Before Vitali Klitschko fought Dereck Chisora Saturday, Chisora gave Vitali's brother Wladimir a face full of water, which he spat out onto the heavyweight champ in a typically classless move. During the fight, Chisora gave Vitali a handful -- a harder fight than either brother has endured in many, many years, maybe going back to 2005, when Wladimir hit the canvas a few times against Samuel Peter. Chisora still lost the decision, and the face-spitting incident with Wladimir and weigh-in face-slapping move with Vitali on Friday won't win him all that much respect as a person, but it ought to win him big respect as a boxer.

Vitali took the early rounds in typical Klitschko fashion, smartly controlling distance and dropping jabs, straight rights and left hooks on the forward-pressing Chisora. The pressure, though, was having an effect. One of the judges saw Chisora getting an even round against Vitali in the first four, but I thought the 5th was the first round Chisora won. He was landing a lot of thudding body shots, and he connected with the hardest blow of the round overall. The 6th was relatively close, as was the 7th, two rounds I had them splitting, first Vitali then Chisora. The 8th was maybe the only round I've seen since the Lennox Lewis fight where Vitali clearly lost it -- Chisora was a ball of fury in that round, swarming Vitali.

Vitali recovered some to win the next few rounds fairly handily, but Vitali looked tired. Some might be inclined to blame his age, 40. Maybe it could be that. But I mainly blame Chisora doing all that body work. In theory, it's what people ought to have been doing to the Klitschko brothers all these years, but it's easier proposed than implemented. The difference for Chisora is that he absolutely wasn't scared of getting hit by Vitali, and he did a lot of good bobbing and weaving and working in the clinch. It wasn't nearly enough -- Vitali's still so skilled and tall and more physically gifted than he gets credit for that he ultimately won the fight with relative ease, even after giving away the 12th round.

Vitali, next, could face David Haye, although Haye will tell you Vitali doesn't want it. But the face-spitting thing, no matter how uncool it was, may line up Chisora for a fight with Wladimir. That's a mighty intriguing heavyweight fight -- if Chisora can connect on Wladimir like he did Vitali, which is also easier said than done. But remember when we hoped Haye would inject some juice into the heavyweight division with his antics and potential ability to compete with the Klitschkos? Turns out we had the wrong Brit. Turns out it's Chisora. no comments

The backlash in the sports bar in which I sat enjoying my cold Shiner Bock was incredible.  As Bruce Buffer read the scores in favor of Carlos Condit in a minor upset over fan favorite Nick Diaz it was clear that there were not a lot of fans of “The Natural Born Killer” in the north Dallas suburb I found myself in.

Yeah, it is nothing new to point out that Diaz and his oft-crazy antics have allowed the Stockton native to achieve a minor cult following but it becomes even more clear when a  bar full of people are shouting “Bullsh*t” at the top of their lungs.  But why?  Condit did what a smart fighter would do; he fought to win.

Condit is smart.  He, along with his coaches, knew that to try and out-slug Diaz would be a death sentence.  Diaz’s boxing and cardio are two huge hurdles to overcome.  No, Condit fought the right fight, he used movement and counter punches to frustrate Diaz along with racking up the points each round.  It wasn’t the most exciting fight but Condit took this fight as a means to an end.  He longed for a title shot against UFC champion Georges St-Pierre and if he had to beat Diaz in less than scintillating fashion so be it. no comments

The Morning After Matchmaker is a regular feature on The MMA Manifesto where we make Dana White/Joe Silva's job easy by deciding future UFC matchups.  Next up:UFC 143.

Carlos Condit

It was Carlos Condit's goal to be a party pooper, and he accomplished that mission.  By beating Nick Diaz last night, Condit squashed everyone's dream of seeing Georges St-Pierre vs Nick Diaz.  So what's next for Condit?  GSP and a shot at the welterweight title, right?  Perhaps not.  Condit's manager floated the idea, even before last night's victory, that Condit probably won't want to wait until November (when GSP is expected to be back) to fight again.  If Condit is indeed intent on fighting again before November, how about a bout against Johny Hendricks, who is more than deserving.

Nick Diaz

Is Nick Diaz really retiring?  His talk of retirement last night wasn't just Diaz being a poor loser - he has been talking about it for a while now.  But it's hard to imagine him going out now that he is finally back in the UFC and headlining cards.  Our guess is we haven't seen the last of Nick Diaz in the Octagon.  Let's give him the winner of theJake Ellenberger-Diego Sanchez fight taking place later this month.

Fabricio Werdum

Did Fabricio Werdum ever look good last night.  His striking looked phenomenal, and combined with his always lethal ground game, it makes Werdum one of the top heavyweights in the world and a potential title contender.  A fight against fellow BJJ ace Frank Mir sounds about right now.

Roy Nelson

Oh Big Country, why do you tease us so?  You get into shape (relatively speaking) and stave off getting fired by beating Mirko Cro Cop, then you go out and stand in front of Werdum and take a beating.  What really should be next for Roy Nelson is a move down to light heavyweight where he won't be routinely outsized.  But if he insists on staying at heavyweight (which is most likely - can't really see him cutting 50 pounds), how about a TUF 10 rematch against Brendan Schaub (or Ben Rothwell is he beats Schaub later this spring)?

Josh Koscheck

Fan favourite Josh Koscheck squeaked out a split decision win over Mike Pierce last night, but it wasn't exactly the dominating performance needed to push Kos back up into the upper echelon of the welterweight class.  If Jake Shields beats Yoshihiro Akiyama later this month in Japan, let's set up a Koscheck-Shields battle. no comments

The UFC welterweight division received a bit of a jolt Saturday night as Carlos Condit did what most expected him not to do in grinding out a unanimous decision victory over Nick Diaz in the main event of UFC 143.  With the win Condit earns the title of interim champion as long-reigning former champion Georges St-Pierre is sidelined with a knee injury.

It was no secret that nearly everyone with a rooting interest in the UFC longed for a Diaz-GSP bout.  The two were scheduled to fight before Diaz’s crazy antics forced the hand of the UFC to demote him to a fight against BJ Penn.  Condit was suddenly thrust into a title shot against St-Pierre but that fight was scrapped when GSP went down with the knee injury.  UFC 143 was set to aid in some clarification within the division by giving St-Pierre the most worthy challenger to his title.  While most that that Diaz was the odds on favorite to move on to the lucrative bout with GSP, someone forgot to tell Condit he was supposed to lose.

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There have been times when Floyd Mayweather, Jr. vs. Miguel Cotto would have set my heart ablaze. May 5, 2012 is not one of those times; Cotto is now past his prime, and Cotto isn't Manny Pacquiao, THE opponent that Mayweather he should have been fighting for the past two-plus years but hasn't. Yet Mayweather is set to fight Cotto on May 5 in Las Vegas, Mayweather and his promoter Golden Boy announced Wednesday, and it's not such a horrible fight that it doesn't kick up a few stray embers in my chest.

One of the many problems with being Floyd Mayweather, Jr. -- alongside the upcoming jail sentence, the intense hatred he engenders with a lot of boxing fans, etc. -- is that when you persistently reject every dangerous-seeming opponent mentioned for you as being unworthy, it becomes head-scratching when you finally get around to fighting one of those people when they're less worthy than at other times they've been mentioned as possible opponents. Just the other week, Mayweather said he wasn't interested in Cotto because Pacquiao already beat him up, making Cotto Pacquiao's "leftovers." And every other year where people have wanted Mayweather to face Cotto, Mayweather has had some other reason why Cotto wasn't worthy, like thinking Cotto is no damn good or that he didn't bring enough money to the table. Now Cotto is still Pacquiao's "leftovers" and every boxing fan will tell you that Cotto is in decline -- some will say steeply so, others a bit more slowly heading downward. no comments

The co-main event of this Saturday night’s UFC on FOX card features what could be considered a middleweight contender fight as Chael Sonnen takes on Michael Bisping.  A more appropriate name for this showdown would be “Battle of the Sh*t Talkers.”  Neither fighter has ever been short of words, or hype for that matter.  So just as some genius bartender discovered the beauty of mixing Red Bull and vodka so too must props be given to the UFC for scheduling a fight between fighters who are never at a loss for vocal barbs.

But a funny thing has happened in the build up to this fight; both Bisping and Sonnen have been uncharacteristically complementary of one another.  Perhaps it’s a clear sign of mutual respect between the tow fighters, or perhaps it’s just a sign of maturity but the sh*t talking has been pretty subdued.

Of course, that’s not to say that there hasn’t been any smack talk between the two.

“I hate terms like ‘hype’ and ‘trash-talk’ because I don’t do that,” stated a clearly delusional Sonnen.  “I never say anything I don’t mean and I’m not going to insult a guy I have no problem with. But, that said, Bisping is a jerk and I’m going to finish him faster than he can devour a Bovril and meat-pie. I am the best fighter in the world. He thinks he can beat me, I think I can beat him and we are going to see who is right in the only debating forum that matters – the UFC Octagon”

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UFC Lightweight Main Event
Jim Miller (21-3) SUB RD 1 (Rear Naked Choke) Melvin Guillard (40-11-3, 1 NC)
Time of Submission: 2:04 RD 1

Jim Miller has a knack for snatching victory out of the jaws of defeat and Friday night was no different.  Despite being rocked and thoroughly out classed by the striking of Guillard, Miller never stopped pressing forward with the singular focus of taking the fight to the ground where his jiu-jitsu would shine.  An ill-advised flying knee by Guillard, who may have been feeling his own hype in the fight, connected but Miller was able to muscle in for the take down where he quickly tried to get the submission.  Guillard was able to escape out the back but Miller jumped and took his back where he was able to deftly slip in the rear naked choke that forced Guillard to reluctantly tap out. no comments

I've been saying all along (and I'm far from the only one) that the only way we'd see a Manny Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather fight happen in the first half of 2011 is if Pacquiao told promoter Bob Arum that he wants that fight, and only that fight. But maybe there's another way after all. Maybe the two best boxers in the world could simply talk to each other on the phone and work things out between themselves.

It sounds crazy, but we now know that it happened yesterday: Mayweather called Pacquiao in the Philippines, and it was apparently about the fight and splitting the purse 50-50. Other than that, we don't know much else.

One thing we can be pretty sure of is that if direct contact between the two boxers doesn't get this figured out, nothing will. Hopefully Pacquiao and Mayweather spoke about not just the fact that the world has been waiting for this bout to come together, but that the timing will never be better. Neither man is getting any younger, and if one of them were to lose while pushing the mega-fight off until later this year or in 2013, it would certainly have an adverse effect on things. no comments

 
This is the second and final part of a series that began (and is explained) here. These are some of the runner-ups, essentially.

SECOND TIER

Timothy Bradley, junior welterweight, 28

Upside: He's got pound-for-pound top-10 level talent -- he's among the handful of elite American boxers -- and off-the-charts grit. He's got a great smile, is attractive, and has exhibited some gift of gab. He's beaten a slew of good fighters in his young career and could be in line in the summer for a chance to beat a great one -- he's a finalist for facing Manny Pacquiao at welterweight. If he doesn't get that fight, he could still get a nice opportunity against the likes of lightweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez or Amir Khan.

Downside: His fighting style, at its worst, is as ugly as boxing gets, all mauling and head butting. He's been in a couple good fights, but mostly he is no picnic to watch. He might also be spoiled: He got a whopping $1 million to fight old-as-dirt Joel Casamayor, and while the backing of Top Rank rather than Gary Shaw is ultimately likely to lead to a profile upgrade, he could develop an entitlement mentality. Otherwise, it's just about getting a chance to prove himself against top foes, although Pacquiao is probably a bridge too far. Maybe the ugly style could be overlooked with a win like that, but it will hold him back as long as he employs it.

Adrien Broner, junior lightweight, 22

Upside: Upper-tier speed and power are a great start; scintillating knockouts often follow. He's a mini-Floyd Mayweather, Jr. clone both in the ring and out, which has its upsides. That cockiness makes some people love him and some people want to see him get KO'd. He's a little funnier than Floyd, though, and hasn't had Floyd's legal troubles. He's one of the top couple 130-pounders. And he had a favorable reception in a fight in his hometown of Cincinnati when he fought there last.

Downside: He still hasn't been tested by anyone all that good, and his struggles with an undersized and crude Daniel Ponce De Leon are ominous, even if he's fought more aggressively since than he did against Ponce. In other words, "mini" Mayweather might be an overestimation of his abilities, although we'll see next time he faces someone with top talent. Problem is, outside of Yuriorkis Gamboa, there's not a lot of top talent in his division. no comments

The UFC has a license to print money.  The company's (Zuffa) rise from the ashes is legendary - five years ago, when attempting to sell the money-losing UFC, they could only get offers in the $2 to $4 million range.  Now the company is valued at over a billion dollars (Flash Entertainment paid $120 million for 10% of the company in 2010, which would make its valuation at $1.2 billion).

But everything is not rosy in Zuffaland, as the UFC had a down year in 2011 (in comparison to 2010).  While Zuffa isn't a public company and therefore don't have to disclose their financial records, several of the company's key financial info is out there in the public for us to analyze.  These would be the UFC's pay-per-view buyrates, its live gate and its fighter salaries.  And taking a look at those stats, Dana White and the Fertitta boys probably wish it was 2010 again.   

Pay-Per-View Buyrates


A large chunk (reported to be 75% of total revenue) of the UFC's profit comes from the plethora of events they offer on pay-per-view every year.  And the UFC's PPV buyrates steadily increased every year starting in 2008.  But, as the following chart shows, the streak got snapped this past year: no comments