d treat it the same.”

UFC.com

Where does Randy Couture rank in the light heavyweight division? How close is Paulo Thiago to earning a title shot? Did Nate Marquardt have a bad night or is Chael Sonnen really that good? Who should Matt Serra fight next?

UFC 109 may not go down as the best card of the year, but it did provide us with more than a few things worth talking about. We had a couple of fairly shocking upsets, several octagon debuts, and two UFC veterans scoring impressive wins. Now it’s time once again for Brendhan Conlan and myself to go back-and-forth on six questions facing the sport, and always we encourage you to share your thoughts in the comment box below.

Now, in the immortal words of Cecil Peoples…Let’s dance!

Buy/Sell – Paulo Thiago needs to beat the winner of Jon Fitch/Thiago Alves before being named the #1 contender in the welterweight division.

Adam Tool: I’ll say buy, although from a booking stand-point I wouldn’t rematch Fitch & Thiago again so soon. Thiago give Fitch a tough fight at UFC 100, but I really don’t think the result would change in a second meeting. I could be wrong, and Thiago may have gotten significantly better in the last seven months, but at this point I think another meeting between the two would only serve to kill Thiago’s momentum at this point. Besides, I think it’s best for all parties involved if he doesn’t have to face anymore AKA guys anytime soon. I would certainly agree that if the two were to meet again and Thiago got the win, he should absolutely be the #1 contender.

Should Alves emerge victorious at UFC 111 I wouldn’t mind seeing him matched up with Thiago. At this point it’s clear that Fitch and Alves are the #2 and #3 guys (respectively) in the welterweight division, so a win over either man should net Thiago (or anyone else for that matter) immediate title consideration. The only reason I wouldn’t want to see this fight is because of the inherent difficulty in discussing it, due to the fact that Thiago is one man’s first name and the other man’s last name.

Brendhan Conlan: I’m opting to “sell” on this topic, as I think there are plenty of serviceable opponents for him to face and, as already proven, a grinder like Fitch is definitely a threat to stymie the mystique currently surrounding the Brazilian. Alves is a better match-up stylistically for Thiago and isn’t in line for a title-shot even if he beats Fitch (it would be his first win since losing to Georges St. Pierre at UFC 100), so he’s certainly a suitable candidate for standing opposite Thiago inside the Octagon at some point in the next 3-5 months.

Another fighter who should receive similar consideration is whomever’s hand is raised when Josh Koscheck and Paul Daley face off at UFC 113. Both are in need of another major win before cementing their place as top contender and each match-up is ripe with marketability. It would be interesting to see “Kos” attempt to avenge his TKO loss – a stoppage some felt was premature – in terms of how he’d approach Thiago with a full camp in place and whether or not he’d choose to stand once the cage door locked. And Daley, though an underdog in my mind against the Ultimate Fighter OG, has enough “Semtex” in his gloves and silver on his tongue to sell any fight, let alone one against someone with Paulo’s arsenal of skills.

Was Nate Marquardt simply off against Chael Sonnen or was he exposed by the better fighter?

Tool: I think it’s a bit from column A and a bit from column B. I’m still not totally sold on Sonnen, as it was only a year ago that he was completely dominated by Demian Maia. He looked impressive this past Saturday, but he still lacks any real finishing ability and there’s still plenty of holes in his submission game. I give him credit for getting people to talk about him, as he’s clearly dominated most of the MMA media’s attention in the past few weeks.

Back to Marquardt though, I’m still not sure what happened. He was facing a one-dimensional opponent, had plenty of high-level wrestlers to train with, and he had the master tactician Greg Jackson in his corner. I couldn’t believe how wildly Nate was swinging in the opening minute of each round, as he was clearly leaving plenty of openings for Chael to shoot in. The closed guard obviously did little to help his situation on the mat and again I have to wonder just what the hell he was doing during his training camp. I understand that training and fighting are two different things but he had three months to prepare for fifteen minutes, and he really didn’t seem to be ready.

Conlan: Marquardt was absolutely exposed by the better fighter, at least in terms of his ability to defend the takedown and fight off his back. Sonnen may not have Nate’s jiu-jitsu or striking but his wrestling background is of an elite nature. He has the skill to bring most of his opponents down to the mat and the heart/will to keep going until his body quits on him. He clearly suffers when facing top shelf BJJers who can submit from the bottom but other than that he’s going to be a tough draw for anyone he steps into the cage with.

I was thinking about Tool’s questioning of what happened to Marquardt and why he seemed so ill prepared when a thought occurred to me. Who is the top submission-based fighter on Greg Jackson’s roster if not “Nate the Great” himself? Maybe Carlos Condit or Joe Stevenson? It seems to me they have a lot of wrestlers who prefer to strike or use ground-and-pound techniques, and I can’t help but wonder how Marquardt might have benefited off his back from the presence of a high-level jiujitsu specialist familiar with professional competition who close to him in weight.

What’s your take on the WEC’s foray into the PPV market?

Tool: I’m for it. Every time there’s a WEC event on Versus, the salary figures are released and various people complain about how the fighters aren’t getting paid enough. The reason they aren’t getting enough money is because the business model of putting all your fights on free TV isn’t a very profitable venture. The UFC guys make more money because the PPVs make a lot of money. More money getting pumped into the front office means more money trickling down to the fighters, and that’s certainly a positive step forward for the WEC’s future growth.

Conlan: I view it as a proverbial dip of the toes into a pool they’ll find is ice cold. I also think it was smart of WEC brass to book the event in Sacramento so the live gate brought in by Urijah Faber’s presence on the card will offset some of the financial losses I suspect the promotion will endure from a low buyrate.

Adam is correct in terms of the PPV market providing an opportunity for increased revenue and in stating WEC fighters should eventually benefit from a profitable situation. However, neither success or the fruits of it are guaranteed, and larger promotions with more star-power have attempted and failed at capturing a large enough audience to make PPV a worthwhile venture. Even the occasional UFC event suffers lower-than-expected numbers. I have no reason to believe a rematch between two lightweights who wouldn’t crack the UFC’s “Top 5” and a quartet of featherweights are going to succeed in drawing more than a minimal number of fans into spending $44.95.

Faber vs. Aldo should be insanely entertaining but is nothing special in comparison to the events WEC has offered for free on Versus. Why not make a true “superfight” using a catchweight to feature two of your company’s top dogs? Stick Brian Bowles in a non-title affair with Mike Brown and throw Miguel Torres in the cage with “The California Kid”. Why not bring in a couple UFC fighters to mix things up? Have Donald Cerrone fight Tyson Griffin instead of Ben Henderson. Those are just a few ways the event could have been made to feel truly special. Instead, it comes off as little more than a Zuffa experiment to me, and one I wager will be as successful in drawing PPV buys as Preparation A-G were in soothing one’s hind quarters.

If you were to rank the top light heavyweight fighters in the world, where would you put Randy Couture?

Conlan: I suspect Couture would land somewhere in the 10-12 range if I put pen to paper and ranked the sport’s top 205-pounders. “The Natural” is 5-4 over his last nine fights and 3-2 as a light heavyweight. His only wins at LHW in the past five years are over Mike Van Arsdale (who promptly lost his next three bouts before retiring), Brandon Vera (who arguably should have been given the decision win), and Mark Coleman (insert joke here). Regardless of the clout Couture’s name carries I can’t rank him higher than any divisional peer who has recently, and consistently, beaten reputable light heavyweights. The pool is too deep to consider any alternative.

Tool: I’m thinking along the same lines as Brendhan here, and I’d probably slot Couture around lucky number 13. The win over Coleman was the best we’ve seen from him since he came back from his most recent “retirement,” but this was obviously not the toughest opponent he’s had in that time frame either. I got a bad taste in my mouth from the Vera fight, so it’ll take at least one more big win at 205 before I’m ready to put “The Natural” in the top ten or entertain any serious talk about title contention. Fortunately it sounds as though the UFC wants to slot Randy in against Rich Franklin at UFC 115, and a win over the highly-respected Franklin could potentially launch Couture towards one more run at the gold.

Make your pick for Matt Serra’s next opponent.

Conlan: If I had my way his next opponent would be a lightweight, but since my plans for world domination have yet to work out I’ll say Serra will face the winner of Phil Baroni vs. Marcus Davis (rumored for UFC 111). Both men provide opportunities for Serra to showcase either his powerful striking or his grappling skills. Something just ain’t right when a high level jiujitsu practitioner hasn’t tapped an opponent out in a professional fight since Avril Lavigne had a number one hit in America. I like the idea of the brash East Coaster possibly returning to his Gracie roots based on the level of stand-up his opponent offers, and, being solid boxers with knockout power and suspect submission defense, Baroni/Davis fit the bill. Additionally, like Serra, they’re also veteran fighters who aren’t threatening for a title shot. That means the bout can sell itself on name value and the result won’t muck up the championship picture.

Tool: Normally in a question where I’m asked to name a fighter’s next opponent I’ll look over the current schedule to see who might be available in 3-5 months. This is Matt Serra we’re talking about though, and he’s fought once a year for the last six years. Assuming this trend holds up we can pretty much pick anybody we want from the welterweight division. In terms of the type of opponent I’d like to see, it would have to be a younger fighter that’s working his way up the rankings. If Serra wants to make another grab for the welterweight strap he’ll need to face one of the hungry future contenders looking for their big breakthrough performance. Names like Dustin Hazelett, Carlos Condit, and John Hathaway come to mind.

If I had to pick one fighter right now though, it’d probably be Ben Saunders. First off there’s the obvious back story between the two, as Saunders was on Team Serra during season 6 of The Ultimate Fighter and the UFC has yet to give us a coach vs. student bout after five years of the show. Second, it’s an interesting match-up stylistically as both fighters have backgrounds in jiu-jitsu but have primarily relied on their striking as of late. Finally, it’ll be one hell of a visual: the 6’3” Saunders staring down the 5’6” Serra. C’mon, tell me you don’t want to see that.

True/False – You were impressed by Demian Maia’s performance on Saturday.

Conlan: False. Showing a modicum of improvement in your striking and slightly out-grappling someone who isn’t on your level when things hit the mat shouldn’t merit the dropping of a single jaw. It’s par for the course, nothing more. Impressive would have been a first round submission over a slick BJJer like Dan Miller or a knockout win. Until Maia scores either thing he’ll continue to be a vanilla-flavored Mixed Martial Artist who, when drawing his opponents onto the ground, can use jiujitsu as his brush and paint the canvas like Monet.

Tool: I would also have to go false, although I’m willing to look at the positives. Maia was coming off of a devastating knockout and yet he wasn’t gun-shy, choosing to stand and exchange with Miller for most of the duration. Miller certainly represented a bad match-up of styles, as he had the wrestling pedigree to negate Maia’s takedowns. I had thought that leading up to the fight we might see Miller choose to test his own Brazilian jiu-jitsu skills against the abilities of his opponent, but that was clearly not the case. Like Brendhan said, Maia still needs to make himself a more complete fighter before he can really be considered a contender. On Saturday I believe we saw some crucial steps being taken in that process, it’s just unfortunate that it didn’t make for a very good fight.