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UFC Needs to Fix Championship Inactivity by Making More Title Fights

As the sport of mixed martial arts continues to grow in the public’s eye, so does the amount of professional and financial pressure for the UFC’s belt holders. Each title defense and number one contender bouts are becoming bigger, more important, seen by more people, and impose more strains during training than previous battles. Unfortunately for fans, this reality is causing an unbecoming trend of championship inactivity.

Similar to boxing these days, it’s becoming a rare sight to see a UFC champion defend the gold more than twice a year. Whether it’s poor scheduling or over training, many of these elite fighters find themselves pushing pass their limits and getting injured (postponing) during training camps—hoping to achieve a preparation advantage—when in reality they are creating more time away from the octagon.

It’s a lose-lose scenario.

Instead, the most covenant prize in a division—which belongs to its top draw—is put on the shelf for long drawn out periods of time. It’s frustrating to accept the fact that you can count on seeing your favorite fighter—or at least the best guy in most divisions—fight on two opposite months on the calender each year.

“Oh yeah I remember that Anderson Silva title defense. I can’t believe it’s been that long ago. Wasn’t there a heatwave then? Wasn’t unemployment closer to 10% and Rick Perry was the Republican flavor of the month?”

Of course my example is hyperbolic in nature and I fully realize the physical risk and demand for somebody competing in such a direct combat sport. But, I also know lesser famed fighters tend to push through their nagging injuries to fulfill their obligation due to pride or nagging bills from the real world. I suspect the more successful a fighter becomes, the more entitled he or she feels to time off from work.

How many of your superiors take more vacation time throughout the year than you do? Sure, it happens more than it should, but it’s somewhat expected in most jobs.

In an individually assessed and pride entrenched sport like MMA, the landscape provokes a greater sense of purpose from its participants. It’s just not the same for the lonely number-crunching pawn rotting away in a cubicle (I can say this because I am one of those guys…for now). Fighters constantly want to prove themselves as the best against all deserving comers—typically whenever they can.

The Chael Sonnens, Josh Koschecks and Donald Cerrones represent a common desire within the most motivated of guys who embody this sense of purpose multiple times a year. They are the guys chomping at the bit to fight every chance they get regardless of the turnaround time.

Honestly, it’s a characteristic I would love to see in more of the UFC’s king pins.

Let’s quickly fish out this common denominator in each of the weight classes which suffer the most from this modern circumstance.

Bantamweight – Dominick Cruz’ transitional title defenses from the WEC to the UFC—December 2010 against Scott Jorgensen and then against Urijah Faber in July of 2011—created a seven month gap between his fights. Now due to the Ultimate Fighter and another hand injury, Cruz won’t defend his title for at least another seven months.

Lightweight – Frankie Edgar defended his belt against BJ Penn, for the second time, back in August of 2010 and then suffered a draw against Gray Maynard on the first day of 2011. Thanks to training related injuries, both guys had to postpone their immediate rematch for ten months.

Welterweight – This division has suffered to such a degree, the UFC had to create an interim belt. Georges St-Pierre last saw action in the octagon back in April 2011 and will potentially be out until November 2012 with a rehabilitating ACL tear. We’ll possibly be knocking on two years before he see GSP return to action.

Middleweight – Pound-for-pound great Anderson Silva slipped by Chael Sonnen back in August 2010, followed that up with a defense against Vitor Belfort in February 2011 and then Yushin Okami in August 2011. Again, due to injury and time away from competition, Silva won’t defend his title until the summer of 2012.

Heavyweight – Brock Lesnar lost the belt to Cain Velasquez in October 2010, who then had his first title defense over a year later in November 2011 against Junior Dos Santos. Dos Santos, the current champ and like his two predecessors, will be sidelined well into the first half of 2012 due to physical afflictions.

Maybe guys need to train smarter, not harder.

Not only does this lack of championship action hamper casual fans’ interest, but it’s bad for business as well. The UFC can’t expect to regain impressive Pay-Per-View numbers without consistent participation from their biggest stars. Obviously, Jon Jones and Jose Aldo—busy champs from the two excluded divisions on the list—should not be expected to carry such a cumbersome workload while everybody else is healing.

I’ll admit, this problem is a difficult one to solve due to the nature of the sport’s preparation and scheduling, but two things come to mind. One: the UFC could enact an extra incentive or penalty for champions and top contenders who fail to defend or fight three times a year. Three times a year is a reasonable expectation, assuming a fighter doesn’t get legitimately injured or made incapable of fighting due to a previous injury made worse during their last time in the octagon.

Two: create more interim contests and champions. These guys will keep the divisions lively, open up more opportunities for contenders, and keep the fans intrigued while the incumbents are MIA. Of course, these newly crowned champions will also operate under the three fights a year requirement. If an interim title holder is unable to meet this stipulation for whatever reason, that belt will become available to the next two deserving guys in line.

Solutions within these two suggestions would no doubt prevent the divisional gold from becoming stagnant. However this problem gets fixed, the UFC needs to do something creative to keep the championship slots hot. Fans and fighters, alike, shouldn’t have to operate under such a unreliable time frame.

The aftermath of UFC 143 really underlined the issue at hand and why it needs to be addressed.

Bottom line: Carlos Condit shouldn’t be given the option to wait for Georges St-Pierre. You can’t replace an absent champion with an interim champion who has the option to be inactive for eight to nine months. It defeats the purpose of interim belts.

As the biggest and most successful MMA promotion in the world, the UFC has the time slots and talent to fix any and all championship droughts. Call me spoiled, but a slightly more demanding schedule has been overdue.

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UFC on Fox 2: Are No. 1 Contenders Chael Sonnen and Rashad Evans Really Ready?

After a three-year absence, the UFC returned to Chicago for their inaugural Fox event, showcasing a “tripleheader” with exciting specialists like Chael Sonnen, Michael Bisping, Demian Maia and Rashad Evans. A day after the event, fans are split on…

Many say the fights were simply boring, lacking any finishes from guys more than capable. Others claim the three main event bouts were dictated on a higher technical level that’s harder to appreciate if you’re not a hardcore fan.

Regardless, two out of the three decision victories for two undisputed No. 1 contenders have caustic implications for the 185 and 205 pound divisions. It will be determined later this year if the middleweight and light-heavyweight titles will switch hands. But after watching UFC on Fox 2 last night, will the Chael Sonnen and Rashad Evans who showed up in Chicago be enough to topple their respective foes in Anderson Silva and Jon Jones?

These two current champions are the most devastatingly dominant titleholders—along with Jose Aldo—on the UFC roster. Each man has defended their titles in such a convincing manner with unmatched brilliance that many pundits truly believe they are the only true challenges left each other, despite being in different—cleaned out—divisions.

Top-notch challengers like Dan Henderson, Vitor Belfort, Shogun Rua, Rampage Jackson, Lyoto Machida and Yushin Okami have all fallen victim to Silva and Jones’ greatness. That’s a list of who’s who in the business. In fact, the only person to come close to dethroning Silva was Sonnen over a year and a half ago, a feat which has continued to cement his status as the middleweight division’s irrefutable number two.

And, let’s not forget about Evans’—a former UFC champion—impeccable run in the UFC. He has only lost once in the UFC to Machida and redeemed a draw against former champ Tito Ortiz. There’s no guessing why the MMA world sees both Sonnen and Evans as deserving challengers to the belts.

Nevertheless, this sentiment may be on shaky grounds after Evans turned in a safe lackluster performance against an outclassed opponent with only nine professional fights on his record and Sonnen’s strengths in wrestling, strength and tenacity were essentially nullified by a smaller and inferior wrestler in Bisping.

Sonnen got quickly derailed from his game plan in the first round by a damaging strike from Bisping, which really set the downward spiral into motion. For the remaining rounds, Sonnen uncharacteristically failed to overpower his opponent in the clinch and only got to enjoy the fruits of his takedowns momentarily before Bisping popped up to his feet.

Another worrisome observation for Sonnen fans was how often Bisping was landing short quick combos. The British challenger didn’t seem to have much trouble landing through Sonnen’s boxing defense throughout the entire fight. That’s something Sonnen will not be able to get away with against Silva, especially if his takedowns prove to be ineffective and can’t be smoothly mixed within his own striking.

What’s equally disheartening for Rashad supporters is his inability to pull the trigger in high-pressured situations. Ever since getting knocked out by Machida, the former champ has fought comparatively conservative against the likes of Thiago Silva and Rampage Jackson and continued that winning streak by earning a technical knockout over Tito Ortiz, who is clearly past his heyday.

In addition, as we saw last night, Evans played it safe and had issues capitalizing on openings from a more inexperienced and overall inferior fighter in Davis. By the end of the final round, both men were noticeably tired as well. The lasting thought of Evans’ performance left many fans wondering how he’ll avoid being target practice for Jones, who has comparable wrestling skills, much longer reach and a highly unpredictable striking arsenal.

All in all, we were privy to a vulnerable side of Sonnen and Rashad that now poses question marks that weren’t necessarily present when pairing them up against their division’s respective champs as early as a year ago. Of course, every fight is different and there’s no guarantee these issues are reasons to be concerned. They both will have plenty of time to improve on any shortcomings before their title fights. But, if they fight like they did last night at the United Center, in front of millions watching on Fox 2, they will be in for a long night at the office.

Sure, both men should still be seen as the rightful challengers to the belts, but again after last night, their chances of actually winning it have fallen substantially in the minds of some.

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Check out what I thought of the entire FOX portion of the event on my blog In The Mix with Joe Schafer

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UFC 140 Results: Who or What’s Next for Big Nog?

In Antonio “Big Nog” Nogueira’s rematch for redemption against Frank Mir last night at UFC 140, the former UFC and Pride champion suffered the worst loss of his storied career by losing on the ground to a vicious arm-breaking kimura. If you were lucky enough to see Mir’s handy work on a big screen, let that brutal replay sink in and allow the significance to stew.

The quick answer to the headline’s question is a hospital, loads of painkillers, a sport’s psychiatrist and a long, tough period of reflection to see where his career can go after such a disappointing loss.

There really seems to be no contentious room at heavyweight for Nogueira anymore or any true reason to continue his fight career, considering everything this living legend has done for the sport, fans and himself.

Guys like Chuck Lidell, Tito Ortiz and Wanderlei Silva, who have accomplished the same past accolades and status as Nogueira, never want to let go of former glory when the time is right. Unfortunately, as history as taught us, a turbulent ending is—in most cases—an inevitable part of being a legendary fighter in mixed martial arts.

Most fighters lack the lasting durability and competitiveness of the Randy Coutures of the world, who continued to be a legitimate force while extending his prime well past what makes biological sense. But, the same strong desires and passion to step in the Octagon against the best in the world is both a gift and a curse, blinding their ability to call it quits on a high note before going out on their shields.

Even Couture’s exit from the sport wasn’t bulletproof. Though he maintained very well in the lasting days of his career, he still retired on a devastating front snap-kick knockout by a younger, quicker, stronger Lyoto Machida.

Liddell was finally forced to retire after winning only one out of his last six fights and being on the wrong end of a knockout highlight reel four out of those five loses.

Silva has yet to retire, coming off a recent win over Cung Le that is sparking a small amount of hope in fans that the “Axe Murderer” may be able to finish up his career in a fashion that somewhat resembles his former self.

Despite being an adored fan favorite, like all the previously mentioned fighters, Nogueira’s submission loss to Mir should mark the end of his career—it certainly marks the end of his relevancy in the division, beyond selling tickets. He not only lost an important rematch, he lost his status as the greatest heavyweight ground specialist in the world, a title that Mir no longer covets because he possesses it.

Nogueira got beat in the most decisive way possible at his own game. There is nothing left for him to prove. The unpleasant reality of getting older is a hard pill to swallow in day-to-day life, let alone in the most competitive combat sport on the planet. If Big Nog’s skills have demised to the point of no return, he has no reason to continue and risk marring the final act of a grand career.

Will he retire? Probably not; his pride has been cut deep and his heart will burn for one more chance to go out on top. Difficult decisions are usually the smartest, not the easiest.

Nogueira has exceeded expectations throughout his time in the cage, but the odds are stacked against him, smart money says he won’t be the expectation to the rule in this case.

If he plans on continuing to fight until his wheels fall off, a Pride legend vs. Pride legend match could be made against Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic (this fight would be intriguing enough for him to come back for). It would be a win-win for Pride fans and it would give each fighter a chance to do what most in their situation have failed to do in the past: write a winning final chapter with a meaningful and decisive victory.

Be sure to stay tuned to Bleacher Report for all things UFC 140. B/R is your home for complete coverage of the December 10 fight card, from p re-fight predictions to in-fight coverage, results and post-fight analysis.

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Michael Bisping Puts the £ in Pound-for-Pound After TUF 14 Finale

I agree with colleague Darren Wong’s piece about UFC middleweight and British MMA poster boy Michael Bisping not getting due credit, being overlooked as a top contender at 185 lbs. and being a man posed for a title crack against mainstay champion…

With that said, after the Nevada State Athletic Commission released The Ultimate Fighter 14 Finale salaries yesterday, I’ll be damned if “The Count” deserves close to half a million dollars for dismantling Jason “Mayhem” Miller for two out of three rounds in one of the most uneventful main events in recent memory.

Bisping’s base pay—guaranteed money win or lose—against Miller was $275,000, along with a generous $150,000 win bonus for banking an unanimous decision. Luckily for the UFC, their British bad boy rakes in dollar signs, not his native British pound sign, saving the company a marginal amount due to the pound’s stronger trade status in the global market.

Of course, for those of you fans privy to Mr. Bisping’s fight salaries over the last couple of years, you shouldn’t be surprised—the Brit has been banking serious money since UFC 100.

In fact, Bisping has been a perennial top grosser for a good portion of his middleweight venture in the UFC. These last two years have been especially kind to the Brit’s wallet, keeping him far away from any local “dole” queues.

In 2010, only one man made more in the octagon, slightly edging out Bisping by $15,000—a surprising fact considering the fighter in question is UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre, who is considered a pound-for-pound great by most measures. St-Pierre’s stacks reached the $900,000 mark for that year.

As this current year comes to a close, Bisping’s financial situation remains the same. He continues to be the second highest grossing UFC fighter, taking home roughly $850,000 behind former champ and household name Tito Ortiz, who has cracked the million dollar club thus far.

We have to keep in mind some of these payday totals include fight night bonuses and were noticeably increased due to Bisping’s winning ways. In a sense, he has somewhat controlled his monetary destiny by avoiding losses.

What is even more astounding about all these totals is that none of these include Pay-Per-View percentage shares. Keep that fact in mind throughout the article.

In addition, official payouts were not issued to the public for events held on foreign soil where there is no official athletic commission to maintain the practice.

Let’s rewind back to UFC 100. Legend Dan Henderson unloaded a vicious $150,000 paycheck square on Bisping’s jaw—nothing like six figures to help erase that photo shopped nightmare of a loss.

For the remaining time leading up to present day, the Brit earned a $40,000 “Fight of the Night” bonus on top of his base pay for defeating Dennis Kang at UFC 105 in England (safe to assume his guaranteed pay was around $150,000). He then cashed in around $175,000 for losing a close decision to Wanderlei Silva at UFC 110, and tipped the scale just over $200,000 by beating Dan Miller at UFC 114.

But, the cash really started flowing in during his last three fights: $385,000 (included $60,000 win bonus) against Yoshihiro Akiyama at UFC 120, a staggering $425,000 (included $150,000 win bonus) for each of his fights against Jorge Riviera at UFC 127 and Jason Miller at TUF 14 Finale over the weekend.

If the per fight breakdown and annual accumulative list wasn’t convincing enough, let’s put these numbers into perspective based on how they compare to fellow UFC stars. Here’s a quick rundown of the UFC’s most popular fighters and their base pay from their most recent fights.

This list will either convince you that Bisping is getting paid too much, deserving or not, or he’s actually good enough to be elevated to the UFC’s highest paid level.

BJ Penn: $150,000 (includes $75,000 Fight of the Night bonus), UFC 137

Junior Dos Santos and Cain Velasquez combined: $320,000, UFC on Fox 1

Dan Henderson and Shogun Rua combined: $415,000, UFC 139

Wanderlei Silva: $200,000, UFC 139

Cung Le: $350,000, UFC 139

Urijah Faber: $64,000 (includes $32,000 win bonus), UFC 139

Frankie Edgar: $177,000 (includes $51,000 win bonus and $75,000 Knockout of the Night), UFC 136

Dominick Cruz: $40,000 (includes $20,000 win bonus), UFC Live

Jon Jones: $215,000 (includes $70,000 win bonus and $75,000 Fight of the Night bonus), UFC 135

Rampage Jackson: $325,000 ($75,000 Fight of the Night bonus), UFC 135

Anderson Silva: $200,000, UFC 134

Chris Lytle: $200,000 (includes $35,000 win bonus, $65,000 Fight of the Night bonus and $65,000 Submission of the Night bonus)

Georges St-Pierre: $400,000 (includes $200,000 win bonus), UFC 129

Randy Couture: $250,000, UFC 129

Lyoto Machida: $329,000 (includes $129,000 Knockout of the Night bonus)

As you can see, everybody on that list has mighty large shoes to fill if they disappeared tomorrow. With the exception of Chris Lytle, who has produced 10 fight night bonus worthy performances for the UFC, every man mentioned has a history with wearing UFC gold.

Clearly on the other side of the spectrum, there are guys who fight just as hard and who are arguably as talented as the high rollers, but make only a fraction of a Michael Bisping or Georges St-Pierre’s win bonus.

To Bisping’s credit, he has an impressive record that boasts only three losses (one was a split and the other was a very close decision loss) out of his 15 fights in the octagon. In addition, he’s been the company’s marketing spearhead into the UK’s MMA scene for a while now.

Discrediting Bisping’s career successes and his progression into the top half of his division would be an idiotic oversight.

But unfortunately, we also can’t forget the fact that he has never fought for UFC gold—let alone worn it. Of the elite opponents Bisping has fought, he’s lost. In the other column, he has decision victories over guys like Miller, Akiyama, Chris Leben—a split against Matt Hamill—and impressive TKO finishes over not-so-impressive opponents like Jorge Rivera and Jason Miller.

Possible scheduling difficulties aside, he’s certainly not a work horse who will compete more than three times a year, and he’s only mustered up two fight night bonuses.

Maybe I’m being too critical, but when you consider the level of pay, accomplishments and title implications throughout a career—especially a fighter from the earlier list—you start to wonder why Michael Bisping is cashing in on champion level paydays.

Obviously, it’s hard to dissect a fighter’s intrinsic value beyond the numbers, and maybe Bisping more than compensates his worth to his employer by being incredibly marketable overseas.

Regardless, the UFC seems fine with treating Michael “The I’m Counting My Money” Bisping like royalty. That happens to be the business that is keeps booming, so maybe we should all mind our own.

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TUF 14 Finale: Mayhem Miller’s Ground Game Will Be Too Much for Michael Bisping

**Burp** Excuse me, how rude. That tasted like guilt-free Thanksgiving dinner all over again! Please forgive me; I ate so much my fingers got fat, preventing me from typing a single word over the holidays. Now that these little stubby things are slimme…

Everybody seems to be underestimating the wacky Ultimate Fighter 14 coach Jason “Mayhem” Miller in his upcoming finale bout with British MMA poster boy, former TUF 14 coach and TUF 3 winner Michael Bisping.

Are fans having trouble separating the class clown from the matured mixed martial artist in Miller? He has certainly become a more popular pop-culture icon within the world of MMA due to his stint as host of MTV’s bully beatdown, his jubilant walkout theatrics in DREAM and his memorable feud with Cesar Gracie’s “Skrap Pak”—Gilbert Melendez, Jack Shields and more notably Nick Diaz—during his time fighting in Strikeforce.

After getting unofficially suspended for his participation in the Strikeforce/CBS brawl with the aforementioned crew, Miller has been sidelined from action for over a year. Back in September of 2010, before all of Japanese MMA went on hiatus, Miller was last seen in the ring submitting legendary Pride pillar Kazushi Sakuraba at DREAM 16.

In a sense, I can’t blame those who somewhat forgot about Jason Miller the fighter. The man even paid credence to this fact in a pre-fight interview with Heavy’s Megan Olivi when he referenced himself as “Mayhem Miller the comedian.”

Wait, he’s been signed back to the UFC since April of this year? What has he been doing all this time? It may seem to the casual fan that Mayhem Miller does just about everything but fighting. I’m sure freshly introduced fans to the Ultimate Fighter show—and to the sport in general—were nice and confused, wondering why the Bully Beatdown guy was coaching across from the UFC’s British bad boy veteran and why many pundits and fighters are having a tough time deciding on a victor for the main event this Saturday.

That’s why I’m here, to remind the naysayers of Miller’s progressive journey into MMA maturity as a highly skilled grappler, who possesses top notch submissions. Don’t be fooled; he’s not all hair dye and gimmicks.

Despite being everywhere but in the cage competing, Miller has continued to greatly improve his compete skill set with some of the best guys in the sport, from highly touted Brazilian Chute Boxe trainer Rafael Cordeiro’s Kings MMA in California—home to Mark Munoz, Wanderlei Silva, Mauricio Shogun, Fabricio Werdum, Renato Babalu and Jake Ellenberger.

In fact, Miller just recently achieved his Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt from Kings MMA, a gym sporting submission gurus like Joao Assis, Alexandre Neves, Andre Franco and Fabricio Werdum. Coming into the UFC to compete against the elite after a long break can definitely rise ring rust concerns, but he’s obviously been keeping busy rolling with black belts and striking with knowledgeable Muay Thai experts.

Putting that freshly minted Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt to work against Bisping is a must if Miller plans on upsetting the odds. There’s no surprise that Bisping, a former British kickboxing champion will want to use his superior striking to keep Miller at bay and on his feet.

Even if Miller finds himself stranded on the feet, he still has a better chance of surviving a kickboxing match with Bisping opposed to his foe than surviving a smothering chess match on the ground.

Some habits die hard. Bisping still has a terrible one of turning into the right hand power of his opponents. Not that Mayhem will likely win by knockout—via dropping a Monkey bomb Hendo style—but he does has a durable chin and the aggression to push forward until he finds Bisping cut off and clinched up.

If Miller gets forced into a stand up battle, will he get out-pointed? Maybe, but he won’t get knocked out.

Regardless, you can’t dress it up any other way: Mayhem’s chances of putting Bisping away will heavily depend on his ability to close the distance, utilize his grappling prowess to put his opponent up against the cage, where he can leverage takedowns or Judo throws so he can find a home for a submission on the mat.

The latter is very plausible; Bisping hasn’t suffered a lost due to submission, but then again, the UFC hasn’t forced him to fight a guy with Miller’s elite ground game. Frankly, nobody is completely convinced Bisping has a formidable ground game at this level—the great mystery leading into this fight.

If Miller has his way Saturday night, that question mark lingering over the other side of Bisping’s game will be answered.

Many things will be answered revolving Jason Miller’s return to the octagon. Will Bisping’s sought after title shot elude him? Can Miller unleash enough Mayhem to prove he belongs in the top 10 at 185 pounds?

I just want to know if there’s going to be dancing Japanese school girls.

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UFC 139: Dan Henderson vs. Shogun Rua Tops All 2011 Main Events

I think everybody can agree that Saturday night’s UFC 139 was historic. Not only was the card stacked from head to toe on paper, but the night delivered from start to finish. As a recovering Pride fanboy, I couldn’t have been happier watching three household names from that Japanese era go into the Octagon to perform on what has become possibly the best event of the year.

We still have three more cards before 2011 closes.

UFC 139 in San Jose was so memorable, I nearly forgot about all the non-Zuffa MMA action going down this weekend. Longtime Bellator lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez misplaced his title strap around the waist of Michael Chandler, ending a two-year reign, and let’s not forget that one Russian guy, who topped many peoples’ pound-for-pound list just a few years ago. He laid waste to Jeff Monson Sunday morning in Moscow under the M-1 Global banner.

Needless to say, those events are headline worth under normal circumstances. I feel sorry for those knucklehead writers venturing outside the UFC 139 realm the day after—ballsy but futile. Listen up fight fans: after last night, there’s no turning back. Particularly after this successful year, it’s a UFC world and we’re just living in it.

This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I’m all for the idea of competition between promotions, battling it out for their slice of the market pie, putting on the best fights in order to attract the most eyeballs. It even gives fighters more leverage and options when fishing around for the best contractual deals.

But, after the year the UFC is having, don’t expect the current Zuffa-dominated landscape to change anytime soon. Frankly, they deserve it. UFC 139, as a whole, really reflects the marque matchmaking Joe Silva puts together, the unmatched leadership by Dana White and the financial commitment to production value and fighter salaries by the Fertittas.

In particular, the headlining fight between legendary warriors Dan Henderson and Shogun Rua really put the UFC’s success into perspective.

Last night’s main event was one of many amazing top billings from 2011—arguably one of the greatest, period.

As the year stands right now, with three more events waiting to unfold, what are the top five main-event bouts from 2011 thus far?

Let’s attempt to answer that question in the next five slides.

Begin Slideshow