ESPN Mixed Martial Arts

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

No more, thank you.

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

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

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

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

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

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

NEWARK, N.J. -- In a night of strange happenings, perhaps the strangest was saved for last.

As most thought he would, Jon Jones (18-1) defended his light heavyweight title against Chael Sonnen at UFC 159 at Newark's Prudential Center, yet he did it in a prideful way -- by outwrestling the wrestler. Coming into the fight, the one bit of intrigue for the heavy favorite Jones was how he would respond to Sonnen’s constant pressure.

Instead, the 25-year old Jones took Sonnen down in the first 10 seconds of the fight, and repeated the process a couple more times before finishing him via TKO with 27 seconds left.

It was a dominant performance by the champion, who tied Tito Ortiz’s record for most 205-pound title defenses at five.

Then the revelation: In his post-fight interview with UFC commentator Joe Rogan, Jones made a gruesome discovery -- his toe appeared broken.

Jones’ left foot was shown on the arean's Jumbotron and it dawned on him and the crowd at the same time that he had a mangled toe. It seemed that Jones broke the toe while pushing off the mat on a takedown attempt.

“I felt it pop,” he told ESPN.com afterward. “But I didn’t let it slow me down.”

Just how long he’ll be out, and what this means for the 205-pound division, remains to be seen. Coming into the fight, UFC president Dana White had mentioned that heavyweight contender Daniel Cormier might be a possibility for an automatic title shot in the lower weight class. And then there was Lyoto Machida, who was in attendance on Saturday night. Machida has also been pinky sworn by White to get a rematch against Jones. But with the injury, everything goes back up in the air.

And as far as Jones is concerned, Cormier isn’t on his mind yet.

“I don’t want to give Daniel Cormier any hype right now,” he said during a postfight interview with MMA Live. “That guy ... I won’t even make a comment.”

As for Sonnen, who coached opposite Jones on "The Ultimate Fighter" and took a lot of flak for not having the credentials to get the shot to begin with, he was gracious in defeat.

“He’s an excellent fighter, I have no problem with the stoppage,” he said. “[Jones] is very powerful. When he went for the kill, he never stopped. I thought I was all right, but he is the better fighter.”

Sonnen intimated that he may contemplate retiring now that it appeared that he had his last shot at winning a title. But he wasn’t definitive on that. Coming in, the thought was that Sonnen’s only chance against Jones was to use his wrestling to put Jones on his back, like he did with middleweight champion Anderson Silva at UFC 117.

Instead, Jones turned the tables out of defiance.

“[Coach] Greg Jackson, he always teaches me to have a philosophy of ‘screw them,’” Jones said. “If people want to say you can’t do something, you say, ‘screw them.’ That’s the way I looked at the critics. Screw you guys.

“My wrestling coach told me that that they’re going to be watching, they want to see who’s the better wrestler, and everyone thinks that you can’t wrestle. I said, screw them. Let me show you guys I can wrestle. I take wrestling very seriously.”

On a night where two bouts ended in technical decisions for accidental eye-pokes, and another ended when Yancy Medeiros dislocated his thumb against Rustam Khabilov, Jones’ injury felt par for the course. It was yet another “what if” for Sonnen. Though the Jones fight was the polar opposite of Sonnen’s first fight with Anderson Silva, he once again came close to becoming the champion.

Had Sonnen survived the first round, it’s possible that Jones wouldn’t have been able to continue with the injury to his foot. In that case, Sonnen would have backed his way into a title. That would have been different from the Silva fight -- which he dominated for 4½ rounds before getting caught in a triangle/armbar with under two minutes left -- even if the nearness to the gold was the same.

For as close as that might have seemed, it was a million miles away. Jones was his usual dominant self, and he showed he can beat opponents at their own game. UFC 159’s main event was never in doubt. The only thing that is in doubt becomes what exactly happens next.

“We’ll see what happens with Jones’ [injury], and we’ll go from there,” Dana White said. But, before letting it go at that, he also dropped a bomb in the post-fight news conference. He said that Anderson Silva called -- and was asking for a fight. Was he calling out Jon Jones?

White left it for everyone to speculate, but added that it doesn't really matter right now, with Silva slated to fight Chris Weidman at UFC 162.

How’s that for timing?

Fans of the UFC who perhaps didn’t paid attention to female martial arts before have all learned a little something in 2013 -- women fight pretty hard.

Two female bouts have taken place in the Octagon this year, and both stole the show.

Ronda Rousey’s armbar victory over Liz Carmouche proved vital after a rather dull co-main event at UFC 157. Earlier this month, Cat Zingano and Miesha Tate claimed Fight of the Night bonuses at The Ultimate Fighter 17 Finale in Las Vegas.

It may be hard to believe that all-female fights can be that entertaining. Sara McMann, who meets Sheila Gaff this weekend at UFC 159, says actually, yeah. They can.

“I think that is what women bring to the fight world,” McMann told ESPN.com. “Everybody is like, ‘Oh, I’m so surprised. They stole the show.’ Every woman fight on the smaller cards I’ve fought on, they all do it.

“These girls will fight from the first bell to the last, and they are going 100 percent of their pace. You can’t help but like that kind of fight. The UFC fan base is just now seeing why people have been saying women need to be in the UFC for years.”

McMann (6-0) has made it clear she’s not in the UFC to provide a good headline. When it comes to interviews, she’ll only be herself. Turns out she’s pretty interesting that way. Check out her conversation with ESPN.com below.

Seems like you’re enjoying your first UFC fight week?
I am. I think that before, I kind of told myself there would be a lot of media and it would get on my nerves, and I thought I was going to have a tougher weight cut than I’m having. I just expected it to be a lot more horrible. Most of the media stuff has just been casual conversations.

What else were you expecting the media conversations to be?
I thought there would be more charged questions. A lot of them have talked to me about UFC jitters. That one kind of got to me a little. I thought, is this going to be like the Olympics? No, not a chance in the world. I probably will feel nervous, but I think these guys are trying to plant it in my head. Six interviews in one day and every one of them talked about it. I was like, ‘Did you guys form a group that meets on Wednesdays? The UFC jitter group? Maybe the fight will be more nerve-racking than I think, but whatever it is, I’ll work through it.

Have you thought about what media obligations would be like if you won the title?
I’ve considered it. Now, I just view it as part of my job. It would start to get difficult if it really interfered with my training. Having a 4-year old daughter [Bella] and having gyms farther away from me, I’ve had to do a lot of working around different schedules, so, I think I would be able to do it for quite a while without it being that bad. Then again, I don’t know. I don’t know if Ronda’s [Rousey] schedule is more horrible than I think. Maybe I’d hate it, and if I do, I guess they’ll have to find a new champion.

The UFC fan base has now gotten to see the aggressive style women fight with. Why do you think women are geared toward those types of fights?
I think it is a little instinctual. The women I wrestle against, these girls are mean. Some of them are dirty. They will smash your face into the mat and not bat an eye. They just have a natural meanness. I think for a lot of the women, it’s not personal, but we’ll do whatever it takes. Women have a very strong, combative survival instinct.

How has the financial aspect of being a female fighter been?
It’s been tough, and I think some of that is because it’s been nine months since I’ve fought. I wish I would have been able to fight once for Strikeforce and that would have bridged the gap more. It’s growing. It’s going to take time. The UFC is offering the pay people were getting with their Strikeforce contract. Strikeforce was a different beast. It had different viewership and different sponsors. All those contracts rolled over. When we renegotiate, once we’ve shown we are a brand to fans and that we’re entertaining, I think the money will follow.

Are you able to not have a second job and train full time?
Yes. I also stay at home and take care of my daughter, and I have an awesome boyfriend who helps support my dreams. When I was first trying to get a pro fight, I had to work at Starbucks, and that was also for the health insurance. I couldn’t get anybody to accept a pro fight, and the people who they would fight me had 13 fights, so no commission would approve it. I know other girls work at gyms or are personal trainers to make ends meet. Anybody thinks of fighter pay and they think of Anderson Silva and Georges St-Pierre. The reality is, there are other guys fighting for a lot less than that. It’s very difficult to make it on just a fighter salary, but it’s getting better, I think.

There are those out there who say, “Sara McMann will be the one to beat Ronda Rousey.” Do you feel that pressure at all?
I don’t really feel that pressure because since I started MMA, I automatically wanted to be No. 1. I’ve already been working to be No. 1 since the beginning. I don’t do sports any other way.

If you fight Rousey tomorrow, do you beat her?
I don’t know when that fight’s going to be put together, but I wouldn’t even be where I am now if I didn’t think, 'Yes, you tell me tomorrow my next fight is Ronda, I will train for her and I will beat her.' That’s just the way I operate.

NEW YORK -- The decision to lift heavyweight Matt Mitrione’s suspension in less than three weeks has raised many eyebrows, so promotion president Dana White didn’t hesitate to answer questions Thursday about the matter during UFC 159 media day at Madison Square Garden.

“They [fighters] can be suspended for as long as we want them to be,” White said. “He was suspended for three weeks, but what does that really mean?

“In other sports a suspension means you lose games. He’s not fighting right now anyway. We didn’t suspend him for three fights, two fights. He was fined and put on suspension.

“Suspension meant we were going to look into this thing; we were going to talk to him.”

White then made it clear he agrees with Mitrione that transgender female mixed martial artist Fallon Fox should not be allowed to fight women. White doesn’t, however, embrace the harsh wording Mitrione used to make his point.

And White won’t force Mitrione to apologize.

“You can’t make somebody apologize,” White said. “If I have to make him do it, it’s not real. He’s not really apologizing.

“If that’s his opinion on the situation: He doesn’t like that somebody who used to be a man and became a woman can fight other women. I don’t disagree with him on that. I don’t disagree."

Jones comfortable being himself these days

The past year has been quite memorable for light heavyweight champion Jon Jones: He was labeled "fake" by former friend and sparring partner Rashad Evans before their title bout, had his faith in Christ questioned and got a DWI conviction.

Jones revisited those experiences and concluded that trying to be what others expect of him is a losing battle. So Jones has decided to just be himself.

“I was pretending a lot to be the perfect person, to be super articulate when I’m talking,” Jones said. “I tried to be clean-cut and clean-shaven, be the perfect guy to be sponsored by Nike. And be the perfect, perfect poster boy for UFC.

“Now that I’ve had that whole situation happen to me I’m totally free. I can say what I want; I can be who I want. I’m still trying to be a good person and a good role model. But I’m doing it a little more authentically now.

“And it feels good. It feels good to just be me.”

Bisping learns with age, mistakes

Michael Bisping has a bad habit of coming up short in title eliminators. But it's Bisping's most recent setback, when a title shot was not on the line, that forced him to take a serious look at his approach to being a professional fighter.

Bisping still has images of fighting for the middleweight title and knows that he can no longer allow his weight to become an issue.

“You have to learn from your mistakes,” Bisping said. “You have to be honest with yourself. And there were things I was doing wrong between fights. I was putting on too much weight.

“I’m 34 now, the weight is harder to lose. I’m a professional sportsman, I got away with it in the past, but you’ve got to treat your body with the respect it deserves, especially in this sport.”

Nelson poised for a crack at the title?

Roy Nelson is a top-10 ranked heavyweight, but his name doesn’t come up in title conversations. He believes the timing is right to change that with a win Saturday night over Cheick Kongo.

“It really comes down to the fans,” Nelson said. “And it’s about the timing. After UFC 160, which is only a month [following UFC 159], I could definitely get a title shot.

“They’re talking about Hunt fighting for a title after he knocked out Struve, and I knocked out Struve a little bit easier.”

It has been a bit more than eight months since the cancellation of UFC 151, which at the breakneck pace of the MMA news cycle makes it feel as though it happened sometime during the Bronze Age.

Heads have cooled considerably since that bizarre and uncomfortable day last August, which Dana White branded as one of his all-time lows as UFC president. He pulled the plug on UFC 151 just eight days before Jon Jones was scheduled to defend his light heavyweight title against consensus No. 1 contender Dan Henderson. It marked the first time the promotion had scratched an entire event and White seemed to drown his sorrows by blasting Jones, saying he was “disgusted” with his champion for passing up the opportunity to fight Chael Sonnen on short notice once he’d learned Henderson was injured and couldn’t compete.

“The one thing that I never thought in a million years would happen, happened ... ” said White, during one of the tamer moments of a volatile conference call. “A guy who’s a world champion and considered one of the pound-for-pound best turns down a fight.”

These days, Jones and White appear back on friendlier terms; but the unexpected removal of UFC 151 from the schedule set off a chain reaction from which the 205-pound division still hasn’t fully recovered. For evidence we must look no further than this Saturday, when Jones and Sonnen will finally fight in the gratuitous and likely very lopsided main attraction of UFC 159.

Remember that prior to Henderson’s last-minute withdrawal, Jones had cultivated the single greatest 13-month run in MMA history. He’d easily taken the title from Mauricio Rua at UFC 128 and then stomped through consecutive bouts against three other former champions, all without suffering so much as a scratch. His fight with Hendo was set to continue that march, because the 42-year-old legend had become a darling of the pound-for-pound crowd by winning the Strikeforce title, beating Fedor Emelianenko at heavyweight and defeating Rua in the best fight of 2011.

If the sudden collapse of UFC 151 didn’t completely put the brakes on all that momentum, it certainly sidetracked it. After fighting four times during 2011 (all wins), Jones made only two appearances in the Octagon during 2012 and by his own lofty standards the second half of the year was fairly underwhelming. With Henderson out, Jones faced off with Vitor Belfort, another former light heavyweight champion (though only on the flukiest possible terms), who’d more recently become a middleweight and whose reputation hadn’t recovered from a dramatic front kick knockout at the hands of Anderson Silva at UFC 126.

It was a fight that, frankly, nobody wanted to see and smacked of one the UFC booked only because Jones was healthy and the company wanted to put his name on a marquee somewhere. It would have been a total loss had Belfort not almost pulled off a stunning upset via armbar early in the first, before conceding by painstaking and inevitable submission three rounds later.

Now here’s where things get extra confusing: In the aftermath of the Belfort fight many expected the UFC to once again match Jones with Henderson. Instead, it opted to go with Sonnen, who had not fought at light heavyweight since 2005 and whose record at middleweight was just 2-2 during the past three years.

Sonnen is arguably a less logical opponent for Jones than even Belfort, and the fact he’s getting this bout now only makes sense (and then only vaguely) when viewed through the lens of UFC 151. Simply put, Jones deserves better, but he likely felt he had no choice but to accept this matchup in order to retroactively prove he wasn’t ducking Sonnen by refusing to fight him in September.

Unfortunately, the hot feud the UFC may have expected from Jones and Sonnen never materialized and promotional efforts have floundered among hard-core fans who are weary of seeing the best light heavyweight on the planet thrust into nonsensical bouts against middleweights. At least middleweights not named Silva. They are likewise tired of seeing Sonnen trash talk his way into fights they don’t think he deserves and there is a palpable sense of simply wanting to get UFC 159 over with, so Jones can get back to real business.

During the months we’ve all watched Jones and Sonnen perform the sad dance of the uninspired, the decision to mothball UFC 151 also came back to bite Henderson. After twice missing out on the chance to fight for the title he lapsed back into mortality, dropping a tepid split decision to Lyoto Machida at UFC 157. He’ll now take on Rashad Evans at UFC 161 in what is essentially a must-win fight for the future of his career.

If Henderson and Jones never fight, we’ll probably always rue the day UFC 151 was canceled and mourn the time wasted having the young champion fight lesser competition. Perhaps the best-case scenario from here might be for both guys to emerge victorious from their current scheduled bouts.

If that happens, perhaps their original pairing can still be resuscitated and then -- maybe only then -- we can finally let UFC 151 rest in peace.

That Chael Sonnen guy: He isn’t one of the best light heavyweights in UFC. But Sonnen has the gift of gab. He’s second to none in that category. His uncanny ability to come up with catchy phrases, primarily derogatory comments targeted at champions, captures the attention of the most casual fight fan.

Like it or not, when Sonnen speaks, everyone listens. And it has earned him some very lucrative paydays the past few years. It was during the months leading to his showdowns with middleweight titleholder Anderson Silva that Sonnen added a new wrinkle to his chatter. He took prefight trash talk to new heights, or depths, depending on your perspective. Sonnen questioned Silva’s intelligence, hinted at touching his wife in an inappropriate manner and said unflattering things about the champ’s native country of Brazil.

His statements could be classified as deplorable, but they served two purposes -- increasing interest in the fights and getting into Silva’s head. Sonnen is very skilled at getting in an opponent’s head before fight night.

He has employed this tactic again for his light heavyweight title bout Saturday night (pay-per-view) in Newark, N.J., against champion Jon Jones. But Sonnen has slightly altered his strategy.

There’s still a hint of nastiness -- he raised an issue about Jones’ mental capacity. That approach, however, has grown old and Jones is clearly too intelligent to be fazed by it.

So during a recent media call to promote the fight, Sonnen unveiled Plan B: soften Jones up with kindness. Rather than attempt to get under Jones’ skin with derogatory statements, Sonnen turned to praise as a way to distract the champion.

“I always find it, you know, as great as Jon is, I don’t think that he understands how good he is,” Sonnen said. “You know for him to pay tribute to Mike Tyson and Muhammad Ali earlier was a very nice thing for him to do. The reality is Jon Jones could beat up Mike Tyson and Muhammad Ali in the same day.

“And when he says he wants to be the best ever, Jon, news flash, buddy, you are the best.”

Talk about taking prefight mind games to extremes.

Is Jones the best mixed martial artist today? Yes, though Silva supporters would surely chime in on this discussion.

The comparison to Tyson is fine. But Sonnen went too far by mentioning Jones and Ali in the same sentence. That’s total madness.

Ali was far more than a great boxer, he transcended his sport. Like Sonnen, he talked a lot of trash before fights -- often belittling his opponent -- which served to increase interest in the bout. More often than not, Ali backed up his prefight boasting. But what separated, and continues to separate, Ali from most other great athletes was his unwavering willingness to confront the social injustices of his day.

Ali’s positions weren’t always met with full approval from the masses, but the man was admired, especially in the African-American community, for staying true to his convictions in the face of overwhelming verbal attacks.

Jones has a long way to go and many more hurdles to overcome in his professional fighting career before comparisons to Ali can be taken seriously. Until then it is unfair, even insulting, to Jones to make such a comparison.

Fortunately, Jones refused to be sucked in to Sonnen’s trap. He remains focused on the issue at hand -- retaining his title Saturday night at UFC 159.

“I can’t afford to worry or feel any type of feelings of him being kind or anything,” Jones said. “The thought of someone taking my name away from me and that nickname is Champ, I take that very personal. I take that with a grain of salt.

“And that’s the way I need to keep my attitude. I need to keep my focus. Someone’s trying to take away my dream, you know, the thought of going home without my belt, it keeps me angry. So I don’t care if someone says something nice about me.”

Jones will defeat Sonnen at UFC 159, within three rounds, continuing his journey toward MMA immortality. And maybe one day a young champion will be compared to him, prematurely. That too, of course, will be unfair.

All the UFC 159 promos can't do away with the most basic question: How did we get here?

The first time Chael Sonnen fought Anderson Silva, the original novelty was his utter disregard for Silva's legacy. To that point people had only been reverent of the middleweight champion -- even if Dana White was still fuming that Abu Dhabi had been turned into a stage for bad performance art by him and Demian Maia.

Along came the stock contender Sonnen, a journeyman who was proud of his singlet, the flag and his real estate license. He'd just taken the pestle to top contenders Yushin Okami and Nate Marquardt, so he had the credentials. And what a platform it was. Within days of that last victory, he became the game's most infatuating wisenheimer. It was hard to gauge his sincerity, though; did he truly believe he would walk through Silva, the mythological Brazilian who, in Sonnen's active imagination, could speak the King's English?

Turns out he did. And turns out he backed it up for nine-tenths of a five-round fight in Oakland. The other one-tenth, as you now know, is the marker that defines his career.

After the loss, the asterisks piled up as the rematch lolled on the horizon. By the time he made his way back from his suspension for elevated testosterone levels, and made it through mobile obstacles (Brian Stann and Michael Bisping), we were talking about Sonnen-Silva II as the biggest fight in MMA history. It was Ali-Frazier there for a minute. It was Silva's first real rival. It was all kinds of bandstands, bunting and pageantry.

Yet Sonnen lost the rematch, too, this time less spectacularly. He lost his footing throwing a spinning backfist.

But losing your footing is nothing when you've mastered the art of falling forward. Sonnen now faces Jon Jones for the light heavyweight belt on Saturday night. For six months we've debated the matchmaking, with pro wrestling fans calling the protectors of pecking orders anything from "naïve" to "idiots." Either way, the moment has arrived to see what's what.

And unlike in either of the Silva bouts, this time Sonnen feels like a formality between Jones and bright new ventures, things like "heavyweight" and "superfights." Jones just wants to break Tito Ortiz's record for most title defenses at light heavyweight. That number is five; Jones' magic number to tie him is one.

Sonnen is the one.

And so here we are. Sonnen gets the "third time's the charm" treatment for UFC gold. Jones gets a chance to make Sonnen a footnote in history.

FIVE STORYLINES

Bisping in vulnerable spot

In his five-year quest to fight Anderson Silva, Bisping has gotten close three times. Yet in three eliminators, he's ended up being the one eliminated three times. Should he lose to Alan Belcher to make it three losses in four fights, his middleweight title shot may go away for good. It's not a must-win for Bisping in the roster sense, but it is in the gold-plated accessory sense.

Resurgence of Roy Nelson

As one of the more popular heavyweights, Roy Nelson's mullet beefs with Dana White won't keep him from contention. A win over thunder-fisted Frenchman Cheick Kongo would make it three in a row. If he knocks out Kongo in the first round? That would be three emphatic wins in a row. At that point the jokes about Nelson's belt size will be off the hook.

Jones and history

Everything Jones does in this young sport seems to stack neatly into something historic. Now he can pad his legacy by tying Ortiz's record for 205-pound title defenses against Sonnen. He makes it all seem so perfunctory that you forget the guy is only 25 years old.

Careful what you wish for

That Vinny Magalhaes called out Phil Davis is shrouded in mystery for those of us in the fight trade. Yes he's strong and has mad grappling skills, but isn't "Mr. Wonderful" an uber-athlete whose "wrestle first" attitude is meant to nullify limb hunters? (Reading between the lines: Vinny's sense of susceptibility is stronger than our sense of conventional wisdom).

Eye on Sara McMann

Before Cat Zingano came barging into the women's bantamweight title picture from left field (read: the flatirons of Colorado), the big up-and-coming prospect to watch was Sara McMann. Why not? McMann was a silver medalist in wrestling at the 2004 summer Olympics, and is 6-0 as a pro mixed martial artist. She makes her debut against Germany's Sheila Gaff, and a win keeps the contender cupboard stocked for the winner of Rousey-Zingano.

FIVE QUESTIONS

How does Sonnen compete?

Sonnen is giving up 11 inches in reach. Sure, he can wrestle, but in 16 takedown attempts, Jones has been taken down exactly zero times. There might be an existential crisis awaiting for Sonnen in Newark. How does he compete? Can Sonnen be the maelstrom that overpowers Jones? Or, the "Chaelstrom?" Hey, you know what? The gangster from West Lynn will take off his shoes and give it a go.

Last time we see Jones at 205?

Should Jones defeat Sonnen, the question will become: What now? There aren't a lot of desirable title fights to make at 205 right now (given that a Lyoto Machida redux is the best option, and Daniel Cormier underwhelmed last weekend). Could Jones sit back and watch the Chris Weidman-Anderson Silva bout in July, with designs on a "superfight" to commemorate the UFC's 20th anniversary? Or might he bolt for the heavyweight division?

What becomes of Bisping and Belcher?

Between Belcher (12 UFC fights) and Bisping (13), that's a lot of experience in the Octagon. The winner of this bout will again cycle back towards title contention, but will either ever get over the hump? Career stakes are on the line here.

Can Davis break through?

When Davis was charging up the 205-pound ranks, he looked so raw that we kept imagining him with a couple of more years of experience. But after he got worked by Rashad Evans, our minds were no longer as blown. Of course, he spent the last year in the forgettable Wagner Prado series, but here we are a couple of years removed from those halcyon days of catching Tim Boetsch in a "Philmura." Will the Davis we see Saturday night be the one we projected we'd see a couple of years ago at this point?

Is Kongo showing his 37 years?

The answer is, no, not really. Kongo keeps chipping away, and aside from getting knocked out by Mark Hunt he hasn't lost a fight since 2009 (though it still feels like Pat Barry knocked him out before that Hail Mary heave in Pittsburgh). How good would a knockout of Nelson look? Probably enough to get him into the cage with a guy like Alistair Overeem.

WHO'S ON THE HOT SEAT

Steven Siler – Losing to Darren Elkins is one thing, but following that up with a loss to UFC newcomer Kurt Holobaugh is another. It's the way things are during a roster trim -- all deep prelimists have to get used to life on the bubble.

Nick Catone – Tough draw for Catone against James Head in a must-win fight. Yes he's back on his native Jersey soil, but his last big win was against Costa Philippou back in spring 2011. Should he lose his third in a row? Close the drapes.

Cody McKenzie – When he lets his hair down, he looks like he should be shouting "Figaro!" When he lets his hands down, he turns into a punching back (refer to the Chad Mendes fight). A loss against Leonard Garcia would make it four of five, which is short for being "made redundant."

Leonard Garcia – If you were to lift up the cushions to Garcia's couch, you'd find a lot of loose game plans that have fallen through the cracks over the years. We expect him to jettison all that hooey he learned in training when the bell rings, but problem is he keeps getting his bell rung because of it. Dana White loves himself some Garcia, but it's hard to keep around a fun-loving brawler on a five-fight losing streak.

WHY YOU SHOULD CARE

Because "Bones" Jones has out-landed his opponents 330-99 in significant strikes in title fights … because Sonnen is the latest contestant to familiarize himself with the discrepancy … because Bones throws elbows from the pitcher's mound … because Sonnen will move forward until he can't … because Bisping might feel the tattoo of Johnny Cash's face squeezing his trachea ... because it'll be a drinking game challenge to tell Jim Miller and Pat Healy apart…because Magalhaes doesn't see a muscular athlete in Davis, but a dozen miles of workable limbs and neck ... because Garcia's neck is on the line against McKenzie (and in general) ... because Nelson and Kongo have no need for judges' scorecards ... because Jones is "Angry Johnny" capable of animal's grace ... yet he can do it with precision, or he can do it with gourmet taste.

This Saturday, the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., hosts UFC 159. In the main event, UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones will defend his title for the fifth time against Chael Sonnen, who stood opposite of Jones as coach on Season 17 of “The Ultimate Fighter.” In the co-main event, middleweight contenders will battle when Michael Bisping takes on Alan Belcher.

Here are the numbers you need to know for Saturday’s fights:

4: UFC light heavyweight title defenses for Jones, tied with Chuck Liddell and Frank Shamrock for second most. With a win, Jones would tie Tito Ortiz, who defended the title five times from 2000-2002.

231: Jones has outlanded opponents in significant strikes 330-99 in title fights, a difference of 231. In 12 UFC fights, Jones has never been outstruck (nor has Sonnen in 11 UFC fights).

11: Jones (84.5-inch wingspan) will have an 11-inch reach advantage over Sonnen (73.5-inch wingspan). Sonnen has never faced an opponent with a reach longer than 77.5 (Anderson Silva).

16: Jones has stopped all 16 takedown attempts by his opponents in his UFC career. Sonnen, who is known for his wrestling background, averages four takedown attempts per fight.

38: Sonnen has 38 takedowns in his 11-fight UFC career, including at least one takedown in each of his past seven fights. Sonnen also does a good job advancing his position when getting the fight to the ground. In 11 fights, Sonnen advanced his position on the ground 29 times (2.6 times per fight).

5: Jones has six submission victories in his career, five of which have come by way of choke (four by guillotine, one rear-naked). Eight of Sonnen’s 12 career losses are by submission, five by choke (four by triangle choke, one by guillotine).

8: Years since Sonnen has fought at light heavyweight. Sonnen is making his first UFC appearance at light heavyweight since his UFC debut in October 2005 against Renato Sobral.

13: This is the 13th time that TUF coaches will face off against one another inside the Octagon. On six occasions, the coach with the winning fighter(s) also won the fight against the opposing coach.

5: Bisping has landed 854 significant strikes in his UFC career, five away from taking over second place all time behind Georges St-Pierre (1,153). Bisping averages 47 significant strikes landed per fight.

25: Combined UFC middleweight fights between Bisping (13) and Belcher (12). Both fighters are still looking for their first opportunity at the UFC middleweight title. Chris Leben (20) has had the most fights among active UFC fighters at middleweight without a title shot.

For what it’s worth, my personal scorecard now has Benson Henderson 1-3 in UFC title fights.

And what it’s worth, of course, is a hill of beans. In the real world, Henderson on Saturday moved to 4-0 in UFC championship bouts, tying BJ Penn’s record of three consecutive lightweight title defenses as he edged Gilbert Melendez via split decision in the main event of UFC on Fox 7.

Like a lot of people, I had Melendez taking it 48-47, thinking he stormed out to an early lead in the first two rounds, lost his momentum in the third and fourth and then rebounded to craft an ever-so-slight advantage in the final stanza. It turned out we were wrong, and the judges allowed Henderson to retain his belt on a wildly eclectic assortment of scorecards.

The crowd booed. Henderson asked his girlfriend to marry him. She said yes. They booed some more, and somewhere in there another fight between the two best lightweights in the world failed to produce a decisive victor.

The decision was not an outrage. The action here was too good and too competitive for anyone besides Melendez to be heartbroken about the outcome. The UFC’s official statistics backed up Henderson’s win and rather than continuing to doom the lightweight title to a series of equally impenetrable rematches, company brass moved quickly to say the champ’s next fight will be against the winner of the Gray Maynard-TJ Grant bout at UFC 160.

That’s fine. No argument. It may not be fair to Melendez, but after years and years of questionable decisions in MMA, we’ve been conditioned to let the close ones go. Really, we have no choice, because the alternative would do nothing but keep us up at night.

Make no mistake, however -- there is a disquieting trend developing in the UFC lightweight division, wherein it’s getting increasingly difficult to tell the winners from the losers. In a sport that places such a premium on tangible consequences and decisive results, that’s sort of a problem.

Saturday’s back-and-forth struggle was just the latest in a spate of 155-pound championship fights that have been exciting, technically exquisite and ultimately impossible to score. Dating to 2010, six of the past eight lightweight title bouts have gone to decision, many of them nail-biters. Three of those produced split verdicts and three times we saw rematches effectively put the rest of the division in limbo while we cleared up messes at the top.

Lightweight has long been regarded as MMA’s most competitive and treacherous division,and this series of ratchet-tight title fights only underscores the point. The parity is a testament to the weight class’ depth, but it also makes answering simple questions like who’s the best? and who should be champion? and even Who won? trickier than it ought to be.

At first we blamed the uncertainty on Frankie Edgar, whose diminutive stature and pesky style seemed scientifically engineered to produce close fights.

Now though, Henderson looks well on his way to establishing a similar rhythm. All seven of his UFC outings have gone the distance, as compared to just two decisions in six earlier bouts in the WEC. Officially, he’s won all seven Octagon appearances, but his pair against Edgar and now this one with Melendez all easily could’ve gone the other way.

That alone makes trying to figure out who is the best lightweight in the world a daunting task.

Henderson’s latest victory obviously means he keeps his belt and likely retains his ESPN.com Power Rankings place as No. 1 in the division and No. 5 pound-for-pound. At 19-2 overall, having matched Penn for most successful title defenses and owning wins over Edgar, Melendez and a host of 155-pound notables, any reasonable debate about who is the greatest lightweight in UFC history now also must include him.

Unless, like me, you scored both Edgar fights and the Melendez bout for the other guy. If that’s the case, then -- yes, like me -- you’ve got a real quandary on your hands.

None of this is to say anything particularly negative about Henderson, mind you. His size, speed, strength and skills still have him looking every bit like the prototype for the next generation of successful UFC lightweights. He’s a great fighter who already has defied the expectations we lowered after watching him drop his WEC title to Anthony Pettis in December 2010 in a fight that came down to yet another very close judges’ decision.

But after this weekend, am I prepared to say Henderson is better than Melendez? I am not.
Am I prepared to say he’s better than Edgar? I am not.

Am I prepared to say he’s better than Pettis or Maynard or Michael Chandler or Eddie Alvarez? No, I am not.

Truthfully, I am not prepared to say much at all about who is tops in the lightweight division right now. I won’t be until someone, anyone, does something other than eke out a controversial decision.

Talent-wise, heavyweight contender Daniel Cormier is second to none. He can compete with and defeat any man willing to step inside the cage with him.

Cormier is that good. He hits hard, has quick hands, is physically powerful, can take it on the chin and to the body, possesses solid defense -- standing or on the ground -- and his wrestling is better any other mixed martial artist in the division.

He is arguably the fighter best suited to dethrone UFC heavyweight titleholder Cain Velasquez, who happens to be his close friend and training partner.

But despite his successful Octagon debut Saturday night in San Jose, Calif. -- a unanimous decision over two-time UFC champ Frank Mir -- it would be in Cormier’s best interest if UFC delayed offering him a title shot.

Cormier, 12-0 as a pro, is not yet ready to fight for the UFC crown. And he would agree with this assessment.

“I’m not happy with my performance,” Cormier said. “Even if [UFC officials] say I’m going to fight Cain Velasquez next, I don’t think this performance warranted a title shot.”

Cormier has been fighting professionally for less than four years. And with so few high-profile bouts under his belt, it is not far-fetched to classify him a newcomer among the elite.

Each training camp has been a crash course, every fight the equivalent of a cram session. But fortunately, the highly intelligent 34-year-old is a very fast learner.

Cormier has a tremendous ability to absorb information, quickly apply what he has learned and make adjustments on the fly. So in the days leading to his UFC debut with Mir, he was confident of remaining unbeaten.

Then Cormier arrived at HP Pavilion, heard the music blaring throughout the arena, fans screaming at the top of their lungs and realized he had arrived; he’d made it to the big time. And Cormier lost his nerves.

It’s the one thing that hours upon hours of training with some of the best fighters in MMA couldn’t prepare him for. Facing Mir, one of the top heavyweights, on MMA’s biggest stage, under its brightest lights was a bit much for the 2012 Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix winner to handle.

“I was nervous and I can’t explain why,” Cormier said. “It must’ve been this big-fight feel. Before I walked into the cage I felt nervous.

“I always laughed when [UFC president] Dana [White] said there’s jitters that come along with this. I was like, ‘My career prepared me for this.’ But man, I was nervous today. I was so nervous.

“More than anything I got tired. I’ve never felt tired in a fight. I think it was my nerves.”

“

I always laughed when [UFC president] Dana [White] said there's jitters that come along with this. I was like, 'My career prepared me for this.' But man, I was nervous today. I was so nervous.

” -- Daniel Cormier

Competing in UFC for the first time proved to be Cormier’s latest MMA learning experience. He gets a passing grade for weathering the nervous storm, surviving his latest cram session.

Defeating Mir, who appeared to be in the best shape of his career Saturday night, is a major accomplishment for the man who entered the bout with only 11 pro fights. Mir was determined not to drop two fights in a row, something he had never done in UFC.

So give Cormier credit, he was facing the best that Mir had to offer and he won. It wasn’t a memorable performance -- too much holding against the cage, not enough striking and nothing by way of ground attack. It was a win for Cormier -- methodical, but a good one nonetheless.

Though his cardio came into question for the first time -- nervousness did have much to do with it -- this win cements Cormier as one of the two or three best heavyweights in MMA. But UFC officials should not offer him a title shot, not yet.

Cormier needs one or two more fights inside the Octagon. He needs to know, not believe, that on fight night he will leave the arena victorious. Every step must be taken to never allow his nerves to betray him again.

A fully developed Cormier, physically and psychologically, could become a great UFC champion. And that would serve the promotion well.

So give Cormier one or two more appearances in the Octagon. Let him put on the type of high-octane performance inside the UFC cage that fans were used to seeing from him during his days with Strikeforce.

Allow Cormier to get his nerves completely under control. Then offer him a heavyweight title shot. He will not disappoint.

Never has Muhammed Lawal doubted his ability to compete at the highest levels and become MMA’s best 205-pound fighter -- and he is not about to do so now.

That unexpected first-round knockout loss to Emanuel Newton in February hasn’t diminished his resolve. If anything, the loss strengthened it.

Nothing else about Lawal has changed since that February setback: His camp remains fully intact. Jeff Mayweather -- yes, that Mayweather, the uncle of boxing champion Floyd Jr. -– still calls the shots in Lawal’s corner. And UFC heavyweight Roy "Big Country" Nelson continues to be one of his primary sparring partners.

When he returns to action, which is likely to be June 19 at a Bellator event in Oklahoma against an opponent to be named, Lawal will enter the arena with his familiar swagger. He will have a cape drenched over his shoulders, sunglasses covering his eyes and a crown on his head.

"King Mo" still lives! And he will be as bad and brash as ever. He has no intention of suddenly playing nice. If you didn’t like his act before, wait until you see him in June.

“I’m not going to change up things,” Lawal told ESPN.com. “Some people, after a loss, change their entire camp up. Jeff is on point. Roy Nelson is a great training partner. I’ve got good sparring in Las Vegas.

“I’m not going to be like Mike Tyson. He was a great fighter, but I feel that after he lost to Buster Douglas, he kind of fell apart. He was never the same again. He lost his aura.

“With me, I’m going to keep the same aura going. I’m just going to take it out on my next opponent.”

When he steps in the cage, Lawal, as usual, will be the superior athlete -- regardless who the opponent happens to be. He will remain comfortable dropping his hands, because his high-level footwork allows him to control distance. That footwork is pure Mayweather, and a major component of Lawal’s stand-up success.

Lawal will move his head and change levels repeatedly while delivering those stinging jabs and occasional kicks. They serve to set up either vicious takedowns or knockout-caliber punches. And through it all, Lawal will taunt his opponent with a mean-spirited smile on his face.

It will be the same fighting display Lawal put on against Newton before getting hit with what he calls that "fluke" punch. Actually, it was a spinning back fist that found Lawal's chin at the 2:35 mark.

The punch surprised Lawal, dropping him face-first to the canvas and likely costing him a shot this year at the Bellator light heavyweight title.

Newton went on to claim the Bellator Season 8 light heavyweight tournament and will face promotion titleholder Attila Vegh. A date for that fight has yet to be determined.

Back to Lawal. It’s unlikely he will get caught with the same punch two fights in a row.

He intends to win his next fight and every one after that in the foreseeable future, and he is rooting for Newton to do the same. Lawal believes their paths will cross much sooner if each man keeps winning.

Lawal is itching to get his hands on Newton as soon as possible. He wants to destroy Newton in the cage before humiliating him. It’s part of Lawal’s payback plan.

“Hopefully Emanuel will win the whole [Bellator] tournament so I can beat his ass and get that belt from him,” Lawal said. “And after I beat him, I’m going to do a dance all in his face. I’m going to be so unsportsmanlike; it’s going to be unbelievable.

“This dude is trying to act like he knew what he threw [the spinning back fist], saying ‘I wanted to throw over my shoulder.’ Man, you didn’t want to throw from your shoulder. We’ve seen the replay.

“The thing is I’m going to throw it in his face. I’m going to be the heel. I’m going to be the bad guy. I like being the bad guy.”

Lawal is so confident of landing a rematch with Newton and destroying him that he continues to prepare for his professional wrestling debut. He still doesn’t know when that will happen but emphasizes that MMA remains his top priority.

“I do the pro wrestling stuff for like an hour, two or three times a week,” Lawal said. “That’s it, then I go back to boxing, jujitsu, wrestling and MMA sparring.”

Pro wrestling is intriguing, but Lawal won’t allow it to get in the way of his immediate goal: landing a rematch with Newton and humiliating him.

UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson and challenger Gilbert Melendez both made weight Friday for their title showdown in San Jose, Calif.

With everything set for Saturday's UFC on FOX 7 main event, promotion president Dana White tapped each guy's shoulder to signal they were free to go their separate ways for the next 24 hours.

But that doesn't mean it necessarily had been smooth sailing up until that point.

Melendez had no difficulty upholding his end of the deal, checking in at 154 pounds. For Henderson, however, there was a brief moment of suspense.

Before stepping on the scale, the defending champion began removing all of his clothing. Henderson instructed UFC officials to hold up a towel, shielding him from the peering eyes of excited fans.

Such action is indicative of a fighter unsure he would make the mandatory championship-bout weight limit. By removing every stitch of clothing before stepping on the scale, Henderson knew he was cutting it very close.

Fortunately, a completely unclothed Henderson tipped the scale at exactly 155 pounds, making the bout official. No harm, no foul.

Henderson has removed all of his clothing before stepping on the scale in the past. But this time he lacked his usual look of confidence, which offered a glimpse into Henderson’s fighting future as it's getting tougher for him to make the weight on a regular basis.

Never one to shy away from the issue, Henderson openly addressed it recently with ESPN.com when the topic of a superfight against UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre arose. As his body continues to grow and get stronger, Henderson is under the impression that size won't be an issue if a bout with St-Pierre is made.

"I'm getting older," Henderson said. "I'm 29 now, almost 30. At my age it's getting hard for me to make the weight class at 155. So, I wouldn't mind having a break and having one fight at 170 -- having a St-Pierre fight."

While he expressed interest in the fight, Henderson made it clear he has no intention of abandoning the lightweight division. His long-term goal remains the same: to be recognized as the greatest mixed martial artist ever.

But by mentioning a fight with St-Pierre at 170 pounds, it's a way for Henderson to convey he is starting to feel the effects of cutting weight and wants to avoid diminishing his high performance level in the Octagon.

"I want to maintain my integrity," Henderson said. "I don't want to be one of those guys who cut 20 pounds of water weight and I step in the cage and look sloppy or look fat and don't perform well. I want to make sure that I am fully prepared. It's not just about making weight. It's about maintaining that strict diet, that strict lifestyle. And it gets harder and harder as guys get older -- you fill out more. And I'm getting older.

“I had the metabolism of a 19-year-old when I was 25. But now that I'm 29, my metabolism is like that of a 25-year-old. I'm still ahead of the curve, but I am slowing down. I have to work that much harder, but I can still make 155 for the rest of my career. I can do it. I'm not against doing it."

Henderson isn't making an unprecedented request. UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva has competed several times at 205 pounds, which allows him to remain sharp while giving his lean body a respite from cutting a significant amount of weight.

Silva hasn't competed at 205 often -- just three times during his nearly seven years with UFC. And Henderson isn't requesting anything more than an occasional 170-pound event.

"Like the way Anderson Silva does it -- have a fight at 205 every once in a while and always make 185, his weight class," Henderson said. "I'd be okay with that -- staying at 155, making weight at 155 for the rest of my career. But every once in a while, having a super fight at 170 -- St-Pierre and I squaring off. I'd be cool with that."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Cover your ears, Johny Hendricks.

UFC president Dana White told reporters on Thursday he’ll talk to welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre soon. The two haven’t spoken since St-Pierre recorded his eighth consecutive title defense over Nick Diaz at UFC 158 last month.

Expectations have been that St-Pierre (24-4) would face Hendricks (15-1) later this year, but White said that bout would go on hold should St-Pierre express interest in a long-anticipated, lucrative superfight with middleweight champ Anderson Silva.

“I am literally going to call Georges St-Pierre today and see what he wants to do,” White said.

“If Georges says to me, ‘I want to fight Anderson Silva,’ you think I’m going to go, ‘No, you’re not. You’re fighting Johny Hendricks’?”

Silva (33-4) is scheduled to defend his 185-pound title against Chris Weidman at UFC 162 in July. In yet another superfight wrinkle, light heavyweight champion Jon Jones will defend his title against Chael Sonnen at UFC 159 next week in Newark.

White said he’s interested in any fight that involves two of the three champions, saying if both St-Pierre and Jones wanted Silva, “that’s a good problem to have.”

Hendricks would be the clear loser if St-Pierre opts to fight Silva next. The former collegiate wrestler is on a six-fight win streak and was already leapfrogged earlier this year by Diaz, who was coming off a drug suspension.

White said St-Pierre would not vacate the 170-pound title if he took the Silva fight, meaning Hendricks would have to wait or accept another fight.

“If [St-Pierre] lost, he could still go back down and fight Hendricks for the title.”

Mitrione fined, suspended -- but forgiven

UFC heavyweight Matt Mitrione has been fined an undisclosed amount and remains suspended for comments made last week regarding transgender fighter Fallon Fox.

The UFC quickly suspended Mitrione following an appearance on “The MMA Hour,” where he referred to Fox as a “freak.” Fox is scheduled for her third pro fight in May.

Mitrione (6-2), who defeated Philip De Fries via first-round knockout earlier this month, spoke with UFC president Dana White following the incident and took responsibility for his actions -- but there is no timetable for his return.

“It’s up to us,” White said regarding Mitrione’s suspension. “I’m not mad at Mitrione. He did something stupid. He knows he didn’t handle it the right way.

“I’m sure he wants to know [when he’ll fight again]. We’ll let him know when we decide. He was fined, too. Enough to make him call me three times.”

• A Brazilian fan attacked UFC light heavyweight Chael Sonnen during an event last weekend in Las Vegas, according to White.

Sonnen, who challenges Jon Jones for the 205-pound title next week at UFC 159, was in Las Vegas to attend "The Ultimate Fighter" finale at Mandalay Bay Events Center. According to White, he was involved in a minor scuffle during the show.

“I don’t know if any of you guys saw this, but he was there shaking hands with fans and one guy says, ‘Chael! Chael!” White said. “Chael goes over there and the guy started swinging at him, trying to punch him. The guy goes, ‘I’m from Brazil!'”

Sonnen (27-12-1) was involved in a heated rivalry with Brazilian middleweight champ Anderson Silva from 2010 to 2012. He went 0-2 in two fights against him.

• Whether his teammate claims the UFC lightweight title on Saturday or not, Nate Diaz says he’s moving back to 170 pounds.

Diaz (16-8) meets lightweight Josh Thomson on Saturday. His teammate, Gilbert Melendez, will look to dethrone champion Ben Henderson in the night’s main event.

Regardless of the outcome of either fight, Diaz says he intends to move back to welterweight, where he compiled a 2-2 record from 2010 to 2011.

“I already fought everybody at lightweight,” Diaz said. “I don’t think there is anything for me in the lightweight division. I already beat everybody or fought everybody. The only person who beat me was Ben. What, I’m going to sit around and fight all the same guys again? That’s boring. There’s no motivation in that.”

• Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix winner Daniel Cormier still wants to fight UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones -- just maybe not as soon as he once thought.

Cormier (11-1) faces arguably the biggest challenge of his career on Saturday as he takes on former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir in the night’s co-main event.

The former U.S. Olympic wrestler has been quietly shedding weight for a potential trip to the 205-pound division. Cormier’s teammate, Cain Velasquez, currently holds the UFC heavyweight title.

Cormier has publicly expressed interest in fighting Jones previously, but now says he’d probably want a test fight at 205 pounds first. The 34-year-old experienced kidney failure while cutting weight in 2008 but is confident he can make 205.

“At first, I was so emotionally tied to [fighting Jones],” Cormier said. “I’ve thought about it, and I wouldn’t be opposed to fighting one time down there just to see how my body reacts to the weight cut. It would be very difficult to fight him in my first fight, a five-round fight.

“What if I get in a fight and I can’t do anything but wrestle because my arms are tired and my body isn’t responding to the weight cut? I don’t want that guy to be Jon Jones. Seriously, can you imagine standing in with him and not feeling your best?”

NEW YORK -- It's not a debatable issue: heavyweight contender Tyson Fury is extremely confident. He's also arrogant, saying whatever comes to mind at any given moment, not caring whom it offends.

When it involves fighting, Fury has a lot to say.

Though he is undefeated in 20 professional bouts, with 14 knockouts, Fury doesn't hold a major title belt. So what? That hasn't prevented him from proclaiming to be the world's best fighter.

"The belts don't mean [anything] to me," Fury told ESPN.com on Wednesday. "I'm the best fighter in the world."

This statement is far-reaching. When Fury speaks of being the best fighter alive, his remarks aren't limited to boxers. Fury directs his comments to all combatants. And yes, mixed martial artists are in the equation.

UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez has been squarely in Fury's crosshairs for a while. He has been targeting Velasquez for several months, but Fury's taunts have yet to ruffle the champion's feathers.

A bout agreement has yet to materialize, but that hasn't stopped Fury from continuing his verbal assault.

"Absolutely, one hundred-million percent," the 24-year-old Fury said of his desire to fight Velasquez. "I've challenged Cain Velasquez to a fight three times. He's a little boy who doesn't want to fight. He said no, live on TV."

Fury participates in a title eliminator bout Saturday (NBC, 4 p.m. ET) in The Theater at Madison Square Garden against former cruiserweight titlist Steve Cunningham. The victor fills one sanctioning body's vacant No. 2-contender spot.

If Fury continues winning (he's favored in Saturday's fight), it will be good for boxing in the short term, and possibly the entire fight game down the road. You see, Fury will never be satisfied until he is universally recognized as the best fighter on this planet -- including mixed martial artists.

When Fury talks of being the best fighter today, he wants it made clear that Velasquez is part of that mix. There is no merit to proclaiming yourself the best fighter when you haven't fought all the best fighters.

Fury is well aware of this fact. It's why just the mention of Velasquez raises his blood pressure.

There is no doubt in Fury's mind that he would destroy Velasquez in a fight -- whether it's under boxing or mixed martial arts rules doesn't matter to him. The 6-foot-9, 250-pound Fury simply wants a chance to prove his point.

"I would take Cain Velasquez out," Fury said. "MMA, to me, is bulls---. It's for people who can't box and like wrestling on the floor. It's rubbish.

"I'm going to show on Saturday what I'm all about, why I'm this confident and why I'm here to fight."

Fury never minces words, and he isn't one to take shortcuts. Calling out Velasquez, or any MMA heavyweight, will keep him on the hot seat for a long time.
But he couldn't care less. Fury always raises the ante.

"I'm going to finish this here and now," he said. "If this man gives me a good fight, I swear on Jesus' name I'm going to retire after the fight. Because I ain't going to be nothing like I say I'm going to be if I can't do a job on this man. I'll retire if I don't stop him.

"If I don't impress with a good performance against this man, I will retire. I'm not going to fight. Game over. I will retire on live TV.

"I mean it. I'm not here to play games."

That last line isn't directed solely to Cunningham or professional boxers. It's also intended for mixed martial artists, especially Velasquez.

Fury is always willing to put up, because he won't shut up until he's considered the best, bar none.

Hopefully Fury will get his chance to face Velasquez. If he continues beating the best boxers, maybe his opportunity to compete in UFC will come sooner rather than later.