Author: Mike Chiappetta

After Paige VanZant’s Highlight-Reel KO, Next Steps Are Tricky Ones

So far, the Paige VanZant gamble has largely worked out. For her and for the UFC. The promotion pushed her for a spot on Dancing with the Stars, saw her profile rise with a second-place finish on the show and then pulled her back in for a featured spot…

So far, the Paige VanZant gamble has largely worked out. For her and for the UFC. The promotion pushed her for a spot on Dancing with the Stars, saw her profile rise with a second-place finish on the show and then pulled her back in for a featured spot on UFC on Fox 21. With another crowd of millions watching on Saturday night, VanZant orchestrated the night’s flashiest moment: a switch kick leading to a knockout of Bec Rawlings. 

It looked like something she might have practiced on the dance floor, dazzling and elegant and perfectly timed. 

It will no doubt raise her profile even more. 

It will also bring problems along with it.

At some point soon, she will become torn on which direction to go. You can almost bank on it. We’ve seen it too many times already, and she’s the next one to face temptation from elsewhere. There will be more attention, more opportunities and probably more money. She is young (22 years old), talented and attractive, and the entertainment world will start whispering in her ear.

And when there is more attention, opportunities and money, distractions follow.

She’s already had a taste of Hollywood and was offered a movie role that she ultimately turned down in order to fight, according to TMZ. 

But as her star power grows, the offers will improve, putting the UFC in a position to compete for a talent that is already under contract.

Earlier this week, during a pre-fight interview with media, VanZant was asked about her reaction to Conor McGregor’s huge payday from UFC 202. Her answer was illuminating. She mentioned that during her time on DWTS, she got to understand how much other athletes make.  

“I was like, ‘Hey, I don’t make that much money,’” she said. 

Uh-oh.

According to Nevada Athletic Commission numbers released to the media after her last fight, VanZant earned a $40,000 purse.

Saturday night, she earned at least triple that, since she added a win bonus and performance award to her nightly take. It was a nice payday. Still, the temptation to do other things will come. It’s inevitable.

For her part, VanZant (7-2) has said all the right things. That fighting is her first love, that everything else will have to play second fiddle, that she is happy at this stage of the game.

“I know that people want me because I’m different,” she said in the UFC on Fox post-fight show. “If I wasn’t a fighter, I wouldn’t be unique. People like me because I’m an MMA fighter and a chick who fights, and that’s why I’m desired outside of the Octagon.

“I knew with the Kickboxer movie that it would cut into this fight camp, and I had to turn it down. The timing wasn’t going to work. I wanted to stay focused for this fight. If other opportunities arise that don’t cut into fight camps, I’m definitely going to pursue them, but if I have a fight lined up, that’s going to be the priority.”

For these last eight weeks at least, she proved that to be true. After a nightmare evening her last time out against Rose Namajunas, her ability to put a frustrating loss behind her and rebound was a good sign. But Rawlings, unlike Namajunas, was unranked, and VanZant went in as the favorite.

This time around, she delivered, but after winning and admitting that she would pursue certain opportunities, there will be questions about whether time away from the gym will help or hurt her. There is no question she is still a developing fighter, and there are many techniques that need sharpening. 

Much of what she’s done has been due to her athleticism and will to succeed. Those are two excellent building blocks for success, but there are plenty of fighters ahead of her in the rankings who have them and then some. And they also do not have the same distraction possibilities staring them in the face. They are waking up and focusing on improving their fight games. Putting in their time on the bag. In sparring. Rolling in jiu-jitsu. The game waits for no one.

“I actually think it’s funny when people keep saying I left fighting or I took a break when there’s a lot of other fighters who have much longer layoffs than I did,” she said in the post-fight press conference.

Uh-oh.

Here’s the thing: She did take a break. She did have a layoff. Eight months, but who’s counting? To be clear, time off is not necessarily a bad thing. Sometimes it’s good to step back and recharge, and that formula worked well this time around. But if she continues to entertain these offers, if time away becomes a growing trend, there is a real chance her growth as a fighter may be stunted.

Even though she voiced a desire to fight on the Dec. 17 card in Sacramento, California, it may be wise to start finding peace with it all now. Maybe VanZant will find that she likes Hollywood a lot more than she expected, and that Hollywood likes her, too. Maybe this fight thing is just a stop on the way to something greater. If that’s the case, that’s fine. She doesn’t owe the sport anything.

But if she wants to reach her potential in the Octagon, if she wants to supplement her raw skills and maximize her talent, it probably won’t do. 

For VanZant, the next steps are coming, and they’re tricky ones. Unlike that TV show she took part in, she’ll have to figure these out all on her own.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Carlos Condit, a Treasure of Fighting, Begins His Long, Slow Goodbye

There is a picture of Carlos Condit that will forever speak for him. In it, his hair is soaked in sweat, his face is bathed in blood, a vertical slash carves up the right side of his face above the eyebrow. His teeth are clenched in a way that blurs wh…

There is a picture of Carlos Condit that will forever speak for him. In it, his hair is soaked in sweat, his face is bathed in blood, a vertical slash carves up the right side of his face above the eyebrow. His teeth are clenched in a way that blurs whether he’s grinning sadistically, gritting in pain or both.

He looks like a man who has fought his way from the depths of hell. 

The picture has been used so many times over the years that most people don’t remember which fight it comes from. It is just a snapshot in time that encapsulates his status as one of MMA’s most ferocious competitors of all time. 

Five of his UFC fights—against Rory MacDonald, Johny Hendricks, Robbie Lawler, Jake Ellenberger and Martin Kampmann—are listed among Tapology’s top 100 all-time bouts, as voted on by fans. A sixth, against Georges St-Pierre, is No. 101.

Win or lose, Condit has bared his fighting spirit in a way few others can claim, marrying professionalism and martial artistry together in a way that should make him a role model for following generations.

For a while, it seemed like the pictures—and his highlight videos—might be all we had left.

Sometime after taking part in the best fight of 2016—sorry, Conor McGregor and Nate Diaz fans—Condit’s year was over, he had determined. Not his entire year, but at least his participation in the thing he’s known for. The blood. The guts. The heart. It was all to be packed away in his equipment bag, zippered shut and stored away for the winter. The reason? He had a future to contemplate. His own, his family’s, that of his soon-to-be-born son.

This isn’t so surprising to people who witnessed the last moments of his UFC 195 fight with Lawler back in January, who saw the disappointment in his face when the judges’ decision was read, who heard him discuss the possibility of walking away from the cage.

Condit out of the cage, fish out of water, it’s the same thing. Unnatural.

Thankfully (selfishly), he has delayed the inevitable. He’s back against Demian Maia headlining Saturday’s UFC on Fox event in Vancouver, British Columbia. But make no mistake, the countdown to his farewell is underway.

“I was definitely serious in talking about it, and I feel like I’m certainly toward the end of my career,” Condit told Bleacher Report. “It’s a tough sport, and I’ve been at it a long time. I’m looking to make my transition out of it, but the tough thing about that is I still f–king love to fight. I still have some fight left in me. I’m still young, and I can still do it. But from a logical standpoint, I know it’s time to start making my way out and transitioning to something else. I have to find the balance between those two. But I’ll probably be done in the next couple years.”

Fighters say this kind of thing from time to time, but it never seems to stick. Condit is only 32 years old and sits at No. 4 in the UFC’s welterweight rankings. Is this for real?

It turns out, yes.

During his short recent sabbatical from the cage, Condit took classes toward attaining a real estate license. He plans to take the test sometime after fighting Maia, then work part time in property development as he begins a shift to business.

But why now, and why this young?

Condit began his pro career in 2002, when he was 18 years old. He’s fought at the highest level of MMA. He’s professionally kickboxed. He even once took a pro boxing fight. 

It is a decorated and painful history, a journey that his body reminds him of all the time.

“On a regular day, something is hurting,” Condit said. “It varies more or less. Seems like I heal pretty quickly and get over stuff, or I’m just used to dealing with stuff. After this fight, I’ll have to go and get a few things looked at. I’m going to make it through this camp and I feel good, but rarely does a fighter step into the Octagon without some kind of nagging injury. Getting through these camps, sometimes you’re held together with paper clips and bubble gum and tape. You just kind of get in there and you make it work because if you pull out of a fight, you don’t get paid.”

That’s not an option now, not with another mouth to feed shortly. Condit’s wife is expecting to deliver the couple’s second son about two weeks after fight night. 

His son’s impending arrival was part of the reason he had expected to take the rest of the year off in the first place. In addition to contemplating and working toward his future, he wanted to block out the last quarter of the year to be with his family.

But when Dana White called to offer a fight just ahead of the self-imposed deadline, Condit jumped on it.

The bout’s style matchup is a sea change from Lawler, who is something of a fighting kindred spirit as an often tactical, occasionally reckless snatcher of souls. Maia, meanwhile, focuses almost exclusively on efficiently taking the fight to the ground and stoically strangling opponents into submission. 

They are disparate problems, and for a time, Condit said if he was to come back to the cage, it would be for a fight like a rematch with Lawler (per The MMA Hour, h/t MMA Fighting). For those of us who never lock up in combat, it seems crazy to think Condit would want to go through that kind of torture again, a fight that ended with a series of brutal exchanges so exhausting that both men literally had to lean against the cage at the final bell to keep from falling over.

“Physically, it’s like you’ve been held underwater a really long time and you just came up,” he said. “Your muscles and body and everything is just screaming for oxygen. You’re hypoxic, you’re a little bit dizzy and tingly from a combination of fatigue and getting bludgeoned in the head. And then emotionally, after every fight for me, it’s always the most incredible release of pressure. Leading up to these fights, there’s so much pressure and there’s so much on the line on a lot of different levels. When the fight’s over and it’s done, it’s an amazing feeling win or lose.”

That feeling comes from pride in the effort both he and his team put in. After all, sometimes the result is out of his hands.

Against Lawler—in a fight in which he out-landed his opponent 177-93 (per FightMetric) and which the overwhelming majority of the media and fans scored for Condit—the opinions that mattered the most went against him. The judges scored a split decision for Lawler.

It was the second time Condit came so close to winning the UFC championship. Back in 2012, he nearly ended Georges St-Pierre’s lengthy reign when he dropped the welterweight G.O.A.T. with a head kick. 

“It is what it is,” he said. “There’s really no changing it. You can’t go back on it. You can learn from it, but to have an emotional attachment to something you can’t change, that can only drag you down. It’s a bummer, hell yeah, but what can I do about it? If I think about it too much and pay too much mind to it, then what I am doing with my time in the present? The past is gone. All I got is right now.”

The fight with Maia is its own destination, but a positive result can also catapult Condit right back into the title conversation behind Stephen Thompson.

He has history with current champ Tyron Woodley—Condit tore his ACL during the opening minute of the second round and fought for another minute with it before the leg completely gave out on him—and a rematch with the belt on the line sounds good to him.

That elusive title (Condit was interim champ briefly in 2012) remains his white whale.

“I want to become undisputed UFC welterweight champion,” he said. “I’ve been so close a couple of times, but I don’t want to leave the sport always a bridesmaid and never a bride. I want to get that belt around my waist.”

This treasure of fighting admits he’s running out of time. He’ll bring his murderous stare and unrelenting will to Maia, but everything beyond that is unknown.

Enjoy him now while you can, before we can only stare at that photo and wear that same smile he wore that day, grinning sadistically for what he did, gritting in pain because it is over.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

With Everything on the Line, Conor McGregor Comes Through, Sets Up Trilogy

For Conor McGregor, it was all slipping away. The lead. The fight. The promotional power. Like a slow-motion free fall, it had to feel both horrific and out of his control. He had already lost to Nate Diaz once, taking a chunk from his mystique. His au…

For Conor McGregor, it was all slipping away. The lead. The fight. The promotional power. Like a slow-motion free fall, it had to feel both horrific and out of his control. He had already lost to Nate Diaz once, taking a chunk from his mystique. His aura seemed to crumble. Leading after two rounds at UFC 202 but fading, McGregor looked up to the clock, only to see eternity staring back at him—or at least something close to it. 

He shuffled right, he trotted left. There was nowhere to go. Diaz had him cornered everywhere, his length cutting McGregor off, his sharp angles threatening to chop him down at every pass, the same way he had done back in March. 

A loss would be, if not catastrophic, at least devastating, a crushing blow to his box-office magnetism. McGregor was a man teetering on the edge.

The greats have an inherent sense of realizing those moments and responding, and on Saturday night, McGregor answered many of the questions that have been raised since he suffered his first UFC defeat. He did not mentally break again. He did not surrender to fatigue. He summoned the will of a champion.

With everything on the line, McGregor found a reserve tank and emptied it, fighting gamely to the final horn and emerging with a majority-decision victory. Against Diaz, that is saying something. This is an athlete who runs triathlons for fun.

McGregor was always fighting from behind on stamina, but he would never acknowledge it. Instead, he came through when it counted most. Which means, in this bizarre feud between the UFC featherweight champ and a longtime lightweight contender, it’s time for a trilogy.

“Surprise, surprise, the king is back,” McGregor said in the cage directly after the final scores were read. “If you want this trilogy, it’s on my terms. I came up to 170, now you’ll come back to 155 and we’ll finish what we’ve started.”

Aside from any current UFC featherweights, there won’t be many objections. And within seconds, Diaz confirmed what we all suspected. He was in, too.

“I want No. 3,” he said. “I gave him No. 2, so let’s do it.”

While the fighters want it, and the fight world might want it, too, the UFC shut down the idea, at least for now.

“We’re definitely not doing this a third time right now,” UFC president Dana White said in a Fox Sports 1 interview after the bout.

But of course, White has been known to change his mind, and he was also quick to acknowledge the trilogy’s lure. And the new UFC ownership team—the sale was officially completed earlier this week—may have its own ideas, too. Would they really let this box-office gold slip away? 

Ronda Rousey vs. Holly Holm II will never be worth as much as it could have been had it taken place shortly after the first match happened. Has that lesson been learned? 

On top of it, these are two newly empowered fighters. For the first time in UFC history, both fighters in a match were guaranteed seven-figure paydays, according to the Nevada Athletic Commission (via Yahoo’s Kevin Iole.) McGregor made a $3 million purse; Diaz got $2 million. Both likely got a piece of the pay-per-view pie, too.

There are multimillionaires who will try to call their shot as they did this time around, when they basically dug their heels in the dirt and declined to fight anyone but each other. In the immediate aftermath of Saturday night’s fight, McGregor seemed ready to do battle again.

“How can they strip me of my belt?” McGregor said in the post-fight press conference. “I knocked out the interim champion in 13 seconds.”

While the collision course between fighters and promotion nears, Saturday’s bout was truly won by McGregor in the pivotal fourth. He had won the first two rounds only to watch Diaz storm back and take the third, overwhelming him late with a barrage against the cage that was so one-sided, one judge scored the round 10-8 for Diaz. 

All of the momentum had swung back to Diaz’s side, and McGregor seemed drained. The low leg kicks that had characterized his first two rounds had all but been abandoned, and he seemed more interested in circling out of danger than actually engaging. 

But against one of the all-time most active strikers in UFC history—Diaz’s 238 strikes landed against Donald Cerrone at UFC 141 remain a one-fight record—McGregor didn’t wilt. Instead, he actually out-landed Diaz in the fourth, 46-36, according to FightMetric. The display of will was enough to survive a final fifth-round burst from Diaz.

Adding to the degree of difficulty, McGregor may have broken his foot during the fight, according to the UFC’s broadcast announcers. After the bout, he could be seen limping out of the cage and was later shown on air walking on crutches backstage.

The suspected injury might well explain why McGregor went away from his best early weapon, the low kicks that hampered Diaz’s mobility. According to FightMetric, a full 24 percent of McGregor’s strikes were to Diaz’s legs, but that was hardly the extent of the damage he did. He dropped Diaz three times in the fight—once in the first and twice in the second—with thudding but measured left hands. McGregor was much more surgical and precise this time around, but he was still threatened by Diaz’s undying durability.

Every time after being dropped, Diaz was back on his feet in seconds and returning fire. While he wore the damage all over his body, from bruising on his legs to several cuts on his face, to his credit, he made it a fight in a situation where many others would have been finished. In some ways, there was no way he should have been there, but there he was, too, all the way to the end.

When it was over, Diaz helped McGregor up. The fierce opponents have clearly found common ground amid a kinship of competition. When they’re not busy fighting each other, they like taking on the sport’s power brokers. In doing so, they set themselves up for a trilogy fight, and another money match. When it mattered most, McGregor came through, and yet somehow, they both left as winners.

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The Question: Does Anthony Johnson vs. Glover Teixeira Point to Divisional Woes?

UFC 202 is on Saturday, and if you haven’t looked closely, you might have missed the fact that there are other fights on the card aside from Nate Diaz vs. Conor McGregor. You can understand how that fight would suck all the energy (and energ…

UFC 202 is on Saturday, and if you haven’t looked closely, you might have missed the fact that there are other fights on the card aside from Nate Diaz vs. Conor McGregor. You can understand how that fight would suck all the energy (and energy drink cans) out of a room, and while it’s the bout with the biggest monetary stakes, it isn’t the one with the greatest title implications.

That designation falls to the co-main event, a light heavyweight matchup pitting top-ranked contender Anthony “Rumble” Johnson against No. 2 Glover Teixeira. The winner will most likely get a late fall date with current champion Daniel Cormier. 

On paper, it makes perfect sense, and while the fight is certain to produce its share of fireworks, it also highlights the issues related to the lack of divisional depth. Both Johnson and Teixeira have had opportunities at the belt since the start of 2014, and few are clamoring for them to receive return engagements.

Unfortunately for UFC matchmakers, there is no other direction in which to turn. Elephant in the room Jon Jones is still awaiting word on his suspension status based on a potential anti-doping violation. Alexander Gustafsson’s lost two straight. Ryan Bader and Ovince St. Preux are both coming off losses. No one else in the top 10 has made much of a case for inclusion into the debate, so this is what we have, a division with one option.

Joining me to discuss the excitement level—or lack thereof—is MMA Lead Writer Chad Dundas.

Mike Chiappetta: Chad, I have to admit to feeling conflicted about this fight. On one hand, it has the potential to be a straight-up thrill ride. Johnson fires off his limbs like heat-seeking missiles and Teixeira has never met a firefight he’s backed away from. He runs to conflict. That means it’s quite likely that one man is going to add to his highlight reel and the other is going to leave with a very bad headache. From the selfish perspective of pure entertainment, it seems like a can’t-miss option. 

On the other hand, the purpose of the match is to build to something, and that’s where we run into problems. The division seems to have stagnated to the point of staleness. Even if you accept Cormier as its rightful and proper champion, there have been precious few arrivals lately to shake up the division and threaten for the belt. Nikita Krylov has shown promise, as has Misha Cirkunov, but both seem at least a year or two away from contending, if they ever get there at all. And doesn’t it make it difficult to get excited about a division when it’s constantly the same cast of characters? Sports requires a certain amount of turnover in talent, and without an infusion of newcomers, the light heavyweights are sputtering.

Chad Dundas: If it were happening in a vacuum there would be nothing wrong with a matchup between Rumble and Teixeira. As you note, it comes preloaded with a high probability of violence. Maybe if you’re looking for nothing more than a high-octane, no-strings-attached palate cleanser before Diaz vs. McGregor, this fits the bill just fine.

But, man, this is the light heavyweight division we’re talking about here. This is supposed to be the glamour weight class of the UFC. The division of Tito Ortiz, Randy Couture and Chuck Liddell, for pity’s sake. The division of Jon Jones! And really, the trouble here is that the very notion of Johnson vs. Teixeira as a No. 1 contender bout only underscores how far 205 pounds has fallen.

Everybody likes and respects Cormier a great deal, but it told me this division was in serious trouble when his UFC 192 barnburner against Gustafsson garnered just 250,000 pay-per-view buys, according to estimates from Dave Meltzer’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter (via MMA Payout). Can you imagine the UFC even trying to headline a PPV with a fight between Cormier and either Rumble or Teixeira?

I, myself, cannot.

It seems the only thing that might lift the fortunes of light heavyweight is the speedy return of Jones. To that end, at least we might be on the verge of getting good news.

Mike, are we really just killing time until Jones gets back? Can there be a workable storyline on the horizon at 205 pounds beyond Bones’ pursuit of all-time greatness? 

Mike: The decline of the light heavyweight class is one of the most concerning and underreported developments in the UFC right now. While it’s true that it has always been difficult to find talent in the bigger weight classes, I am surprised that we haven’t seen more of an influx in the last few years based upon the era of stars you just mentioned. I wish some enterprising manager would visit NFL camps and pick off the 20-something linebackers and running backs that don’t make a final roster. There is actually money to be made now for big men, and anyone with top-shelf athleticism and a proven willingness to engage in contact sports would have a road paved for them if they’re willing to put in the effort.

To be fair, I think the criticism of the division needs to be made independent of Johnson and Teixeira, who are two studs with strong records. Johnson, for instance, was thought to be the most intriguing matchup for Jones based upon his unrelenting power and defensive wrestling skills. That’s a matchup that the world would still want to see. And Teixeira is almost always exciting. 

I think this division suffers from Jones’ absence as much as talent issues. Everything within it is viewed from that prism, and he’s going to continue to be a specter until he returns. Until then, it’s a waiting game. So what’s the best-case scenario here, Chad? Frankly, I think it’s a Teixeira win. At least he offers a fresh matchup for Cormier, although his inability to stop the takedown against wrestlers (Patrick Cummins, Phil Davis and Jones combined for 16 takedowns against him, according to FightMetric statistics) seems like a major issue. Either way, the excitement meter isn’t hitting peak levels, and that’s a problem.

Chad: If the existence of guys like Cirkunov and Krylov predicts anything it’s that the next wave of great—or even good, I’ll totally settle for good right now—205-pounders probably isn‘t going to come from America. Absent a fantasy recruitment strategy like the one you mentioned, which I’m absolutely willing to fund as soon as I make my fortune, by the way, light heavyweight’s best hope is likely an influx of international talent.

Our colleagues Scott Harris and Patrick Wyman tabbed four 205-pounders this year for Bleacher Report’s annual list of MMA’s top 25 up-and-coming prospects. If you’re scoring at home, they were Paul Craig (Scotland), Vadim Nemkov (Russia), Jiri Prochazka (Czech Republic) and Mikhail Mokhnatkin (Russia). 

Hopefully, we’ll all be learning how to pronounce those last couple names sometime very soon. 

If you ask me, the No. 1 priority for the UFC during the second half of 2016 and beyond should be snapping up as much blue-chip talent in the heavyweight and light heavyweight divisions as possible. Otherwise, I don’t know how these two weight classes will even survive without some doomsday scenario where you have to combine them into one—and nobody wants that.  

As far as this specific fight goes? I agree with you that the best-case scenario is a Teixeira win. If he proves durable and wily enough to avoid Johnson’s early flurries, perhaps he can drag Rumble to the mat and turn this into a long, slow slog (sorry, PPV viewers!). Johnson’s primary weakness has always been his cardio and testing it through clinch work and wrestling is likely Teixeira’s best path to the victory.

Unfortunately for him, if I were I betting man, I’d wager Johnson’s speed and power win the day here. I think Teixeira is too plodding to avoid the early storm. I’ve got Rumble by first-round KO.

How about you, Mike?    

Mike: Against my better judgment, I’m going to slightly lean in the other direction. Johnson’s early storm is indeed terrifying, and there’s no question a first-round knockout is a real possibility, perhaps even the most likely one. However, Teixeira has proven himself to be nothing if not incredibly durable. He’s only been finished on strikes a single time in his career, and that was in his professional debut back in 2002.

If he can survive those opening barrages, Teixeira can sustain a blistering pace, while Johnson has been known to fade late. I can see an instance where Teixeira uses volume to overcome the power differential, or manages to take it to the ground, where he has the matchup’s biggest edge. He has a crushing mount and is equally adept at submissions and ground strikes. If Johnson finds himself on his back, the fight’s complexion will shift greatly.

I have to admit that over the course of this conversation, I’ve managed to work up a bit more interest in this fight. It is an intriguing matchup and a meaningful one, and we shouldn’t allow any criticism of the division to distort that. 

That said, it’s hard not to think about what we’ll wake up to on Sunday morning. One of these guys will probably be headed to another title match against a guy who many still can’t view as the rightful champion. These are strange days in light heavyweight land, so I guess we should all accept the moments of enjoyment when we can.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

UFC’s Era of Money (and Moneyweight) Fights Has Begun, and There’s No Going Back

Shortly after Michael Bisping realized his career-long goal of capturing the UFC middleweight championship, the question of who he might fight next followed. It is a simple and obvious one, almost mandatory. Within days, a front-runner emerged: Dan Hen…

Shortly after Michael Bisping realized his career-long goal of capturing the UFC middleweight championship, the question of who he might fight next followed. It is a simple and obvious one, almost mandatory. Within days, a front-runner emerged: Dan Henderson. At 45 years old, ranked No. 13 in the division and with just three wins in his last nine fights, Henderson called out Bisping for a fight that would seem like an odd pick on the surface. Yet their shared history—Henderson’s knockout of Bisping at UFC 100 is one of the sport’s all-time epic finishes—lent the potential pairing some buzz. And then a funny thing happened: Mostly everyone was on board.

Sure, the 12 fighters between Bisping and Henderson could offer a case of why they were more deserving, and a few of them—most notably Luke Rockhold and Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza—did. But in the end, it didn’t matter. The Bisping-Henderson rematch was booked.

It is just one of many recent cases that prove the era of money fights and moneyweights is in full effect, with fighters more proactively than ever trying to direct their own career paths past obvious pairings and toward those with higher earnings potential.

To wit, in recent months we’ve seen the following power moves:

Perhaps Alvarez’s take summed things up best, when he told ESPN.com: “Fighting the best guys in the world doesn’t pay as good as the circus. I want to join the circus. I’m trying to get that circus money.”

With the belt in tow, Alvarez has every right to try to flex a bit of his muscle, but it isn‘t just champions that are doing it. Just in the last month, Dennis Bermudez called out Frankie Edgar, David Teymur called out Sage Nortchutt, Al Iaquinta called out Thiago Alves and Will Brooks called out Edson Barboza. 

Everywhere you look, fighters are attempting to plot their own course. It’s a trend that shows no sign of slowdown, and may soon become the norm rather than the exception.

While callouts are hardly new, the widespread prevalence of the practice is a fairly recent development. For the longest time, fighters would win a fight and be asked by UFC announcer Joe Rogan or media members who they would like to fight next, only to defer to the UFC’s matchmaking team.

That’s no longer the case. Perhaps as they’ve become more keenly aware of the UFC’s booking tendencies—and what kind of fights draw bigger numbers—the athletes have adapted. 

“I guess fighters are looking at the bottom line,” Bisping told Bleacher Report. “You want big-money fights, and sometimes the No. 1 contender isn’t a big-money fight. If you’re the champion, you want to get the most money possible.”

Perhaps the best recent example of fighters calling their shots came as a dual effort. Though there was no outright collusion between the pair, McGregor and Nate Diaz essentially told the UFC that they were not willing to fight anyone other than each other. Even when McGregor was removed from UFC 200 for a refusal to meet press obligations, Diaz declined a fight with a replacement opponent, believing that a holdout for McGregor would result in the larger payday. In the end, the UFC gave in and rebooked the matchup for UFC 202.

“[McGregor] talks about all these fighters like they’re f–king dumb and he’s right, they’re all f–king dumb,” Diaz said during a recent media conference call. “I’m not one of those guys that just sat around here taking contracts. I’ve been bitching about my contract for the last six years. I’ve been going through hell, and so I knew I was going to get mine when it was time to get mine. I was going to get what I was going to get regardless, and I had a plan to do it.”

Diaz, along with his brother Nick, has been one of the rare fighters who has publicly aired contract grievances with the UFC, but it may have been opponent McGregor who has been more of an influence on the rest of the roster in the current money-fights trend.

From the time he arrived in the UFC in 2013, McGregor made everyone on the roster a target, weaving his own narrative as he ascended the rankings. The fight world quickly took notice, and pop culture wasn’t far behind. While he is gifted with the uncanny ability to turn a memorable phrase, McGregor made money his focus, openly discussing eight-figure contracts and the possibility of a becoming a billion-dollar man. 

In a sport where who’s earning what has been something of a secret, hidden behind mysterious locker room bonuses and a secret pay-per-view payout formula, McGregor’s willingness to bring money out of the shadows drew both attention and intrigue.

It’s also possible that the recent UFC sale for a $4 billion price tag opened some minds to figure out how the athletes could earn a bigger piece of the pie.

“Look, we deserve everything,” McGregor said during the recent UFC 202 media call. “We go in and put it on the line more so than any human being on the planet, so, and that’s for all of your entertainment, so we deserve to be on all of this, we deserve our name in lights. We deserve absolutely everything for what we do here.”

Still, there has been some backlash from the recent practice.

Woodley, for one, was a recipient of heat after offering his preferred opponents, with accusations that he’s “ducking” Thompson.

For the fighters, it’s completely understandable. It is their job to maximize their earnings. No one in corporate or blue-collar America would turn down more money to do the same work if all they had to do differently is to say a few words. Verbalizing a preference can make all the difference. Look at McGregor. Look at Diaz. Look at Henderson.

“At the end of the day, I’m the one who’s in control of my bank account,” Woodley said during a recent interview on The MMA Hour. “I’m the one who’s in control of my four kids, my wife, the house that I want to pay off this year. These things are realistic goals that are within reach with the right fight. So, I don’t have to explain that to them.”

UFC executives generally like when fighters call out opponents. It puts the idea out there for them to gauge interest. It gets people talking. It creates buzz, which is crucial in generating momentum to draw viewers that in some cases have to spend up to $60 to watch on television. 

Unlike stick and ball sports, which have regular schedules that are easily followed by even passive fans, MMA requires organizations to build attention for each individual event from scratch. In calling out potential opponents, fighters can jump-start this process, often to the benefit of all parties.

“We’re not slaves,” said Bisping, who when out of the cage moonlights as a UFC on Fox analyst. “We’re not forced to fight anybody. We’re not prisoners. We’re allowed to say we want to fight this guy. In that same token, while we’re allowed to say, ‘We don’t want to fight this guy and want to fight this guy,’ UFC is allowed to say, ‘We don’t want to make that fight.’ It’s business. It’s a give-and-take relationship. We can give our opinions and they can give theirs, and we can agree or disagree. It’s about finding a happy medium. It’s about finding a fight all sides—your opponent, yourself and the UFC—want to make and one that is logical.”

In the end, that is a difficult balancing act, one where the merits of a win streak often lose out to cold, hard cash. Someone may have to tell Thompson that while his seven straight victories are a wonder, he’s going to have to get back in line. Someone may have to tell Alvarez that his superfight is a long shot. And no one can tell Aldo when McGregor will make it back to the division to have a rematch with him. 

It is a messy, inexact science, but it sure keeps things interesting. And that is key to it all, and why it will continue. The days of saying nothing are long gone. Speaking with your fists is no longer enough. Fighters have platforms to voice their demands, and they’re using the system to do just that. The era of money (and moneyweight) fights has begun, and there’s no going back.

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The Question: UFC Boasts Featherweight Youth Movement, but Who’s Most Promising?

For the longest time, Jose Aldo ruled the featherweight division with the iron fist of a despot. Since then, everything has changed. Conor McGregor stands atop the heap, but no one’s quite sure if he is coming or going, and below him the division…

For the longest time, Jose Aldo ruled the featherweight division with the iron fist of a despot. Since then, everything has changed. Conor McGregor stands atop the heap, but no one’s quite sure if he is coming or going, and below him the division is in flux, with young talent flowing into the talent pool with designs on the king’s crown. 

Over the weekend, Mexico’s Yair Rodriguez made another step toward establishing himself into the upper echelon of the division, topping Alex Caceres in a victory that was much wider than the official split-decision result indicated.

At just 23 years old, Rodriguez is an intriguing talent, a mix of athleticism, versatility and daring that has paired himself with one of MMA’s great coaching teams in Greg Jackson and Mike Winkeljohn. The hope is that his creativity combined with their coherent game-planning can lead to a polished finished product.

But he’ll have many obstacles ahead. The featherweight youth movement is booming. Aside from Rodriguez, there’s Max Holloway (24), Brian Ortega (25), Dooho Choi (25), Mirsad Bektic (25) and Charles Oliveira (26), all in the Top 15.

So who’s the best of these prospects? Joining me to discuss “The Question” is Bleacher Report MMA Lead Writer Chad Dundas.

Mike Chiappetta: In a strange way, I feel a bit conflicted about this abundance of young talent, mostly because featherweight has been one of the few divisions to have stability over the years. Recently, the changes in the UFC have been dizzying. Champions can’t seem to hold on to a belt, and the company was recently sold. So maybe it would be nice to keep familiar names like McGregor and Aldo at the top. 

These kids are knocking on the castle door, though. All of them bring specific strengths and threats, but to start with Rodriguez, since his performance is fresh in mind, I see star power but have my doubts about his long-term title potential, mostly because his wildness appears bound to get him in trouble as he faces opponents who are more technically precise and unaffected by unorthodox methods. 

Good luck spinning so many times against Aldo without getting your legs chopped down, or against Edgar without getting your back mashed into the mat.

Basically, you get the feeling Rodriguez is being flashy for no rhyme or reason, and while it’s fun to watch, it’s a tactic with too much risk attached for continued long-term success. Rodriguez would be wise to find a happy medium, but with such a quick move up the rankings—he’s currently No. 13—he’s running out of time to make adjustments before he reaches the division’s upper echelon.

Chad Dundas: It’s amazing how far the featherweight division has come since the introduction of Conor McGregor back in 2013. The 145-pound class had long been a favorite of hardcore fans—especially those of us lucky enough to remember it back in the old WEC days—but under Aldo’s long, dominant leadership it had struggled to find a foothold with a larger audience. 

A few short years later, it’s arguably the most interesting division in the entire UFC, and with this crop of young talent now coming into its own, it might just have the brightest future, too. 

For the moment, I’m inclined to agree with you about Rodriguez, Mike. I love the kid’s flash and marvel at his potential, but he also feels like a really talented rookie race car driver who has yet to actually pass his driver’s test. He can floor it and go from 0-60 in three seconds—but can he parallel park?  

Frankly, the wattage of Rodriguez’s future may well depend on how the UFC treats him. He could turn out to be the linchpin to its planned expansion into the fight-friendly Mexican market. If that’s the case, then I think he’ll get the McGregor treatment and get matched against three or four more hand-picked fall guys before vaulting into a high-profile title fight.

At some point, though, someone will suffocate the glitzy, long-range offense and force him into a dogfight. When that happens, Rodriguez will need to prove he has the grappling and boxing fundamentals to back up the sizzle. Especially now that most—if not all—of his fights will likely be five-round main events, his margin for error might be slim.

Until Rodriguez proves his style can find succees at the highest level, I still think Max Holloway is the bluest of the blue-chip featherweight prospects.

Do you agree?

Mike: Ranked No. 3, Holloway is a compelling talent and is definitely the closest toward contending for a championship, but as for the top blue-chip prospect, I will cast my vote for the forgotten man in the group, Mirsad Bektic, who has been out for over a year after a knee injury that required surgery. 

After watching him compete in the UFC a few times, he has clearly showcased a complete game that is built to excel in today’s dynamic sport. Bektic has power, speed and athleticism, as well as a bully mentality that will serve him well as he moves onward and upward.

He has a powerful wrestling game that will allow him to control where fights are contested, but he’s also quite proficient at every other element of the game and blends it all together, making him a danger in all facets. This isn’t something that the rest of the group of prospects can claim. Rodriguez’s wrestling isn’t a threat in any meaningful way. Choi is still green and full of question marks. Ortega is way too content fighting off his back. Oliveira has no power.

I will acknowledge that Holloway has the least amount of holes of the group; he is currently closest to a finished product. Still, Bektic has the highest ceiling. He’s aggressive but not reckless; powerful but not sloppy. Right now, his biggest problem is his health, but he recently told MMA Junkie Radio he expects to be back around November.

I’m open to an argument I’m wrong. Chad, tell me why Holloway is a better championship threat.

Chad: I guess I’m a sucker for seeing a fighter prove it at the top level. Perhaps that invalidates the whole idea of being a “prospect,” but to me it’s impossible to overlook Holloway’s nine-fight win streak built over the course of two-and-a-half years and over an increasingly talented gauntlet of competition.

Saying Holloway looks like a handful for anybody in the division right now is just easier for me than trying to peer into my crystal ball and project where Rodriguez, Choi or Ortega will be in a few years. Does that mean I’m cheating the parameters of this discussion? Maybe. I can be a jerk like that.

Holloway is big and rangy for this division—5’11″—and has proved himself with recent wins over known commodities like Cub Swanson, Jeremy Stephens and former title challenger Ricardo Lamas. His striking is fearsome, and he’s athletic enough to compete with the top of the division.

You know what else I like about him? He seems to have a championship mentality. Back-to-back losses in 2013—the second one to current champ McGregor—seemed only to push him to work even harder. That’s the kind of mental approach you have to have to compete in a sport as wild and unforgiving as this.

But I digress. How about the rest of this crop, Mike? Which one of these also rans ultimately soars the highest? 

Mike: I feel like you took the easy way out here, partner. But sometimes, the easy way is the best way. It’s true, Holloway is a stud, and given his youth, is likely to get even better than he is now. Still, I just can’t shake the feeling that there is some missing piece that may derail him. Perhaps I’m overly influenced by his early losses ahead of his current wins. 

Either way, he remains infinitely fun to watch, and in some ways, that is the hallmark of this crop of featherweight talent. Oliveira is like a jiu-jitsu thrill-seeker, Ortega loves to skirt the line between success and disaster, Choi and Rodriguez are action junkies, and Bektic is a mauler. And we haven’t even mentioned 25-year-old Teruto Ishihara, who packs brashness, firepower and over-the-top (and occasionally over-the-line) charisma into his appearances. 

Which man will go the furthest remains up for debate, but even if Chad and I disagree on the leader of the youth vanguard, if there’s one thing we can agree upon, it’s that the featherweight division is in great and exciting hands.

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