ESPN Mixed Martial Arts

TORONTO -- The years of hard work and believing that one day he’d get a world title shot, even during difficult times, had finally come to fruition for TJ Grant.

He’d scaled the final hurdle on May 25 -- a first-round knockout of Gray Maynard. That victory, his fifth in a row, cemented Grant as the No. 1 lightweight contender. Next up: A title shot against then-UFC champion Benson Henderson.

Grant was ready and confident. He’d proven himself a worthy contender. This was his time and he was ready to claim what he always believed belonged to him -- the UFC lightweight championship belt.

But as is always the case with Grant, he wasn’t about to sit around and enjoy the spoils of his most recent accomplishment. Besides, his goal was never simply to land a title shot, Grant wants to be champion. He never takes shortcuts, and wasn’t about to start now. So he immediately headed back to the gym and began working on staying sharp and improving his skills.

There was Muay Thai and wrestling and some boxing. Then it was time to revisit jujitsu workouts. And that’s when Grant’s world turned upside down.

Two weeks after the biggest victory of his professional career, Grant was accidentally kicked in the head twice during a jujitsu training session. It truly was accidental, Grant says. There is no kicking in jujitsu.

A training partner’s foot caught Grant as he was trying to avoid a sweep. These things happen in sparring sessions sometimes, but this particular incident happened shortly after the Maynard fight. And Grant admits he got his bell rung in that contest, which likely caused the kick during training to do more damage.

It was later revealed that Grant suffered a concussion. He was forced to pull out of the Aug. 31 showdown with Henderson. former WEC titleholder Anthony Pettis replaced him.

Grant was devastated. He’d worked so hard to get to that point in his career, but he remained positive that, with rest, his opportunity would soon resurface. But just as he had come to grips with this setback, Grant began receiving attacks on his character.

He didn’t know any of his attackers personally. They conducted their verbal assaults online, accusing Grant of taking money from UFC officials to step aside in favor of Pettis. Anyone slightly familiar with Grant’s values knows he’d never do something of the sort. The accusations, however, pained Grant. And he was angered by it.

That, however, was just the beginning. After Pettis defeated Henderson, UFC officials again penciled Grant in as the top lightweight contender. He would fight Pettis for the title on Dec. 14 in Sacramento, Calif.

But who said lightning doesn’t strike twice. Another medical examination concluded that Grant would not likely be ready to fight in December. He’d made progress, but not enough to begin vigorous training. Grant was again pulled from a title bout.

And again haters went on the attack. But this time, Grant was prepared for the onslaught.

“At first I was heated, I was mad,” Grant told ESPN.com. “But now it’s actually hilarious. Since I pulled out of this fight [against Pettis] I’ve seen a couple of people write stuff and I just laugh. I mean I did just buy a new house. Maybe that’s because I got paid off, who knows. To me it’s a joke.

“I’m kind of numb to the whole situation. I’m just worrying about myself, and getting healthy. I don’t really care. I did what I had to do, I won five in a row. If I have to win another one to get a title shot, I will do that.

“If I get a title shot that will be awesome. But right now my No. 1 concern is getting healthy.”

Grant can taste the lightweight title and continues to believe his opportunity will come, sooner rather than later. He remains levelheaded. Grant does not intend to rush back into the gym until he is completely healed. Avoiding another setback is very high on his priority list.

But his patience is often tested. There is nothing easy about training for fights, but it pales in comparison to sitting around doing nothing. Inactivity is killing Grant. He has never experienced anything like it, and doesn’t want to go through this again.

It’s part of the healing process, but Grant doesn’t like it at all. He yearns for the day when he can return to physical contact. And he is slowly getting there. Grant has begun light workouts.

“I find that I have more injuries from sitting on the couch than from going to the gym and going through the grind,” Grant said. “Because my body is so used to being in shape and working all the time that when it’s not I get super tense and sore. I’m looking forward to getting back, though I am doing some light training now.”

Grant can’t say with certainty when he will actually return to the Octagon, but plans to keep a close on Pettis’ first UFC title defense against Josh Thomson. If his recovery continues going smoothly, Grant is hopeful of making his return early next year.

But he can’t make any guarantees. It’s one day at a time, and the first order of business is getting back in the gym to conduct full training. A giant smile forms on Grant’s face at the thought of returning to training camp. Grant knows when that time arrives, his sites will again be set on landing that elusive title shot.

“I really have no idea when I will return, I could be ready to fight in January,” Grant said. “But at the same time I haven’t been on the mats, I haven’t done any training for however long. So I have to get myself acclimated to training and doing all those things.

“I’ve never gone three months with literally no exercise. That’s a big change. But I am exercising now, which is helping to keep me sane. And that’s a good thing.

“I’m optimistic to get back and once I’m 100 percent, I’m training and I feel confident then we’ll ask the UFC to let’s get a fight.”

Former lightweight champion Benson Henderson suffered no structural damage to the right elbow that Anthony Pettis placed in an armbar during the first round of their title bout Aug. 31 at UFC 164 in Milwaukee.

Henderson received the diagnosis from Brian Shafer, a Phoenix-based elbow specialist who also serves as team physician for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

“My elbow isn’t going to be an issue,” Henderson said Friday. “Dr. Shafer said I can resume training immediately but to take it slow and steady for a couple of weeks and do my rehab work. Of course, I am anxious to get going full speed again, but I will be smart and patient about it as well.”

Henderson was seeking to successfully defend his lightweight title for a UFC-record fourth time; he shares the record of three with BJ Penn. But Henderson’s hopes of breaking the mark were dashed when Pettis locked him in an armbar at 4:31 of the opening round.

“I felt his arm snap,” Pettis said after defeating Henderson for the second time in a title bout. “And he said, ‘Tap, tap, tap.’”

In their first meeting, on Dec. 16, 2010, Pettis beat Henderson by unanimous decision to claim the WEC 155-pound championship.

Though Pettis lifted the UFC belt from Henderson with an impressive showing, he did not leave the Octagon unscathed -- suffering a sprained right knee. It is expected that Pettis’ injury will require seven to eight weeks of rehabilitation to heal completely.

Pettis is slated to make his first UFC lightweight title defense against top contender TJ Grant. A date for the fight has not yet been set.

Sometimes, the "best" fight isn’t necessarily the "right" fight.

During the news conference following UFC 164, a place where president Dana White typically refuses to answer any of the “Who’s next for so-and-so” questions, he was at least willing to admit the obvious.

What is the most tantalizing, intriguing, fun fight he could make right now for featherweight champion Jose Aldo?

"It’s 100 percent Anthony Pettis," White said. "Yeah, 100 percent. That is a sick fight."

So why then, less than 72 hours later, did White announce Pettis would defend the lightweight title against TJ Grant? Aldo’s schedule is open. Expectations are that his foot injury will heal within the same timeframe of Pettis’ knee. What gives?

We can safely assume here that if Pettis is the best fight available for Aldo, then Aldo is the best fight available for Pettis. Fans, media, probably even Grant would admit that absolutely, Aldo versus Pettis is "a sick fight."

The "right" fight though, is the one the UFC is going with. Grant (21-5) has this strange, unflattering quality of being somewhat overlookable -- but that can’t take away from the fact he is (A) The No. 1 contender at 155 pounds, (B) Deserving of the opportunity to achieve his dream and (C) A pretty sick fight against Pettis, himself.

When a belt changes hands, one of the first questions seemingly on everybody’s mind is: How long before it changes hands again? In the case of Pettis, the quality of the lightweight division suggests it will be difficult to hang on to the belt, but the quality of his recent three first-round finishes say he’s up to the task.

We know, however, that styles make fights and interestingly enough, Grant represents perhaps the absolute worst style matchup for Pettis at 155 pounds. And he happens to be up first.

“

If Pettis defends the title and gets that win, we'll probably be looking at Aldo next.

” --Dana White on a feature fight between Anthony Pettis and Jose Aldo.

If you picked Henderson last weekend, you probably did so because the best way to avoid dynamite is to smother it. Henderson tried to contain Pettis’ flash -- couldn’t.

Grant is big, first of all. A welterweight turned lightweight, who has been dominant since dropping weight classes in 2011. He can smother, but in a violent manner. Whereas few expected Henderson to really hurt Pettis (more control him), the same can’t be said in a matchup with Grant.

Does this fight possess the same combustible nature that Aldo versus Pettis would? We basically already answered that it doesn’t. White admitted as much.

Credit the UFC though, for promoting the correct fight, instead of necessarily the easy fight. Grant is the No. 1 contender at 155 pounds. Pettis is the 155-pound champion. Pettis has never fought at 145 pounds. Aldo has never fought at 155.

Also, notice what White told "SportsCenter" on Tuesday.

“If Pettis defends the title and gets that win, we’ll probably be looking at Aldo next,” White said.

Both Aldo and Pettis are 26. Aldo will undoubtedly become a lightweight at some point and Pettis isn’t going anywhere. If these two still haven’t fought each other by the time they’re 30, we can revisit this topic.

For now, "giving" Grant the fight he earned inside the cage was the right call.

MILWAUKEE -- The hometown kid did good Saturday night as Anthony Pettis made it two title wins in a row over Benson Henderson with a first-round armbar submission.

The first victory was sweet -- a unanimous decision in December 2010 to capture the WEC belt -- but the second was even sweeter. When Pettis returned to his house (just a stone’s throw from the Bradley Center, host of UFC 164), early Sunday morning, he had the UFC 155-pound championship belt in his possession. There is no comparison.

“[UFC] is the NFL, NBA of mixed martial arts,” Pettis said. “Winning the WEC title meant a lot to me. I was very young. I fought Ben a year and half into the WEC. So I didn’t have a lot of time, a lot of experience to fight someone like Ben Henderson.

“Now, we’ve both grown in this sport. The guy is a great champion. I mean he’s a very respectful guy; he never does dumb things out there. Now we’re both in the UFC and I win this belt. It’s amazing. It’s something I really tried hard to achieve and now I’ve accomplished it.”

What occurred Saturday night was more than two years in the making. Pettis always believed he would become UFC champion, it just took a little longer than he planned.

When he entered UFC in 2011, Pettis was slated to face the winner of then-lightweight champion Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard. Both those two fought to a split draw on Jan. 1 of that year, putting Pettis’ UFC title showdown on hold.

Injuries would delay the Edgar and Maynard fight. Rather than sit idly, Pettis opted to face Clay Guida in June 2011 -- he would lose by unanimous decision. Pettis hasn’t lost a UFC fight since.

But all that is neither here nor there; Pettis is the UFC lightweight champion now, and that’s a good thing. You see, Pettis is a very athletic, confident and physically strong fighter, who is still maturing as a mixed martial artist.

“I’m not even in my prime yet,” Pettis admitted. He’s only 26 and his body is still growing.

And he already has developed a reputation for putting on exciting fights. You never know what move Pettis might pull from his large bag of tricks during a fight. He keeps fans and his opponents guessing what his next unorthodox maneuver will be. Pettis is fun to watch.

Add to all this the fact that Pettis competes in the talent-rich lightweight division and UFC fans are going to enjoy this ride for a while. Guys like TJ Grant, who Pettis replaced Saturday night, and Gilbert Melendez make their residence at 155. And let’s not forget Henderson, as he remains a threat to one day reclaim the belt.

But there are also potential challenges to Pettis’ reign lurking at featherweight. There’s champion Jose Aldo, who Pettis was slated to face in August at 145 pounds before an injury forced him out of that bout.

And does anyone really believe Edgar will never resume his quest to again place the lightweight title around his waist?

There are several potential high-profile fights awaiting Pettis. And each one looks like it would an action-filled affair. The fun has yet to begin.


But, in what seems to be the case often these days whenever Pettis is involved, there is a downside. Pettis has struggled with injuries the past year. In 2012, he suffered a shoulder injury that shelved him for several months. He later sustained a shoulder injury during a training session for his showdown with Donald Cerrone; a skin infection in his elbow further postponed the Cerrone bout.


Then he was forced to pull out of his featherweight title fight with Aldo due to a right knee injury, sustained during a training session. All was forgotten, however, the past few days as Pettis and Henderson appeared physically primed for their rematch.

But just when it seemed the worst was over, Pettis left the cage Saturday night, belt in hand, with another injury. This time it was his left knee.

“Henderson threw a kick and I went to check it with my left leg and he hit it right in the crook of my knee,” Pettis said. “I felt it go back and forth, but I don’t know yet.

“I was stepping on it and it was hurting a little bit. When he had me against the cage I was standing on one leg because it was starting to lock up.”

Injuries now seem to happen quite often to Pettis. For all the dangerous opponents lining up to dethrone him, staying physically healthy might pose the greatest challenge to the newly crowned champion. Maybe it’s just part of a growth spurt. Perhaps. We can only hope so.

Pettis is an exciting fighter, who is poised to thrill UFC fans for a long time. Let’s keep our fingers crossed that his recent run of injuries is nothing more than a weird coincidence.

MILWAUKEE -- Lightweight champion Benson Henderson has successfully defended his UFC 155-pound title three times in a row. The only other fighter to accomplish that feat inside the Octagon is former lightweight titleholder BJ Penn.

But as Henderson prepares to put his title on the line Saturday night against Anthony Pettis, some have wondered whether he has what it takes to retain the belt a fourth straight time. The concern is raised because of Henderson’s previous loss to Pettis and close calls in recent title bouts.

Henderson has won two of his three UFC title defenses by split decision. And the first time Henderson faced Pettis, in December 2010 while defending his WEC lightweight title bout, he lost by unanimous decision.

That loss, however, and the razor-thin outcomes of his more recent title bouts, don’t worry Henderson. His goal remains the same: just win. It’s that simple.

“What it all boils down to is getting your hand raised,” Henderson told ESPN.com on Thursday during a media conference to promote the title rematch with Pettis. “Whether you do it emphatically, impressively, whether you do it by split decision or whatever the case may be.

“Honestly, if a guy walks into the cage and slips on a banana peel and I win, I will take that win. I don’t care. The way I fight, I’m always out there to beat the guy up. I just want to beat him up. I don’t care about judges’ decisions or this or that, I just want to beat the guy up.”

Improved stand-up boosts Mendez’s confidence
Featherweight contender Chad Mendes has been on a knockout tear since coming up short in his title bid against Jose Aldo at UFC 142 on Jan. 14, 2012. Mendes was knocked out during the first round of that title bout, but he's knocked out each of his opponents in the three fights that followed.

Mendes, ranked fourth among 145-pound fighters by ESPN.com, went into that fight unsure of his stand-up skills -- both offensively and defensively. He wasn’t confident anywhere on his feet then.

As a result, Mendes was vulnerable standing against Aldo and got caught by a knee to the chin. His hopes of leaving the cage a champion that night came ended at the 4:59 mark.

But Mendes is better on his feet now. He is comfortable letting his hands go, and moving his feet and head comes naturally now. And he has developed into a solid power puncher. Mendes no longer lacks confidence standing in the cage.

“It’s not that I wasn’t confident as a fighter, it’s just that the stand-up part of the game wasn’t there for me,” Mendes said. “A lot of people said I took that fight too early in my career. But it’s a title fight; I’m not going to turn it down.

"I believe I was winning the first round until the final second. I’m a completely different fighter now. I know I can hang. I’ve grown and gotten so much better. I want another title shot."

With Wanderlei unavailable, UFC seeking foe for Sonnen
There are two things Chael Sonnen wants more than anything else in his professional fighting career right now: a showdown with Wanderlei Silva and a spot on the UFC 167 main card. But it's very unlikely one of his wishes will be met any time soon.

According to UFC president Dana White, a fight between Sonnen and Silva isn’t happening this year. White said Silva is injured and would accept only a pay-per-view deal to face Sonnen.

Pay-per-view deals are given only to champions, and Silva isn’t close to contending for the middleweight title. That puts the brakes on a Sonnen-Silva fight. Besides, Silva’s injury, which White says is back-related, will keep him out of action for the remainder of this year.

“Chael wants to fight in the co-main event of the [Georges] St-Pierre fight,” said White, referring to St-Pierre’s title defense against Johny Hendricks on Nov. 16 in Las Vegas. “Chael wants it. He wants to fight on that card. He has his heart set on it.”

There have been recent reports of Phil Davis getting the fight with Sonnen. White, however, quashed those reports. The UFC is still seeking an opponent to meet Sonnen at UFC 167. It’s possible that Davis is among the fighters being considered, but White refused to reveal any of the potential candidates.

“There’s nothing done [with Davis],” White said.

From World Extreme Cagefighting's launch in 2001 to its eventual merger with UFC in 2010, the WEC produced a number of memorable bouts, typically in the lower weight classes.

With a number of former WEC fighters competing Saturday at UFC 164 and one of its most infamous fights set to headline the card in Milwaukee, we took a look back at the best fights from the WEC's 10-year history through the eyes of founder and current UFC vice president of community relations Reed Harris.

So where exactly does the "Showtime kick" from Anthony Pettis rank among his favorite moments? Let's take a look back at Harris' top 10, including his personal memories of each one:

10. WEC 9: Olaf Alfonso SD John Polakowski, Jan. 16, 2004

Harris: Both guys broke their noses in the first 45 seconds of the fight. It was a war. In fact, [UFC president] Dana White was at the fight and HDNet was at the fight. And HDNet reported back to [channel owner] Mark Cuban, "We have to get this on our network." Polakowski took the fight on like two days. Really good striker but not very good on the ground. But Olaf was such a stud back then, he was like, "You know what? I'll stand with him." He just stood there for three rounds and they threw bombs.

9. WEC 29: Carlos Condit SUB1 Brock Larson, Aug. 5, 2007

Harris: It wasn't a fantastic fight, but what happened was Brock Larson was one of the strongest dudes I have ever seen. Like when that guy shook your hand, you were like, "Holy s---." He threw a punch at Condit, and Condit armbarred him, and it was so fast that I've never forgotten that moment. Larson was throwing bombs at him, he timed it perfectly and put that armbar on him and it was just, "Wow."

8. WEC 43: Ben Henderson UD Donald Cerrone, Oct. 10, 2009

Harris: A lot of my memories about "Cowboy" are tied to Charles ["Mask" Lewis, Tapout co-founder]. Charles had gone and seen Donald, and he came to me and begged me to sign him -- and Charles was a guy who if he asked you to do something, he would call you every day until you did it. I remember how proud Charles was of [Cerrone]. He loved him.

7. WEC 44: Jose Aldo TKO2 Mike Brown, Nov. 18, 2009

Harris: It was the kind of moment where I really knew how good [Aldo] was. I remember the first time he jumped out of the cage [after knocking out Rolando Perez at WEC 38], I ran him back and I had never yelled at a fighter before. Poor Andre [Pederneiras] was interpreting it and it was basically, "If you ever do that again, I'll cut you." His next fight he won, I walked into the cage and he was running towards the door. He looked at me and smiled, then sat down.

6. WEC 38 and WEC 51: Donald Cerrone vs. Jamie Varner, Jan. 25, 2009 and Sept. 30, 2010

Harris: The fights between Varner and Cowboy [a technical-decision win for Varner followed by a unanimous-decision win for Cerrone] were epic. Those guys hated each other. There was so much going on behind the scenes. Biggest rivalry the WEC saw, by far. When Varner was fighting a year ago [in the UFC], he got sick, and I got a text from Donald saying something like, "You tell Varner to pull up his bootstraps and fight." I thought, "This is still going on and they haven't fought in [almost] two years."

5. WEC 53: Anthony Pettis UD Ben Henderson, Dec. 16, 2010

Harris: The fight itself was great, even without the kick. I'll tell you, when Pettis did that, I literally said, "What the hell just happened?" I didn't process it. I was watching live, and the angle I had wasn't good. I saw what happened, but I didn't know what he had done -- how he had gotten from where he was standing to all of a sudden, Ben was down. It was the most amazing thing I've ever seen someone do in MMA.

4. WEC 34: Urijah Faber UD Jens Pulver, June 1, 2008

Harris: I think we did about 1.5 million viewers, which for a company like WEC -- it's hard to be in that UFC space and command viewers. It was kind of a passing of the torch for Jens. I saw a lot of respect between the two but also a determination with Faber, like he was going to get through this. And I remember him dominating.

3. WEC 48: Jose Aldo UD Urijah Faber, April 24, 2010

Harris: I remember [afterward] Faber being hurt. I gave him a hug and asked how he was. His leg was a mess. Aldo cried in the back. He was so emotional. It was like all the work he had done in his life -- that moment was life-changing to him. I remember when he was standing in that cage before the fight and "California Love" came on, Jose's look was like, "Wow. This guy's got a lot of fans."

2. WEC 40: Miguel Torres UD Takeya Mizugaki, April 5, 2009

Harris: It was such a war. I just remember how excited the crowd was and how brutal the fight was. There's nothing like seeing two guys in the dressing room who have given it everything they got. They had gone to battle. And when Miguel Torres was on, he really was like Anderson Silva. He had this aura about him.

1. WEC 48: Leonard Garcia SD Chan Sung Jung, April 24, 2010

Harris: To have those two guys step up and fight the way they did leading into our pay-per-view -- I know it completely bumped our numbers. Part of the story people don't know is after the fight, I went to the dressing rooms and "Korean Zombie" was crying because he really thought he had won the fight. I was able to tell him he won the fight of the night bonus, which was $65,000, and just the elation on his face was something I'll never forget.

As lightweight champion Benson Henderson and top contender Anthony Pettis head into their showdown Saturday night at UFC 164 in Milwaukee, much attention has been paid to their 2010 WEC title bout.

The fight was as an action-filled, closely contested affair, highlighted by Pettis’ off-the-cage kick that floored Henderson in the fifth round. Pettis would win by unanimous decision, lifting the WEC 155-pound belt from Henderson. With images of that bout still fresh, it’s reasonable for fans to expect much of the same in the rematch.

While Henderson-Pettis II is a safe bet to deliver in the action department, the bout could look quite different than their initial encounter. One major difference is Pettis: He is a more aggressive fighter than the one Henderson faced nearly three years ago.

As hard as it is to believe, Pettis has evolved as a fighter in more ways than one. He is not just prepared to become lightweight champion again, but to hold the title for a very long time.

“My mindset is different; my experience, my striking, my wrestling, my jiu-jitsu, everything is top-notch. My dieting, too,” Pettis told ESPN.com. “This [mixed martial arts] has become a lifestyle for me. When we first met, I was only 22 going on 23 years old. Now I’m 26 and I’ve made this my lifestyle. I’ve learned a lot and I’m way more experienced as a mixed martial artist. I’m definitely a whole different Anthony Pettis.

“There’s no more holding back for me. When I go out there, I’m letting loose. When I hold back, I’m thinking about the other fighter, what’s the game plan and what he’s trying to do and how I’m going to finish him.

“I just need go out there and be myself. When I’m being myself, I’m dangerous. And everybody knows it. That’s why I’ve done so well in my last two fights.”

Pettis put on a striking clinic against Joe Lauzon in February 2010 and against Donald Cerrone on Jan. 26. He finished both fighters by first-round knockout.

“

I beat him once already, so it wasn't my place to call for a rematch. Since he's the champ that's the key for me. I want to be the champion, so whoever has the belt at this time, and it happens to be Ben Henderson, that's who I'm going after.

” -- Anthony Pettis, on fighting Benson Henderson for the second time.

In each of those fights, Pettis showed patience and great balance when delivering kicks that sent Lauzon and Cerrone to the canvas. He finished both downed opponent with punches.

While his striking was impressive, it’s what Pettis did before unleashing his offense that stands out: He controlled the distance. Pettis is athletic and light on his feet.

In the past, he would use that athletic ability to offset deficiencies in his game. But he has tightened up his technique and put his speed and power to better use. This has come in handy in the larger UFC cage, though Pettis doesn’t expect it to be a big advantage against Henderson.

“The WEC cage was about 5 feet shorter than the UFC cage,” Pettis said. “The more room for me, the better. I’m a rangy fighter, I like to fight at a range.

“But it plays well for both of us. Henderson is a rangy guy. He doesn’t like to be in exchanges much and he uses his footwork well to get out of situations.

“The bigger cage benefits both of us. But I’m not going to base my game plan off the size of the cage. I know what I have to do to win this fight.”

Whether in a WEC or UFC cage, where this rematch takes place doesn’t matter to Pettis; his No. 1 priority remains the same: to become lightweight champion again. And having to go through Henderson again to do it isn’t an issue.

For Henderson, the first fight remains fresh in his mind, especially with that now-famous kick repeatedly shown in prefight promos. But for Pettis, a rematch with Henderson was not on his to-do list until the UFC lightweight title changed hands on Feb. 26, 2012. That’s when Henderson unseated then-titleholder Frankie Edgar by unanimous decision.

“Ben’s an amazing fighter; he’s the champ for a reason,” Pettis said. “But I never had my sights set on fighting Ben Henderson again. Once he won that belt, that’s when I said I want to fight him again.

“I beat him once already, so it wasn’t my place to call for a rematch. Since he’s the champ, that’s the key for me. I want to be the champion, so whoever has the belt at this time, and it happens to be Ben Henderson, that’s who I’m going after.”

It's been a couple of years since Benson Henderson and his trainer, John Crouch, watched their 2010 WEC title loss to Anthony Pettis.

Henderson doesn't get "too tape happy" to begin with. He'll watch a fight once to find a feel for his opponent and be done with it. So in advance of the lightweights' Aug. 31 rematch in Milwaukee, Henderson may not even revisit the close decision and the Showtime kick. The truth is, he needs no refresher course on his only loss during 18 fights over the past six years. Lessons there to be learned, have been.

"I was able to man up and move on with my life," Henderson told ESPN.com on Wednesday. "It wasn't anything I was obsessing over. Now that we do get the chance to square off again and once I get my hands on him it's going to be a fun night for me. Let's put it that way."

The current UFC lightweight champion, seeking his fifth straight defense, is clear about where he could have done better the first time around. Outside of a few "stale moments" he classified his performance during one of the most dramatic title fights in Zuffa history as just "OK." Henderson and Crouch felt the effort in the cage that night was lackadaisical. In response, the trainer didn't ask his charge to get "mean," per se, but he wanted Henderson to be "more aggressive and try to have our way in the fight." Henderson, 27 at the time, stewed for a bit. He was quiet. Reflective. But also motivated.

"It would have been the same against anybody," said Crouch, who coaches out of The Lab in Glendale, Ariz. "He likes to compete. He hates to lose. He took it very hard."

Henderson's next appearance was his UFC debut. "As soon as we started in the UFC you could see the difference," Crouch said. "When he fought [Mark] Bocek, fought [Jim] Miller, fought [Clay] Guida, we were much more aggressive." Those wins set Henderson up for a title challenge against Frankie Edgar. All Henderson has done since is win, which considering his current status is the only thing he needs to do. Taking on Pettis is the next step. That's how Henderson and Crouch see it. Nothing more. Nothing less.

"When you've got the belt, every single person in this division wants to beat me up," Henderson said. "That's how it goes. It doesn't matter to me who my next defense is against. It's cool."

"It's the same thing for us," Crouch said. "It's going to be our fourth belt defense. We're gonna keep the belt for a while. It's just what we do."

If there's ever a good moment to fight Pettis, weeks removed from a knee injury that knocked him out of an Aug. 3 challenge of Jose Aldo, it would seem to be now. The 26-year-old challenger got the call after TJ Grant was concussed while training for his title shot. Pettis was in line for his own opportunity after the WEC win, but injuries derailed those plans and kept him out of action more than he’d like the past couple of years. In the meantime, the current champion strung together consistent performances against top-shelf competitors, including a squeaker in April over Gilbert Melendez.

"Benson has developed a whole bunch” since losing to Pettis, Crouch said. “You kind of overstate that with your own guy. I think he's better, but it's just part of the process."

Henderson has been pushed, prodded, and proven to be sharp. The challenger, spectacular yet sporadic.

The switch from Grant to Pettis is a "curveball," Henderson said, but nothing he hasn't dealt with in the past. And with five and a half weeks remaining until fight night, there's plenty of time for Henderson to properly prepare. The fact is Henderson had already cut down on the length of training camps because, Crouch said, "he works too hard and beats his body up.” Since they were just about to get in the gym to prepare for Grant, "timing is just fine," the trainer said.

Henderson sees the scenario in front of him as typical, which means there's no such thing as a perfect situation in MMA. At a minimum, Pettis is a guy with a chance, and that's all any fighter requires to pull off something special. This is how the lightweight champion processed Chris Weidman’s stunning victory over Anderson Silva: “The reason why we fight is that any given day the best can lose.”

Pettis, of course, is no long shot. Oddsmakers have pegged the challenger, who’s fighting in his hometown, as the slight favorite.

"It doesn't matter to me where it's at, who's it against, what hometown," Henderson said. "Bump all that noise. It doesn't matter to me. I'm going to beat him up. At the end of the night I'm going to get my hand raised."

One question I get just about every week on the Friday chat was some variation of this: Which UFC champion will fall first?

For the past year, it’s been easy to imagine that none of the current champions would ever lose again, given the state of the matchmaking. Not with Ronda Rousey fighting Liz Carmouche, and Georges St-Pierre fighting Nick Diaz, and Jon Jones fighting Chael Sonnen, and Anderson Silva fighting Stephan Bonnar with no belt in the balance, and Dominick Cruz not fighting at all.

With landslide favorites in these matchups, the answer was always Junior dos Santos. Heavyweights have never been good at holding on to the belt. Then it became Cain Velasquez, when he beat Dos Santos. That is, until Velasquez was resaddled with Antonio Silva, whose odds the second time were longer than his gangly reach. When that happened, the question of who would fall first came back around to its usual futility.

The real question was: Who would get Matt Serra’d first?

For the past year, it wasn’t that the UFC champions were being catered to and protected, so much as the matchmaking lacked imagination. Or the matchmaking had too much imagination, because it required the open-mindedness of our disposable income. There was not enough genuine threat, due to circumstances (injuries), limitations (shallow heavyweight division) and cash-out gimmickry (Sonnen). Aside from a few exceptions -- Gilbert Melendez versus Benson Henderson, say, or any Demetrious Johnson fight -- for a long time we had main events that looked and felt more like potboilers.

Just activity for the sake of activity, with low-flame drama.

Yet here we are in mid-2013, and a champion has fallen. Anderson Silva, the longest-tenured, most unthinkable of the titleholders with his 16-0 record in the UFC, lost to Chris Weidman spectacularly at UFC 162. There’d be no such thing as “eras” if they went on forever. Now the Silva era hinges on the rematch in December. How are those for stakes?

If that wasn't novel enough, after a long dry spell of pretenders getting shots on whims and shaking limbs, suddenly it looks as if Silva could be just the first domino to fall. Most of the title fights slated to take place in the second half of 2013 pits a challenger who looks and feels like an actual threat to the throne. Suddenly we can imagine a world where Johny Hendricks is posing for magazine articles with the belt slung over his shoulder, know what I mean?

Think about this: By the end of 2013, we might have recast our pantheon of UFC champions. Hendricks is a legitimate threat to St-Pierre. So is the barely talked about John Moraga over flyweight champion Johnson. Dos Santos could reclaim his title against Velasquez, just the same as Silva could reclaim his belt against Weidman. These fights are booked and happening (pending health).

Rousey will be the odds-on favorite to beat Miesha Tate, just as Jose Aldo will loom large over Chan Sung Jung -- but Anthony Pettis beat Benson Henderson once, what’s to say he can’t to it again at the end of August? Especially in his hometown of Milwaukee?

Romanticists might point to Alexander Gustafsson as a viable challenge to Jon Jones, but that one is more wait and see. Yet Gustafsson feels like Ares in there against Jones after fostering our collective beliefs for so long over Sonnen’s chances.

By the end of 2013, our pound-for-pound lists may become a weekly Etch-a-Sketch. This is how it was drawn up in the Ultimate Fighting Championship -- to stake the best fighters in the world against the people who the matchmakers think could beat them. That’s how this thing works best. Champions, after all, are made to be vulnerable.

And it’s refreshing to look over a slate of upcoming fights and genuinely have no idea how things are going to go. It’s better, when asked a question like "which UFC champion will fall first," to counter with: "A better question is -- which one will still be champion this time next year?"

Anthony Pettis could write a book about lost title shots in the UFC.

The time he let one slip through his fingers two years ago in a loss to Clay Guida, that one felt fast. It was a mistake on his part -- one he’s been paying for since.

“That was the fastest fight of my life,” Pettis told ESPN.com. “It was just one of those I didn’t get up for. All I kept thinking was, ‘I’m going to knock this guy out, and I’ll get my title shot.’

“Even during the fight, I thought I’d catch him in a triangle -- catch him somewhere. It just never happened.”

The last title opportunity that disappeared, against Jose Aldo for the featherweight title on Aug. 3, that one had a slow, demoralizing, heartbreaking feel to it.

In June, he flew to Rio de Janeiro to promote the proposed UFC 163 fight. On his last day there, he and light heavyweight Phil Davis decided to cram in a workout before flying home. While rolling, he felt his knee pop, but thought maybe it was nothing serious.

When it started to swell an hour into the long international flight, he knew better.

“It was so annoying, man,” Pettis said. “I could feel it getting bigger and bigger. I thought, ‘Damn, there it goes. There goes my title shot.’

“

They gave me Joe Lauzon; I knocked him out and was supposed to get a title shot. They gave me Donald Cerrone; I beat him and was promised a title shot. I'm not talking my way into shots.

” -- Anthony Pettis, on earning his title shot against Benson Henderson

“Phil Davis was on the plane, and he felt so bad. I was trying to act cool, telling him it was probably just a little sprain, but deep down I knew it was pretty serious.”

There have been others, of course. Pettis was supposed to fight for the UFC lightweight title in his promotional debut more than two years ago. In that time, the Guida loss, injuries and other circumstances have conspired against him.

Finally, it appears the cruel joke is over. Last weekend, Pettis replaced the injured TJ Grant in a title fight against Ben Henderson at UFC 164 on Aug. 31 in Milwaukee.

Despite everything he’s been through to get to this spot, some accuse Pettis of jumping in line. He asked for the shot against Aldo even though he’d never fought in that weight class before.

And his campaign for Grant’s spot in Milwaukee actually began before Grant injured himself -- and it rubbed some the wrong way. Grant had, after all, earned the opportunity as well, knocking out Gray Maynard in May.

Pettis (16-2), as you might imagine, is unapologetic of his calls for a title shot.

“If people really believe that, they need to go back and actually look at my career,” Pettis said. “See how I’ve fought when I didn’t have to fight. Even after I lost the Aldo fight, I was getting ready to fight Josh Thomson.

“They gave me Joe Lauzon; I knocked him out and was supposed to get a title shot. They gave me Donald Cerrone; I beat him and was promised a title shot. I’m not talking my way into shots.”

In addition to a UFC title fight, a rematch with Henderson has really always been in the cards for Pettis. Their first meeting, which Pettis won via unanimous decision in Henderson’s hometown of Phoenix, was the perfect ending in the WEC’s final event.

Henderson (19-2) has rattled off seven consecutive wins since the loss. He claimed the UFC title in February 2012 and already has posted three successful defenses.

In regard to the first Pettis fight in late 2010, Henderson has said numerous times he allowed the moment to affect his game plan. Instead of wrestling Pettis for 25 minutes, he got caught up in the idea of proving he could strike with him.

Pettis says that description is most likely influenced by what happened in his loss to Guida, when he was basically neutralized on his back for three rounds.

The notion that Pettis can’t handle elite wrestlers stuck with him after that loss, but he invites Henderson to go ahead and test it when the two meet for the second time.

“Uh, I think he saw the Guida fight and he’s saying the same thing everybody else said,” Pettis said. “Ben did what he wanted to do in the first fight, we went five rounds, we both had our moments and I got my hand raised.

“People say they can go in and ‘Guida’ me, but that’s not happening again.”

News stories following Bellator MMA's first event of the summer will focus rightly on Muhammed Lawal's vicious knockout of Seth Petruzelli and Renato "Babalu" Sobral's retirement.

And for that, Bellator and Spike TV should be grateful.

Because without Lawal driving a rivet through Petruzelli's face, or the memories and plaudits inspired by Sobral -- whose decision to lay down his gloves in the center of the cage while kneeling reverentially was lovely -- Wednesday night's fight card came across as all sorts of ugly.

Bellator can represent itself as challenger to the UFC, as a place where competition between fighters is the only thing that matters -- toughest tournament in sports and all -- but that's undercut when guys such as 35-year-old, 5-foot-8, 260-pound Jeremiah O'Neal (12-22) are given bouts, and the Ron Sparks of the world receive live television slots.

In O'Neal's case, he fought boxing convert Raphael Butler, who went to 6-0 with an early knockout. I failed to see the point. O'Neal won't go anywhere -- he lost to a bunch of names, but mostly at welterweight and middleweight. He entered Bellator off a loss. Worse: O'Neal's last win came in 2011, against 1-3 Kelly Rundle, who turns 51 this August. Prior to that, O'Neal hadn't won since 2007. Want to kill some time? Check out the records of the guys O'Neal actually defeated.

Look, I don't want to tear down O'Neal. It's Bellator that deserves to be embarrassed. I've given them plenty of credit for finding young, fresh talent. For the most part, the promotion's scouting team of Sam Caplan and Zach Light do a very good job, but their work can easily get dinged when this kind of matchmaking happens, even on an undercard contest. Butler can't improve as a prospect against a guy like O'Neal, so what's the point? He hits hard -- fine. But we could have seen that just the same if he faced a heavy bag.

As for television, the decision to match Vitaly Minakov against Sparks was pretty sad. Minakov (11-0) looks like a legit heavyweight prospect, but no one could know one way or the other after he put away the 38-year-old Sparks in 32 seconds. Thankfully, Minakov faces Ryan Martinez on July 31, who at least appears a threat.

Let me leave on an up note. Bellator's card at the end of July near Albuquerque sets up as a terrific night of fights. Lawal meets Jacob Noe in the abbreviated 205-pound tournament finals. Minakov is matched with Martinez. Bellator lightweight champ Michael Chandler returns against gritty David Rickels. I'm most interested in watching 22-year-old Andrey Koreshkov (who is the embodiment of the anti-Jeremiah O'Neal) fight unbeaten American Ben Askren.

GSP-Hendricks is a go

The UFC welterweight championship contest between Georges St-Pierre and Johny Hendricks was made official this week. It will headline what most people will come to call the UFC's 20th anniversary event on Nov. 16, most likely in Las Vegas.

I'll just say this: I don't care that the UFC couldn't pull off an interdivisional mega-fight at Madison Square Garden to mark the occasion. GSP-Hendricks is absolutely fine by me -- no matter the night, regardless of the commemoration.

Why? Easy. Hendricks appears to be the biggest threat to St-Pierre in the welterweight division. And I think the once-beaten southpaw power-puncher pulls off the upset.

Good news, bad news

Bad news first.
Anthony Pettis needs at least six weeks to recover from an injured meniscus. So he'll miss a featherweight title shot with Jose Aldo in early August, and an Aug. 31 lightweight shot in his hometown of Milwaukee against Benson Henderson. No young fighter has exhibited more patience than Pettis. (Ricardo Lamas might think he's getting stiffed here as well.) But, not to worry, his chance will come. It's inevitable.

Now the good news.

TJ Grant won't get pushed out of a championship spot against Henderson. The 29-year-old Canadian smoked Gray Maynard in May to earn the opportunity, and should be the man to face Henderson -- even if some may say it's not nearly as marketable a pay-per-view attraction as a rematch between Henderson and Pettis, Showtime Kick, et al.

Anyhow, like GSP-Hendricks, I'm calling an upset. Grant beats Henderson.

Lombard to 170

There had been calls for Hector Lombard to drop 15 pounds and fight at welterweight for as long as the strong Cuban competed in MMA. Yet for seven years, Lombard saw no reason to leave middleweight. He was strong and fast, and won more than enough contests by stoppage to form a convincing argument that 185 was the place to be.

Then he entered the UFC. And a year later, Lombard officially revealed it was time to shed the weight. Losses to Tim Boetsch and Yushin Okami indicated Lombard wasn’t as good as he thought, and larger middleweights who were also viable competitors could stifle his explosion.

What could a 170-pound Lombard do?

Get fans excited, for starters, especially if he carries his power down with him. Lombard posted on Twitter that he wants to fight Nate Marquardt, who was also a middleweight convert. That’s a nice first fight for him.

The real question is whether Lombard will be able to handle the speed of the welterweight division. For all of the talk of his power, it was Lombard’s haste that made him at 185. Absent that advantage and coupled with the realization that he’s probably shorter than most welterweights, Lombard will have to make full use of his skills, including a judo game that always seems underutilized when he fights.

Lady Liberty says 'no' to MMA again

Ready for the least shocking news of 2013?

Sheldon Silver, speaker of the New York State Assembly, declined to bring for a vote a bill intended to legalize MMA in the state. That makes Silver 4-0 against MMA legislation, having scuttled the process the past four years.

Because Silver obviously can’t watch pro MMA in New York -- the only state in the Union where MMA remains banned -- he might try the Glory event at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City on Saturday.

See, kickboxing is legal in New York. Yes, even kickboxing three times on one night -- which is what the winner of Glory’s $200,000 prize will be expected to do.

It’s insane that New York licenses fighters to kickbox three times in a single evening and prohibits them from competing in MMA at all.

The UFC lightweight division is the deep end of the pool. It’s nondebatable.

According to the new ESPN.com rankings, a well-rounded talent like Jim Miller no longer cracks the Top 10. Same for Nate Diaz -- and he fought for the title six months ago. Athletic knockout artist Melvin Guillard is facing potential unemployment.

With as loaded as the division is, it’s pretty unbelievable Benson Henderson has already tied BJ Penn's record for all-time wins in a UFC lightweight title fight. Breaking that record in his next fight against TJ Grant is far from a given.

In 2011, I wrote a similar column to this, laying out the qualities it would take to beat Frankie Edgar. I ultimately said Henderson was the guy. I feel about 75 percent correct today. Edgar won that rematch, but you know. Spilled milk.

Question now is, who beats Henderson -- if anyone? Here are the lightweight contenders and pretenders, revisited.

The best of the rest: Mark Bocek, Guillard, Joe Lauzon, Miller, Ross Pearson.

These guys deserve to be in the conversation, but stars would really have to align for them to go all the way. Miller is terrific, but the evidence is there: When he runs into big, athletic lightweights he can’t push around, he struggles. I’d love to see him take his style to the featherweight division, which could use a mean, durable, bearded former lightweight willing to wear a farmer’s tan around. But Miller has long resisted the idea. We know Guillard is good for a handful of knockouts and an equal number of face palms Pearson could still develop, but he’s been beaten at his own game twice in his past five fights. Never a good sign.

That somebody that you used to know: Nate Diaz

Someone should probably stage an intervention for Diaz. Going back to his title fight against Henderson in December (not that long ago!), Diaz has tanked in back-to-back fights, talked about a return to welterweight (makes sense, given his vulnerability to bigger, stronger opponents) and been suspended for using a gay slur in a tweet (which he then said he wasn’t sorry about). How confident are you right now the Diazes aren’t at least thinking about a future WAR MMA card headlined by Nate? Not very, right?

The fantasy keeper league: Edson Barboza, Rafael Dos Anjos, Rustam Khabilov, Jorge Masvidal, Khabib Nurmagomedov

Every one of these guys is under 30 years old. Say you set up a fantasy keeper MMA league, where wins are worth one point and title wins are worth three. What order are you drafting these guys in? Tough call.

Barboza, Khabilov and Nurmagomedov are the Andrew Luck, Robert Griffin III and Russell Wilson of the UFC lightweights. Of the three, there’s something I really like about Khabilov. Even without the first-round finishes, you can just tell this guy does everything well and he’s on opponents from start to finish. Barboza has made that weird jump from slightly overrated to underrated, thanks to a TKO loss to Jamie Varner. It seemed like everybody wanted to talk about this guy, despite the fact he barely, barely squeaked by Anthony Njokuani and Ross Pearson. Now, I don’t think we’re talking about him enough. It’s tough to pick a future champion in this very young group, but I like Khabilov’s chances the best, then probably Barboza.

The head case: Donald Cerrone

It’s possible nobody beats Cerrone when it comes to looking awesome in a win and then fairly terrible in a loss. Cerrone referenced a sports psychologist after his latest win over KJ Noons -- if you’re unaware, that’s been going on for a while now. When he’s on, he’s similar to other Greg Jackson fighters Jon Jones and Cub Swanson. He mixes it up, he reacts, he doesn’t think. Other times, it’s like he’s trying to solve for “x” out there and he seizes up.

At this point, I admit I’m skeptical of Cerrone ever holding the belt. He doesn’t fight particularly well in the big moments and quite frankly, he’s never been that guy who expresses a burning desire to be a champion anyway. Worth mentioning though, I thought he beat Henderson at WEC 43 in 2009. As far as controversial Henderson decisions go, that’s right up there.

The threats: Grant, Pat Healy, Gray Maynard, Gilbert Melendez, Josh Thomson

These guys are somewhat close to a title shot (with the exemption of Maynard, but I’m not willing to count him out). Thomson is going to make a lot of noise. He’s not afraid to ask for things right now because at 34, his window at a title is smaller than it used to be. Melendez will be around. He’s well-rounded, consistent, mentally tough and we know he can go five rounds, let alone three. I like Grant a lot. He’s got the power to hurt Henderson and change the fight. As good as Healy is, and I like the welterweight-to-lightweight move right now, he’s not quite as good as Grant, so if Grant falls to Henderson, it’d be tough to pick Healy over him. Interesting that these are some of the bigger guys at 155. Did small ball pack up and leave with Edgar?

The future champ: Anthony Pettis

What just happened? Pettis had been waiting around for a title shot forever. For various reasons, mostly Edgar rematches, it never happened.

So in a move to speed up his title hopes, he called Dana White and asked to drop to 145. He fights Jose Aldo on Aug. 3. It’s possible (not official) Henderson will defend the lightweight title against Grant 14 days later in Boston on Aug. 17. So basically, Pettis agreed to drop to a weight class he’s never fought in to earn a title shot just two weeks sooner, and the UFC signed off on it. Seems like we all could have handled that better.

Anyway, win or lose, I don’t think Pettis is long for 145 pounds. He has always seen 155 as his division and he’s confident he has Henderson’s number. I’ve always believed Henderson’s claim he got caught up in the moment of the last WEC fight ever and strayed from his game plan against Pettis. I think that’s real. I just don’t think it matters. Even if Henderson goes into a rematch with a strategy more reliant on his size and pressure, Pettis beats him. Bold prediction time: Pettis is your UFC lightweight champion at some point in the next 12-18 months.

UFC on Fox 7 will air on free network television from the HP Pavilion in San Jose, Calif., Saturday night. In the main event, UFC Lightweight Champion Benson Henderson will defend his title against the debuting #1 contender Gilbert Melendez, who was the final Strikeforce lightweight champion. In the co-main events, Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix winner Daniel Cormier will face former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir and Nate Diaz faces another UFC debutant in former Strikeforce lightweight champion Josh Thomson. Here are the numbers you need to know for Saturday’s fights:

6: UFC decisions to start his career for Henderson, second among active UFC fighters behind flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson. Henderson is the only fighter to start his UFC career with at least five consecutive decisions won.

Most UFC Decisions to Start Career, Active Fighters
Demetrious Johnson 7
Benson Henderson 6*
Diego Nunes 6
Nam Phan 6
*Won all decisions

10: Consecutive title fights for Melendez, who held the Strikeforce title from April 2009 to January 2013 when the organization was dissolved into the UFC. Melendez won four fights by decision and three by KO/TKO. His notable wins include rival Josh Thomson (twice) and DREAM lightweight champion Shinya Aoki.

11: Wins by KO or TKO for Melendez, four under the Strikeforce banner. Henderson has been knocked down three times in his UFC/WEC career, most notably the jumping kick off the cage from Anthony Pettis at WEC 53.

9: This will be the ninth time Melendez will fight inside the HP Pavilion, the proverbial stomping grounds of Strikeforce. He is 7-1 in previous fights at the “Shark Tank,” losing the Strikeforce lightweight championship to Thomson in 2008.

21: Takedowns for Henderson in six UFC fights (3.5 per fight). Melendez has a 71 percent takedown defense but allowed a combined 13 takedowns in his two career losses (seven to Mitsuhiro Ishida, six to Thomson).

3.6: Strikes landed per minute by Melendez. During his seven-fight win streak, Melendez has outstruck his opponents 482-272 (plus-210) in significant strikes. Henderson absorbs 1.5 significant strikes per minute and only 30 in his last win over Melendez teammate Nate Diaz.

8: Mir has an eight-inch reach advantage over Cormier (79 inches to 71). That’s nothing new to Cormier, as he’s beaten Antonio Silva (82), Devin Cole (79.5) and Josh Barnett (78).

6: All six of Mir’s career losses have come by way of KO or TKO. The former UFC heavyweight champion has never lost back-to-back fights in his career. Seven of Cormier’s 11 career wins have come via strikes (five KO/TKO, two submissions due to strikes).

8: Submission wins by Mir inside the UFC Octagon, tied for second most all time. Cormier has faced only one submission attempt in his Strikeforce career (Barnett).

Most UFC Wins by Submission
Royce Gracie 11
Frank Mir 8
Nate Diaz 8
Kenny Florian 8

3: This is Mir’s first camp with Jackson’s MMA in Albuquerque, N.M. If he wins, Mir would be the third UFC heavyweight from Jackson’s to win in this calendar year, joining Shawn Jordan (UFC on Fox 6) and Travis Browne (TUF 17 finale).

5: Of his eight submission wins inside the UFC Octagon, five have earned Nate Diaz a UFC submission of the night bonus (second all time). Thomson has never been submitted in 25 professional fights and also has nine submission victories of his own (four in Strikeforce).

Most Submission of the Night Bonuses
Joe Lauzon 6
Nate Diaz 5
Terry Etim 4

208: Diaz landed 30 significant strikes in his title fight against Benson Henderson, 208 fewer than his victory over Donald Cerrone in two fewer rounds. Thomson will be tough to hit as well; he absorbs 1.8 strikes per minute, but did absorb 3.0 per minute in his last loss to Melendez.

In 2013, the year of the “superfight” and new-fashioned division jumping in the UFC, anything is possible.

How possible? A simple, timely text can shake up an entire division for the better part of a year. Ask Ricardo Lamas, who should have been the next featherweight for Jose Aldo if Anthony Pettis, ten pounds and 1,000 decibels his superior, wasn’t the quickest Blackberry draw in the Midwest.

When Dana White got the buzz that night, it played out like this: Merit, shmerit. This game deals in duckets.

Imagine that: Diaz-Ellenberger is the potential title fight nobody is talking about.

Now Pettis-Aldo is slated to take place in far-off August. Jon Jones versus Anderson Silva has been speculated about for New York (or Brazil [or Dallas]) in November (or December), even though Silva is fighting Chris Weidman in July, and Jones has a fight with Chael Sonnen in April. Apparently Sonnen can be looked right past to the “superfight” everybody wants. In fact, Jones/Silva is the only true superfight right now that is super enough to make rational people superstitious. Nobody wants to jinx it, except a couple of pesky wrestlers who stand in their way.

Then there’s UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson, who is talking about bouncing up to welterweight to face Georges St-Pierre, even though he has a fight with reigning Strikeforce champion Gilbert Melendez this spring, and GSP fights Nick Diaz next weekend.

That idea has since been shot down by White but, what, is Melendez a hologram? It used to be that media and fans were always thinking two steps ahead. Now the fighters are, too? This is fantastic. (I have to admit -- it’s fun to align in such foolish behavior!).

At least the scenarios get simpler from here, so let's look ahead. On March 16, at UFC 158, the welterweights will come into focus. It’s really black and white. The three top fights on the card are 170-pounders. St-Pierre, who we are assured has a dark chamber in his psyche that nobody (especially that inconsiderate Nick Diaz!) can possibly fathom, headlines the event.

All revolves around him beating Diaz. If he defeats Diaz he could fight anyone from Johny Hendricks to Carlos Condit to Jake Ellenberger to Silva, this summer, this fall, or this winter. The line snakes around the block. Hendricks more than deserves the shot, particularly if he beats Condit that same night. He has been deserving for what feels like years. If Hendricks and St-Pierre both win, that fight seems obvious.

In 2011, maybe. In 2013, not so fast.

That’s because people like Silva and Henderson happen to exist. Though Silva is now booked to fight Weidman at UFC 162, he can't help but still hover over St-Pierre in 2013. Now with a new contract, it's possible he courts that St-Pierre fight sooner rather than later. St-Pierre would have to be coaxed into agreeing, of course, which is never a given.

In other words, even if all goes to plan and both GSP and Hendricks win, Hendricks could find himself on the outside looking in. Yet again. If that were the case, maybe Hendricks could fight Rory MacDonald next, who was scrapped from the card when he got injured. He was supposed to face Condit.

And speaking of Condit, he could emerge as a dark horse in the St-Pierre sweepstakes. If he takes care of No. 1 contender Hendricks, he has some ammo. After all, the first fight had that fleeting moment when Condit came unnervingly close. And if Diaz pulls the upset over St-Pierre and somehow makes it out of Montreal in one piece, same thing -- Diaz-Condit II is viable (unless the fight results in a scorecard nightmare and St-Pierre/Diaz II has to be played back immediately). If Condit wins and somebody texts Dana White to jump the line to GSP, you’ve still got the Condit-MacDonald vendetta to sort out. No scenario is without a silver lining.

There are other factors. Ellenberger is on the card fighting Nate Marquardt, who two years after trying to debut at 170 pounds in the UFC finally gets his chance. One of them -- namely Ellenberger -- could factor into this title discussion, too. Much like an 8-7 NFL team heading into the final regular season game in a tight Wild Card race -- Ellenberger is mathematically alive, but needs help. He needs an emphatic showing and some smiling fortune, such as Johny Hendricks losing. The UFC might jump him to the top to avoid rolling back Condit-GSP II too soon in that case (even though Ellenberger lost to Condit narrowly in 2009). Unless Diaz wins, that is, and Condit faces a long medical suspension in victory.

Imagine that: Diaz-Ellenberger is the potential title fight nobody is talking about.

What’s at stake come March 16 in this makeshift welterweight grand prix? Feels like plenty. But in 2013, “what’s at stake” has turned into a versatile question. There is no obvious answer. And if you ask White beforehand, you’re likely to get his go-to response for most things yon: We’ll see what happens.

Fight fans had cause for serious eye-rolling back in January, when UFC play-by-play man Mike Goldberg kicked off the organization’s first pay-per-view of 2013 by proclaiming this would be the “year of the superfight” inside the Octagon.

Guys in Goldberg’s position are paid to be hyperbole-prone, after all, and the commentary on UFC broadcasts is typically more hype than substance. Add in the fact the company was coming off a year where it couldn’t plan a Sunday brunch without half the invited guests dropping out due to injury or sudden illness, and a certain skepticism seemed justified.

Imagine our surprise, then, when nearly two full months into the new year, Goldberg (or whoever fed him that line) appears downright prophetic. To date, the UFC’s upcoming schedule looks “super” indeed, both for better and for worse.

Take for example the proposed interdivisional superbout between featherweight champion Jose Aldo and lightweight contender Anthony Pettis, which we were briefly told was off over the weekend, but was suddenly back on as of Monday. In terms of potential in-ring action that fight is as super-duper as they come, but otherwise serves as just the latest reminder that the organization’s matchmaking has become maddeningly random. Not to mention confusing.

Aldo-Pettis is scheduled for August and will be for Aldo’s featherweight title, but now an additional stipulation has been added. If Aldo (who has never fought at lightweight in the UFC) retains his belt by defeating Pettis (again, in a bout at 145 pounds) he’ll get a shot at the 155-pound championship sometime later this year. Conversely, if the featherweight crown falls to Pettis (who, again, is a natural lightweight) we can only assume he’ll stay at 145 for the foreseeable future.

In other words it’s a fun fight that will probably make some money, but not the kind of thing you want to think too deeply about if you lack immediate access to Ibuprofen.

(Side Note: Remember also that during that 48-hour window when Aldo was refusing to fight Pettis, he implied “Showtime” didn’t deserve it, because he’d never won a fight in the UFC featherweight division? Apparently, Aldo doesn’t apply that same standard to himself.)

Elsewhere, light heavyweight champion Jon Jones will defend his title against a second consecutive middleweight opponent in April, and (with apologies to Lyoto Machida) a victory could set the stage for Jones to take on erstwhile heavyweight Daniel Cormier. If that doesn’t happen, there’s a longshot chance the UFC could still pull off a megafight between Jones and middleweight champ Anderson Silva. Silva, you’ll remember, most recently fought at light heavyweight and may end up squaring off with welterweight king Georges St-Pierre if the Jones fight won’t go.

If you find yourself perplexed by this company-wide game of divisional musical chairs, you are not alone. Just imagine how a dude like Ricardo Lamas must feel.

Lamas is currently No. 5 on ESPN.com’s featherweight Power Rankings and is riding a four-fight win streak over mostly Top 10-caliber 145-pound opponents. He might well have been up next for Aldo had Pettis not purportedly called out the champ via opportunistic text messages sent to UFC President Dana White a couple of weeks back.

Pettis allegedly texted White about his desire to fight Aldo while watching him defeat Frankie Edgar (another lightweight, one Aldo had no qualms fighting despite coming in off back-to-back losses) at UFC 156 earlier this month. Pettis himself was fresh off a first-round TKO of Donald Cerrone in January, which at the time we were told made him the No. 1 contender at lightweight. As the story goes, White found whatever was said in those texts so convincing that he scrapped the natural pecking order in both weight classes to insert Pettis into a featherweight title match.

An awesome move? Of course, but also one that was bound to rub some people the wrong way. Especially people who care about things like weight classes and title pictures and the UFC’s own newly minted “official” rankings system. That goes double for people like Lamas, who’s been working his tail off to earn a shot at Aldo for a bit shy of two years now.

“What am I, a mirage?!?!?!” Lamas tweeted, when Aldo-Pettis was announced.

We feel your pain, Ricardo. Unfortunately, the music has stopped and you’re the only one without a chair.

Before any of this Aldo-Pettis business happens of course, UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson will meet incoming Strikeforce lightweight champ Gilbert Melendez in an April “superfight” that somehow manages to confine itself to a single weight class. Not to be outdone by his peers however, Henderson is now declaring if he beats Melendez, he’ll request his own dream fight against St. Pierre at 170 pounds.

White has said he’s not particularly interested in booking that fight (both Henderson and GSP seem to have a lot on their plates) but who knows, maybe someone will send him a text that changes his mind.

Long story short: It’s not even March yet and so far -- knock on wood -- it looks like we’re going to get some amazing fights out of the UFC this year. So long as we don’t trouble ourselves with the details, it could be quite a ride.