Intriguing choices, particularly the latter. Dana White has always had a contentious relationship with Nelson and has been critical of his weight, attitude, regiment, and general philosophy to not only the fight game but how a fighter should train and prepare for fights.

One moment immediately comes to mind. After Nelson won the Heavyweights season of “The Ultimate Fighter,” he and Dana White were doing a sit-down interview and Nelson was asked why he didn’t train at a more complete, higher profile camp. In his response, he hemmed and hawed that going into a gym like Extreme Couture, he’d be asked to train guys and that he was reticent to do so. To which Dana scoffed and replied “what’re you going to teach Randy Couture?” (paraphrased)

For what it’s worth, Nelson has seemed to put a little more focus on his cardio and slimmed down slightly over the last year, but still has no direct affiliation with a high profile gym. He’s also still the same old Roy Nelson, which will make for intriguing TV and set up conflicts I’m sure between not only the coaches but Nelson and his own students. Especially since this season will focus on the Welterweight division, which has a tendency of attracting fighters with a hard-nosed work ethic. Perfect choice.

Nelson and Cormier will meet on the televised live finale on FX. This season, they’ll be foregoing the weekly live fights format, which turned out to be an absolute disaster for ratings. Being on Friday nights certainly didn’t help, and I’m hoping they  end up back on Wednesdays or Thursdays for their own sake.

As MMAFighting.com notes, Dana and Lorenzo weren’t thrilled with the idea:

“I actually asked Dana and Lorenzo, could I take a fight for the fans at the end of 2012,” Jones said. “I figured beating Henderson and Rashad, there would be a period where we’d figure out who I’m going to fight next, and during that period, at the end of 2012, I asked to fight a heavyweight — a Top 10 heavyweight.”

…
“Dana and Lorenzo didn’t think that was the best for me to do right now,” Jones said. “They wanted me to continue at the light heavyweight division.”

I drew the comparison between Silva and Jones only because thus far in his reign Jones has shown the same level of dominance against the best of his division in the same way Silva has for the past few years.

There are, however, some differences that need to be acknowledged. First, there’s the fact that there’s a big discrepancy between Middleweight and Light Heavyweight in terms of both drawing power and depth of talent. The Middleweight division has improved leaps and bounds from where it was four years ago, but despite having the best pound for pound fighter as its champion (or perhaps in part because of it) is still something of a journeyman’s division. There are a crop of what I would consider “natural” 185 fighters finally breaking through, but for years the division was occupied by guys moving up in weight because they’re too slow for 170 and others who couldn’t cut it at 205. Even today, the #2 and #3 fighters at that weight, Chael Sonnen and Michael Bisping, are examples of the latter.

So while Jon Jones has been dominant, he still has some contenders in a much deeper division. That said, as ridiculous as it may sound, he’s almost there. He’s beaten Bader, Rua, Jackson, and Machida in less than one calendar year. After he gets through Evans and Henderson (which I have a strong suspicion he will given his utter dominance of the other fighters), he’ll have cleaned out the top 10 of the Light Heavyweight division. Who will be left to contend? Phil Davis is a prospect, but showed last Saturday that he’s not quite there yet. The only other fighters who could even be considered top 10 – Thiago Silva and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira – are not likely to get in a position of title contention anytime soon (if ever again), let alone stand a chance against him.

The frequency with which Jon Jones has fought has made him an MVP for the promotion, but the UFC sort of shot themselves in the foot by overbooking him, because he’s run through every potential contender they’ve put in front of him and now they’re in a scenario where he likely won’t have any contenders after the Spring. Dominant champions are good for a spell, but their drawing power is severely diminished once the fans can no longer buy opponents as viable contenders. That’s why Brock Lensar was the UFC’s top draw: it wasn’t just because of his mainstream notoriety from pro wrestling, but also (and more importantly) because he was seen as a beatable monster and every challenge he faced held some degree of intrigue. With Jones, each successive title defense seems more and more like an inevitability, as it has with Anderson Silva and to a lesser extent Georges St-Pierre.

For those same reasons, I understand Dana’s refusal to let Jones fight a top ten heavyweight. That division is a mess as it is and they’ve lost Lesnar to retirement. The influx of Strikeforce Heavyweights is promising but lends to it an air of uncertainty, particularly with fighters like Josh Barnett and Allistair Overeem, both of whom the UFC is going to be booking with baited breath and hoping they don’t piss hot for a Commission drug test. Having a Light Heavyweight, even its champion, move up in weight for one or two fights and potentially sabotage another contender wouldn’t be good business. Anderson Silva fighting James Irvin and Forrest Griffin was one thing, because Irvin was never going to contend and Griffin by that time was all but done as a contender and just around for name value and the occasional superfight (see also: Franklin, Rich). Having Jones do the same would probably draw a good buyrate, but at the risk of bringing depth and legitimacy of an entire division into question.

Still, one has to ask: if/when the time comes where Jon Jones has beaten literally every single potential contender, what the Hell are they going to do with the guy?

Former WEC Bantamweight champion Miguel Torres was fired by Dana White after tweeting a rape joke on Thursday.

Miguel Torres was publicly fired by Dana White yesterday after White was blindsided by “Outside the Lines” host Michael Landsberg about an offensive rape joke that Torres posted to his Twitter account earlier in the day.

The tweet, which was originally said to be a reference to an episode of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia but Ariel Helwani later tweeted was from an episode of Workaholics that Torres was watching, was deleted and replaced with an edited version after Torres caught some heat for it online. Either way, Torres didn’t provide any context, and when Landsberg made White aware of it, he was furious.

This comes on the heels of the UFC on Fox 2 press conference, where Rashad Evans told his opponent, Penn State alumnus Phil Davis, that “you’ll be the first one to take a shot cause I’m going to put my hands on you worse than that dude did them other kids at Penn State.” White seemed amused at the comment initially, but later said he didn’t hear it clearly and that it was “a dumb thing to say” in light of the Sandusky controversy.

Immediately there was a cry of “double standard.” Rashad got a talking-to from Dana White, while Torres got fired by proxy. Seems unfair, right?

Well, it is. As much as people like Miguel Torres, he’s not a star like Rashad Evans. If you’re going to fire a guy to make an example, you don’t do it to one of your most recognizable faces that is, by the way, headlining your next event on Fox. It would be cynical and dismissive to just simply say “them’s the breaks” and that life is sometimes unfair, but MMA is no different than any other sport in this. If Tom Brady said something stupid during a press conference and a third-string linebacker later tweeted an offensive comment, you can guarantee that a similar scenario would play out. Brady would have to apologize and would get a talking-to, while the third-string linebacker would be sacked without hesitation (no pun intended).

The other thing to consider is that White was physically there with Rashad for the press conference, and could at least address it immediately and give the appearance of some degree of culpability and regret. With Torres, White was blindsided and embarrassed on a national stage (even if that nation was Canada). He didn’t even have the opportunity to say he apologized for his fighter’s comment, that his fighter wasn’t thinking, and that the issue was addressed. And as embarrassing as it was for Dana, it would have been even more so if, say, he had been asked first by a member of the American press. In fact, his first scheduled interview right after Landsberg was with Sports Illustrated, and I guarantee he was grateful it was in that order rather than the other way around.

It’s also worth mentioning that Torres has done this before. Dana was quick to say that Torres is an otherwise good guy and that there hasn’t been an issue previously. But as Cage Potato pointed out, he’s always been known by fans to tweet some fairly offensive, shock humor tweets to get a rise out of people, and specifically use rape as the subject (exhibit A, exhibit B).

The thing is, it’s not funny. And I don’t mean that from a standpoint of taking offense, but that it’s all just hack comments meant to shock, but none of them are amusing and rarely are they provided with context. The bottom line is that Miguel’s just not as good at being funny as he is at being a fighter. It reeks of desperation, insensitivity, and stupidity. We all know he’s better than that, but some guys just can’t help themselves until it’s too late.

I’m going to go out on a limb (okay, not really) and say that we’ll see Torres back in the UFC before the end of 2012. I don’t expect this to be a lifetime ban. I do, however, expect that the UFC is going to start sending more messages like this to their fighters to remind them that they have finally, after years of struggling to get the sport passed in several states, gained mainstream notoriety and acceptance. But with that comes the cost of being under a microscope. The days of MMA as a niche product are gone, and as much as fans like having access to their fighters and those fighters being genuine and forthright, sometimes – just like in day to day life – some discretion is necessary.

The move comes a little over a year after the UFC officially absorbed the WEC’s talent roster, establishing the UFC Bantamweight (135) and Featherweight (145) divisions in the process. Shortly after, Dana White started talking about the eventual Flyweight class.

BANTAMWEIGHTS BEWARE

Speculated to join the division are current Bantamweights Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson, Joseph Benavidez, and The Ultimate Fighter 14′s Bantamweight winner, John Dodson.

The overwhelming focus seems to be on which Bantamweights will make the jump down in weight, but I’m personally more intrigued by the new fighters this will bring into the promotion. And I predict that the promotion’s first star is likely one that is not currently under contract with Zuffa.

Who that may be remains a mystery. But what often gets overlooked is the fact that cutting down a weight class gets exponentially harder the lower you get. When Bantamweights and Featherweights were added last year, a lot of the talk was on which Lightweights (155) would make the cut down to Featherweight, with the speculation being that we would suddenly see a mass exodus. It didn’t quite happen that way, and thus far those that did make the jump – guys like Tyson Griffin and George Roop – have flamed out in their attempts to be the big dogs in the puppy kennel.

But cutting down to 145 pounds is a tough proposition when you’re already cutting weight to make 155, simply because you don’t have the extra expendable mass that bigger fighters have. In many ways, even though there’s a difference of fifteen pounds between Light Heavyweight and Middleweight, it’s easier to make that jump than to make it from 155 to 145. Which is also why the weight classes in MMA are set up the way they are.

Guys like Dodson and Johnson already walk around (and weigh in) below 135 for their fights, so the cut likely won’t be as tough for them. But anybody currently at Bantamweight and Featherweight who thinks they’re just going to make the cut to 125 and find immediate success is going to be in for a rude awakening…particularly in the coming months when the establishment of the division sees an infusion of international talent.

The announcement of Flyweights will make for great fights, but also some intriguing roster shifts. Stay tuned.

MAIN CARD:

• Frankie Edgar (c) vs. Benson Henderson – UFC Lightweight Championship
• Rampage Jackson vs Ryan Bader
• Mark Hunt vs Cheick Kongo
• Yoshihiro Akiyama vs Jake Shields
• Anthony Pettis vs Joe Lauzon

PRELIMS:

• Yushin Okami vs Tim Boetsch
• Takanori Gomi vs George Sotiropoulos
• Hatsu Hioki vs Bart Palaszewski
• Kid Yamamoto vs Vaughan Lee
• Riki Fukuda vs Steve Cantwell
• Takeya Mizugaki vs Chris Cariaso
• Leonard Garcia vs Tiequan Zhang

The fact that Yushin Okami is on the prelims despite being the country's best export and a legit Top 5 Middleweight speaks volumes.

In terms of pure entertainment value, it’s a decent card. People have been salivating in anticipation of Edgar and Henderson since the horn sounded for the third round of Henderson’s unanimous decision victory over Clay Guida. Mark Hunt, who has had quite an understated career comeback, has the right opponent in Cheick Kongo to guarantee a stand-up war. Quinton Jackson always provides some degree of entertainment, though I think this go around it’ll be relegated to pressers as Bader is on the larger end of 205 and Jackson’s at his best when he’s fighting leaner guys who can keep him on his toes and allow him to set up a highlight slam.

From a business standpoint, however, the card is a little confusing. The card has an early afternoon start time, which guarantees it’ll air as scheduled on pay-per-view in North America but will make it harder to move tickets for the live event.

An even bigger problem is that it also has all of its Japanese talent relegated to the undercard. Yushin Okami, who in my mind is the most successful Japanese export in UFC history, should arguably be in at least the semi-main event position. Jackson had his time in Pride, but you’re talking a gaijin who hasn’t been in the Japanese spotlight in about a decade versus a guy that the UFC and its Japanese PR could herald as a returning hero for his success. KID Yamamoto and Takanori Gomi are going to be seen, and have already been written off in Japanese media, as wash-outs fighting for their jobs.

The question is, does the UFC want to break into Japan or is their primary concern making a good face for the North American audience and breaking Japan into accepting their version of the product?

Zach Arnold over at Fight Opinion has some strong thoughts on the matter:

So, what did UFC do? They went the Vince McMahon route. Book an Americanized show that, for traditional Japanese fight fans, has no tribute to their past glory days or history. The matchmaking of the show does not touch on any past or present cultural themes. It’s just a straight-up UFC card. Now, in most other countries on this planet, this card is perfectly acceptable for a mid-range show. However, we’re dealing with Japan here and the Japanese are prideful people. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to know that the Japanese want you to do business on their own terms and to cater to their tastes. They want a world-class card and themes promoted that deal with their natives winning on top. Why do you think Antonio Inoki forever and a day was successful at constantly beating random foreigners that he built up at Kuramae Kokugikan or Budokan?

Arnold hits on an important point (as well as many others from a business standpoint I won’t get into here but you should definitely read for yourself). This would be an okay monthly show and an above-average European card, but in terms of appeasing a Japanese market, it’s got some empty gestures and glad-handing littered in the prelims but not much else.

Thing is, I’m convinced that Dana White knows what he’s doing, even if I don’t agree with it. He’s aware that the Japanese market is an entirely different creature than the European market or, actually, any other market in Southeast Asia. You can bring the UFC product to more or less anywhere else in the world and, with some education and the right PR, it will sell. In certain ways, though, the Japanese are unique. As Arnold touches on in the above excerpt, they’re a prideful people. They also hold a strange and, to most, perplexing dichotomy: they’re a global economic powerhouse yet remain, in many ways, an insular and at times xenophobic island nation. Throughout the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, they have globalized purely on their own terms.

I can only speculate as to the mindset that went behind this card and what the UFC’s goals are, but I’m convinced Dana White and Lorenzo Fertitta are of the mindset that they can, with time, break the Japanese market. That’s not a typo; I don’t mean “break through” in the traditional sense. With the Japanese fight scene in a complete shambles (Arnold, again, recently wrote a fascinating piece on this), the UFC sees it as an opportunity to market itself as something completely different and re-educate the Japanese fanbase.

Sakuraba became a star the last time the UFC took to Japan. Now, 15 years later, his career trajectory has mirrored the fading Japanese MMA industry.

While it may be the wrong card for the Japanese market, it’s the right one for the UFC.  I think this card’s going to be a hard sell for all the reasons he outlined, but from the start of its international expansion, the UFC has been nothing if not consistent in their approach to exporting their product. If you watch a card in Anaheim, Philadelpha, London, or Tokyo, it’s going to be a UFC card.

Fans of the old Japanese cards will cry foul, but their objections betray a misunderstanding of what the UFC is trying to accomplish. You may, like Arnold, disagree with it. But, for better or worse, they know what they’re doing.

The last time the UFC was in Japan, it introduced Japanese and American audiences to a young fighter named Kazushi Sakuraba, a middleweight (185 pounds) who entered the heavyweight Ultimate Japan tournament with weights in his pants – literally – to break the 205 pound limit at weigh-ins. After a chaotic and tumultuous night that included a rare early stoppage from John McCarthy and subsequent overturn of the decision, Sakuraba was victorious and a new star was born. Fifteen years later, Sakuraba is a broken and aged fighter who fights with his legs taped up like a mummy and looks physically bruised and battered before the bell even sounds. He also, by all accounts, has not been paid for a fight in over two years due to the fact that the fight promotions that are left after the implosion of Pride in 2006 are hemorrhaging money, grappling with Yakuza scandals, and are all but invisible to the Japanese mainstream due to a lack of television exposure. In many ways, Sakuraba is the living embodiment of Japanese MMA, in both his representation of the ideal of what they call “fighting spirit” and his career trajectory running parallel  to the Japanese fight scene.

And, obviously, he will not be fighting at the Saitama Super Arena on February 26th.

The UFC seems to think now is the right time to march its product over the smoldering ashes of what constituted a fight scene in Japan. I don’t think it will take. But with deep pockets and nothing to lose except a little face with a miniscule portion of its audience, they’re going to try anyway.

Not so fast. From Mike Chiapetta at MMAFighting.com:

“I don’t know. I have no idea,” he said. “We’re going to have to see what happens. I haven’t even thought about it. You have to understand, the only thing I’m thinking about now is FOX. I’ve just got to get past this event. Everything else is taking a back seat. All the other s— will work itself out.”

Even without the Fox event, there can’t be a clear-cut distinction of the next title contender stemming from this one fight. Don’t get me wrong; it’s very possible that the winner will be a future opponent for Frankie Edgar. But a few things have to fall into place first.

Gilbert Melendez, the current Strikeforce Lightweight Champion, will have to successfully defend his belt against Jorge Masdival at the December 17th event on Showtime. Based on his performances and his shattering of the myths of fighters like Shinya Aoki and Tatsuya Kawajiri, the general consensus is that Melendez is the best Lightweight outside of the UFC and, perhaps, the #2 Lightweight in the world. He’s definitely Top 5. The problem is that challengers in Strikeforce were few and far between due to their paltry Lightweight division (hardly the only weight where there the promotion had little to no depth). With the UFC’s absorption of Strikeforce, it’d be foolish to keep Melendez out of the UFC and walking all over lesser fighters. A champion versus champion fight seems like a foregone conclusion, but Masdival also has more punching power than Melendez is used to seeing. Him as #2 in the world is a very strong theory, but one that’s been ultimately untested in the last calendar year.

Then there’s Dennis Siver. Admittedly, I’m a bit biased; I’m a fan of Siver’s and my first pitch to UFC.com was a profile of the fighter (conducted via a translation from the kind and knowledgeable Oliver Copp, to whom I’ll always be grateful). Siver has been on a tear his last four fights and looked impressive in every outing, including a dominating performance against George Sotiropoulos, who myself and many others thought was on a trajectory towards title contention himself. His next opponent is another potential contender, former WEC Lightweight champion Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone, who since dropping his title to Ben Henderson a year and a half ago has gone on a five-fight tear. Depending on how that fight and other circumstances play out, that fight as well could realistically determine a #1 contender.

Talk about a logjam.

Regardless of how the division plays out, the fight between Ben Henderson and Clay Guida is sure to be a barn-burner. You can watch it for free prior to the network broadcast on the UFC’s Facebook page or by visiting FOX.com.

As a fan of fights, I’m excited. As a booster of the sport, I’m excited.

This is going to be a big litmus test for MMA going forward as a mainstream sport. Bumpers and plugs have been airing throughout the MLB playoffs and NFL games on Fox.

That’s a potentially bigger audience than UFC’s ever had.

In spite of its early bare-knuckle days (if that reads as familiar see also: boxing), it has finally achieved some acceptance, including being legal in all but a small number of states, one of them being New York. But if the UFC is looking at November 12th as an accomplishment, they’re wrong. Even though it’s made some strides, MMA is still seen by the mainstream sports media as a fringe freak show, rather than a respected combat sport.

November 12th isn’t the night that the UFC can say they’ve finally made it. It’s actually their biggest test. How that number shapes up will influence everything going forward.

As for the fight, I have Velasquez.

For those who need a refresher:

Say what you want about Floyd being overly emotional or overreacting, but as a member of the media, it’s on Merchant to retain and maintain the higher ground. His actions and comments were not only uncalled for, they were unprofessional and unbecoming of a broadcast journalist. There’s no excuse for them and there’s been nothing I’ve seen that indicates he regrets or even understands the breach that occurred that evening.

Dana White, the head of the UFC and a former boxing manager himself, expressed his outrage over not only the hypothetical threat Merchant made towards Mayweather, but the line of questioning:

(starting at the 7:00 mark)

“And then Larry Merchant…this guy always jumps in there and always saying bad stuff about people. And he’s attacking Floyd about the punch! Well how about the headbutt? If you want to ask Floyd a question right off the bat, ask him about the headbutt. This guy always—it’s my big beef with, uh–with Merchant for years. These guys get done fighting and he jumps in the ring and just starts saying off the wall, weird, rude shit to these guys. Who the Hell would want to do an interview with him? Probably the thing they dread worse than training, cutting weight, and everything, is their interview with Larry Merchant. It’s ridiculous.”

…

“I actually thought that that was very embarrassing for HBO. That guy is senile, he’s out of his mind, you know—he’s up there berating Floyd, you know. Floyd can’t say anything back to you? You’ve been disrespecting guys your whole career, and guess what? You can go back sixty years. You’re not kicking Floyd’s ass, okay? And what’s Floyd gonna do? A 102-year-old guy just said that to him, you know? And I’m the first one to go out and smash Floyd. Because I think Floyd should take this fight [against Manny Pacquaio]. Manny Pacquaio’s never tested positive for anything, okay? You’re not the Athletic Commission, Floyd. Who are you to be demanding all this other stuff, right? But I gotta be honest, I think Floyd handled himself very well that night, you know? It’s just so easy to hate him that everybody wants to blame Floyd.”

Larry Merchant, naturally, fired back in an interview with Boxing Scene’s Chris Robinson with statements dripping with sarcasm that insulted not only White, the sport of MMA as a whole, and, in turn, its fans:

“Let’s see, anyone who can make a multi-million dollar business out of street fighting has to be respected. My opinion is that anyone is allowed to put up a tent, put on a show and invite people to come. And obviously he’s had a lot of success. Good for him.”

“I don’t watch it. I don’t get a so-called sport in which you can have a 6-2 record and be called a world champion. I just don’t appreciate the finer points of MMA.”

Shockingly, Robinson says that he’s “surprised” that Merchant appears “unfazed” by the criticism. To which I can only say that if Robinson thinks getting overly defensive and insulting in response to a statement is “unfazed,” I’d hate to see what he thinks Merchant would have done if he were actually fazed by the remarks. Maybe threaten to kick White’s ass if he were thirty or forty years younger?

Look, I’m gonna take the Dana approach here and note that I’m the first to criticize him when it’s due, and I will in this instance as well: I actually don’t think that Floyd was totally in the right with how he conducted himself after the fight, but more importantly White’s comments about Merchants age are unnecessary and wholly uncalled for.

That said, Merchant was still wrong to do what he did and if it were anybody else, he would have been fired for it. Merchant does have a bad rep in circles for his post-fight line of questioning, which is a touchy subject because it asks broadcasters and reporters to traverse that precarious high-wire that separates being respectful and doing your job. Still, though, the line is there, and as a professional Merchant didn’t just wobble, he jumped off it with a smile on his face.

As for his comments about MMA? Firstly, I’ve always respected boxing and through personal exposure and training, I’m growing to love it for its finer points and especially the integrity of so many I know in the business. You won’t mean nicer guys than the Miller Brothers, for instance, who run NY Boxing in nearby Cohoes, NY. That said, nobody in the boxing industry is in any position to favorably compare all the ridiculously padded records in boxing with those of any other sport, whether it be team or combat. Brock Lesnar, to whom Merchant is referring, became champion by beating the undeniably best heavyweights in the world, until he ran into another guy who got his shot and proved he was better. Of course there are fighters who have padded records in MMA, but they’re constantly scrutinized and quickly exposed once they reach a higher level. The quality of a fighter’s record, whether it be MMA or boxing, does not lie simply in quantity.

I’m sure Merchant knows this already. He’s just “unfazed” by it.

1. Although I’d turn the corner on my stance due to his last two performances, my suspicions have been confirmed that BJ Penn isn’t the same unstoppable force of nature that guys like Georges St. Pierre, Anderson Silva, and perhaps Brock Lesnar are in their respective weight classes.
2. What a great moment – the scrappy, hard-working underdog went in against insurmountable odds and proved that he not only belonged in there, but he was perhaps the better fighter after all.
3. Oh boy. Here come the Math pundits.

Penn vs. Edgar at UFC 112. Photo from The LA Times.

Some took a hard stance against one score for the fight of 50-45, which I entirely understand since the first two rounds were most likely Penn’s with the second clearly going in his favor. Of course Dana White, the promoter with no filter, took to Twitter himself to complain of the score. But in the same Tweet, he also hit upon why BJ Penn lost: he fought Frankie Edgar’s fight, and not BJ Penn’s.

Much is being said about the statistics coming from the fight. Mike Fagan over at Bloody Elbow posted the Fight Metric data that, according to their assessment, gave BJ Penn the fight by a score of 49-47. Compustrike also released its assessment, which showed Edgar winning the exchanges standing and therefore the fight.

People have put forth that Fight Metrics have a much more diligent staff that provides a more accurate assessment of fights. That’s nice, but in the fight game, it doesn’t matter. I don’t mean just because judges don’t have access to that information or as clear a viewpoint as folks like us do during or after the fact through a clear High Def camera view. It doesn’t matter because these criteria are not how a fight is, or should be, judged.

As controversial as his views can be, we should go back to what Dana White tweeted about the fight because it’s telling of how that fight was scored and why. At the beginning of every UFC telecast, they give a brief summary of the rules and the judging criteria. Judging for Mixed Martial Arts as established by the Unified Rules established by the New Jersey State Athletic Commission are primarily based around four areas: clean strikes, effective grappling, octagon control, and effective aggressiveness. Organizations like Fight Metrics and Compustrike are nice for hard numbers, but those only account for clean strikes, and although they do count takedowns, one can’t make a decision on effective grappling based on pure numbers alone no matter how many variables you include in the formula.

As for octagon control and effective aggressiveness, forget about it. That’s not to say that these are abstract constructs. Far from it, since they can be measured through observation. It also needs to be noted that striking can’t really be measured solely on contact. If we allow that to happen, we’ll see an influx of fighters who throw nothing but jabs and get decision wins through boring, technical standup that wouldn’t even bruise the cheek of your great-grandmother.

Mathematics may be the universal language, but it can’t be used to solve all the world’s problems and definitively answer all queries. There are problems with judging in MMA to be certain, but in the conversation on how to rectify them we have to be conscious of the fact that Mixed Martial Arts is an objective sport can’t – and shouldn’t ever – become a numbers game.

I haven’t had a chance to rewatch the fight, but while watching the live feed I had it scored 48-47 in favor of Frankie Edgar. Penn may have landed more clean shots in a few rounds, but those were counter-punches that barely grazed Edgar and didn’t do nearly as much damage. Counter-punching isn’t aggression. Additionally, Edgar not only showed greater movement but also dictated the pace and direction of the fight both figuratively and literally. There wasn’t a moment where BJ Penn seemed like he was in complete control of the situation for any significant amount of time. And that, my friends, is what makes a fight.

Debate is a healthy part of MMA fandom. But let’s keep it that way and not rely on data that, while perhaps accurate, doesn’t provide the scope and range necessary to properly educate ourselves and others on the finer nuances of the sport.

Take, for example, the recent signing of James Toney to the UFC. Yes, Toney is past his prime and will most likely be used as a sideshow attraction and/or to prove some sort of point (as Freddie Roach has alluded to). And yes, Dana White now looks foolish for spending so much time and energy condemning promotions such as Strikeforce that put on what he terms as “freak show fights,” a term he did not invent but never the less made his own via ad nauseum usage.

However, there’s another fighter who continues to receive an inordinate amount of coverage and attention despite the fact that he clearly thinks of and treats Mixed Martial Arts as a secondary career. This fighter is anything from a complete fighter and has openly demonstrated his aversion to fighting anybody with any legitimacy in his weight division. He’s a passerby in sport despite the insistence of his fight promotion. He never has, and likely never will, agree to face someone that poses any threat to him. Yet the MMA media rarely calls him, or the promotion, out on it.

I’m talking about Cung Le.

Le became Strikeforce’s Middleweight Champion after he beat Frank Shamrock in March of 2008. He vacated the title last Fall citing a commitment to and desire to expand upon his film career, which consists of schlocky B-level Hong Kong action flicks to be specific. Jake Shields won the vacant title in November and on the very same broadcast, it was announced that Cung Le was returning to Strikeforce to face Scott Smith three weeks later on Showtime.

At a press conference after the event, a reporter half-jokingly asked Shields he thought Cung Le was ducking him. Shields surprised the room by saying yes, and saying that obviously his former colleague had absolutely no interest in fighting someone at a higher level of competition than he was used to. He offered the timing of Le’s respective announcements as proof.

Cung Le has the fans' interest, but for how long?

Immediately, Le went on the defensive. He claimed Shields was using Le’s name to get publicity, even though by that point Jake Shields had fought in front of a national audience on broadcast television twice while Le had all but disappeared from the minds of MMA fans and is a complete unknown to casual fans. Le’s fans and apologists, however, went on the defensive and accused Shields of ducking opponents and tougher competition in the past, even citing his decision to sign with the fledging EliteXC instead of the UFC as proof of his bitch-assedness.

Time proved them wrong in a big way. Shields is scheduled to face Dan Henderson next month, fighting a guy with a lot more experience, arguably more skill, and a significant size advantage. Cung Le, in the meanwhile, has re-iterated his desire to fight Scott Smith or Frank Shamrock in a rematch, and no one else.

To put things in a clearer perspective, let’s look at the two men he’s interested in fighting.

The first is Frank Shamrock. As I mentioned earlier in this blog, the two fought in March of 2008. He’s eager to fight and is arguably one of the greatest fighters at 205 pounds that the sport ever saw, but Frank’s best days are far behind him. This isn’t just a fighter that’s past his prime: his physical peak was over a decade ago. To put things in perspective, the last time Frank Shamrock was competitive in the world of Mixed Martial Arts, we were still referring to 205 pounds as Middleweight and William Jefferson Clinton was the President of the United States.

The other potential opponent, Scott Smith, is a former UFC washout whose highest profile win in the last three years was over Benji Radach, who is hardly a world-beater himself. Smith defeated Le in a shocking come-from-behind third round knockout last December. Le was handily beating Smith up to that point, and while Smith proved once again that he’s a fighter with an abundance of perseverance and heart, he is still sorely lacking in skill and depth as a fighter. I have to admit that I’m always intrigued by Scott Smith’s fights, but it’s not entirely unfair to say that he’s a one-dimensional fighter at best.

These are the only two men Cung Le will consider fighting: the has-been and the plucky never-was. How anyone can, with this knowledge, give Cung Le any serious consideration or attention in this sport is beyond my understanding or patience level.

I get that to an extent, he’s an attractive fighter for Strikeforce due to his unique and entertaining striking style, but that alone can’t and won’t make him a main event draw. It was enough for Strikeforce to pull in a strong live gate a few years back, but outside of San Jose – and on pay-per-view – Le is not going to draw a dime.

MMA still has a lot of room to grow and a lot of work to do when it comes to educating the mainstream. However, fans of the sport have come to appreciate and understand the sport. In other words, you can have a fighter like Le that can generate buzz and interest, but people also have to believe that he’s a legitimate threat in his division before they invest money specifically to see him.

As far as I’m concerned, Le is a flashy and entertaining striker to watch. In the end, however, he’s no different than Herschel Walker and Bobby Lashley. Like them, Le is a fighter that generates some talk and interest from a fanbase that might not normally seek out Strikeforce or MMA in general, but is barely a complete mixed martial artist, let alone a competitor.

If that comparison is unfair to anyone, it’s not Le. It might be unfair to Herschel Walker, who has shown the utmost respect for the sport, seems to legitimately love doing it, and actually has the name recognition with the casual fan that Cung Le seems to think he has. It might even be unfair to Bobby Lashley, who at least has presented some upside and potential to eventually be able to compete with the more skilled fighters in the heavyweight division. Cung Le, through both his choice of opponents and statements, has made it clear that he possesses neither the inclination nor the desire to better himself as a fighter.

He belongs in entertainment, not in sport.

I’m sure analysts and journalists more in the know can say with more confidence who Le will fight next. I would think smart money would be on Frank Shamrock, who knows how to promote himself and a fight despite the fact that nobody thinks h has a realistic chance, so that Le can go into a second bout with Scott Smith coming off a win.

Then, if he won’t fight Shields, let him go. Dana White may seem to be talking out of both sides of his mouth when it comes to signing fighters that draw mainstream chatter and little else, but he is right about one thing: Strikeforce is able to get mileage out of Cung Le and Herschel Walker now, but if they want to be taken seriously beyond that they’re going to have to distance themselves from that sort of thing, and it’s going to have to be sooner rather than later.