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There's a paradox going on for this weekend's Chicago card: People are talking about the flyweights not getting talked about. In fact, the ever-coveted "casual" viewer has no way of knowing that there is such a thing as the flyweight division, bec...

Touching gloves before a fight isn't enough to prove what's about to go down is civilized. Nor is a postfight embrace, or posing for a picture together -- bloodied and tattered, like Dan Henderson and Mauricio Rua did after UFC 139 -- while the hemat...

We might not know what's next for Anderson Silva, but we might know what's ahead for Jon Jones. It was announced during the UFC on FOX 4 news conference that the winner of Mauricio Rua and Brandon Vera will fight for the 205-pound belt next. No, i...

Glover Teixeira's greatest enemy to date has been access. For the last few years, visa problems have kept him out of the UFC. Before he defeated Kyle Kingsbury at UFC 146 to point a sudden "I'm coming" finger at Jon Jones, the last time he'd fough...

When Jon Jones fought Andre Gusmao at UFC 87, "Bones" was already a practitioner of creative hostility. At the time, Jones was trying out unusual kicks and punches in a shed in upstate New York, envisioning those spinning elbows and saddle throws...

Quinton Jackson has never been known for his emotional stability. People thought he'd cracked back in 2008 when he was arrested in a hit-and-run situation in Orange County, Calif.. That was after a loss to Forrest Griffin, who hobbled him with leg ki...

If there was one spectator of the UFC on FOX 2 show in Chicago on Jan. 28 with a heavily vested interest, it was Dan Henderson, the circumstantial No. 1 contender in the light heavyweight division, and a circumstantial top challenger in the middlewei...

For as memorable a year as 2011 was for Jon Jones, it was the polar opposite for fellow light heavyweight Thiago Silva. Things started with a bang when Silva put a thorough beatdown on Brandon Vera on Jan. 1 at UFC 125, a fight that left Vera's n...

When the UFC went to Rio de Janeiro in August, it was a spiritual homecoming. A lot of time had passed since the salad days of 1998, and a grown-up UFC was crashing back triumphantly to the land that bore its earliest fruits. That meant UFC 134 -...

If it had occurred all the way back in summer of 2011, Dan Henderson and Mauricio Rua would have fought three not entirely memorable rounds. If things played out just as they did at UFC 139 without circumstantial revisions, Henderson would have won a...

While we're into all these new cross-promotional intrigues, why not entertain former Strikeforce champion Muhammed Lawal's sincere request to fight former UFC champion Quinton Jackson in Japan? Mo knows Jackson. He wants Jackson. Jackson wants Jap...

By the end of December, if Jon Jones is still the UFC's light heavyweight champion, we'll know that he's just as centered as he is prolific. Four fights in 10 months would be tough on anybody not in desperate need of cash and exposure -- but four...

It was at UFC 83 that Kalib Starnes took off. Starnes fled the scene of a fight without actually leaving the cage against Nate Quarry -- and it made for an awkward experience. Kalib Starnes ran; Nate Quarry pursued; 15 minutes died in the interim...

DENVER -- If there's a little bit of truth in every joke, then Jon Jones' quip on "Jimmy Kimmel Live"! a few nights ago that his style versus Quinton Jackson's was sort of like "Spider-Man versus Frankenstein" isn't a joke. Everyone suspects there's ...

To the victor go the spoils -- in this case, more big paydays and a possible run at another title for Strikeforce light heavyweight champion Dan Henderson.

At UFC 131 in Vancouver, Dana White broke the news that going forward all main events -- title fights and non-title fights alike -- would be five-round affairs. At the time, when I asked him if this would be universal for altered main events that...