James Toney suckered everyone into giving him what he wanted. He reportedly got a $750,000 pay off to get choked out by Randy Couture in a couple of minutes. He conned fans and media into believing that he had a puncher’s chance of beating Couture, when in fact he didn’t even throw a punch in the fight. And at the end of the day, Toney used the UFC name to embarrass himself but to also get his name out there — something his boxing promoter Dan Goossen has had trouble doing.

Naturally, of course, before and after the Couture/Toney fight, we ended up with people in the boxing world challenging Couture and other MMA fighters to show up in a boxing ring and do a boxing match.

Starting with Dan Goossen before the fight taking place.

“The only thing that now I say is… there’s nothing that this will prove if James lost because it’s a whole different sport. On the other hand, I’ll go on the record right now that win, lose, or draw with Randy Couture, I’ll match what he’s making for this fight and let’s see if he’s got the same warrior uh, uh, make up, foundation that James Toney has, to be able to cross-over to the boxing business and in the next immediate fight, fight James Toney in a boxing ring. OK? I will guarantee him the same amount of money he’s making for this fight in his sport and to bring him over and let him fight James Toney in a boxing ring. I got a lot of respect for Randy. By no means is it disrespect but what James Toney is doing is what I believe that very few fighters in either sport would be willing to do. We’ll find out after August 28th win or lose Randy Couture, I will match what you’re getting for this fight, you come over and you do what James Toney has done. OK? And that is take up the challenge in your sport, now I say you come out and take up the challenge in James’ sport. Then, once that happens, we can all sit back there and say that both sports have some real warriors. But right now, I only see James Toney doing it.”

Toney didn’t even really show up. He got embarrassed and the clip of him losing played over and over in a loop on Saturday night on ESPN. However, in the grand scheme of things, did the UFC really get the payoff they were looking for?

The truth is that fans are much more educated and sophisticated today than they were 20 years ago. The concept of an MMA fighter vs. a boxer is largely a non-issue. MMA fans respect boxing and respect MMA fighters on two separate levels and it shows. The UFC 118 Countdown special last Monday on Spike TV drew less than 300,000 viewers, which had to set alarm bells off at Zuffa HQ in Las Vegas because that’s a terrible number. The UFC, in the end, didn’t sell out TD Garden for their Boston debut. While the overall impression UFC left behind in Boston was a success, it was not the major success that they hoping to accomplish. They were hoping to leave the kind of footprint behind that would allow them to run a show at Fenway Park in the future. That’s not happening any time soon.

The ironic thing about UFC, being as hot as they are, is that they are largely a Yokohama Arena-level product. They draw anywhere from 10,000-15,000 for big shows with inflated ticket prices, but they are not on the same level business-wise as PRIDE or K-1 or other major worldwide organizations that can fill Amsterdam Arena or Saitama Super Arena. This makes the PPV business model all the more crucial for UFC.

So, for PPV customers, the big question was why should you order UFC 118? Did Randy Couture vs. James Toney really move the needle enough? The basic problems UFC had going into that fight dealt with Toney’s credibility and also whether or not fans were laughing at him or really angry enough to see him get beat up. We won’t find out those answers for a while.

When I say that the fans were the real losers at UFC 118, I’m referring to the fact that UFC ended up with the second worst possible match-up involving their four top Lightweights (Frankie Edgar, BJ Penn, Gray Maynard, and Kenny Florian). Maynard and Florian fought each other for the #1 contendership and Edgar vs. Penn II happened for the LW title. The worst possible outcome would have been Penn and Florian winning, since they’ve faced each other and we already knew what the outcome would be. Maynard and Edgar already had a fight in the past and Gray won, but it was a snoozer (as all his fights are). In the end, we got some ‘fresh blood’ at the top of the LW picture, but Maynard/Edgar II is not the match the doctor ordered. During the Edgar/Penn II main event, there were various sports media reporters claiming that fans at TD Garden were leaving the exits.

For the last year or so, UFC has been stuck with booking rematches. Some of them are good (Shogun/Machida II, Silva/Sonnen II coming up on Super Bowl Sunday 2011) and some of them are awful (Maynard/Edgar II). With more wrestle-boxers starting to dominant the lighter weight classes, it leaves UFC in a precarious position because the fans want to see finishes — submissions and knock outs. With pure wrestlers like Maynard, you end up with a lot of top position control in fights and not much else.

When pressed on why fans were bored by Edgar/Penn II in the main event, Dana White got defensive and did his best to try to protect his Lightweight champion.

“You’re a complete jackass if you did not appreciate what you saw there tonight. Give this kid his respect. He just fought BJ Penn for the second time and people doubted whether he won the first time. Nobody can doubt whether he won this time. It was an absolute domination. He hit BJ Penn with big shots… beat him on his feet, beat him on the ground, was able to take him down with big slams and then BJ Penn would get that top position, almost had the mount, Frankie got out of it. Frankie absolutely 100% dominated and destroyed BJ Penn. That means something.

“I thought it was incredible, you know. I thought what he did tonight. You got to look at who they’re doing it to. He just did it to BJ PENN! It’s not like he just did it to some guy you’ve never heard of, he just did that to BJ Penn for five rounds. I think that’s pretty spectacular.”

When asked if he was concerned about fans not buying into Maynard/Edgar II because of how boring it could be, the UFC President was a little grouchy.

“No reservations whatsoever. Again, you know, listen, when you say people say that, I say the media say that. I, uh, I don’t buy into the media [expletive]. We’re going to put on a fight and when Maynard and Frankie fight, people are going to want to see it.”

It’s not media BS — it’s reality. The age of the wrestle-boxer without submission or KO power will eventually erode the current fan base and prevent new fans from following the sport. MMA is a sport that has gone through many different cycles in terms of one style dominating another style and unfortunately for fans right now, the current style that is en vogue is not that eye-pleasing to watch. The fans are becoming the losers for being asked to pay $50 to watch it every month, sometimes even twice a month.

Zach Arnold is the editor of FightOpinion.com.

You would surely think that BJ Penn getting revenge for losing the title would give him ample air time on the promotion’s Countdown show on Spike and Comcast to make his case as to why you should buy the show to watch him get his belt back. You would also be wrong in that case.

For those who saw the Countdown show, it is clear that UFC isn’t entirely sure on how to promote the rematch between Penn and Edgar. Edgar won the title on points, which caused Penn fans to go nuts. It also resulted in judge Doug Crosby trolling Penn fans on The Underground Forum and essentially becoming persona non grata with UFC. Edgar won the title fair and square. However, the way people perceive now is as if he is the one who has to prove that he’s the rightful champion, as if he didn’t win the belt legitimately and that there was some sort of screwjob.

“Frankie has incredible footwork, he’s very fast on his feet,” said Joe Rogan, who normally puts anything and everything over on these types of preview shows (and does so with conviction.) JD Penn did a lot of talking, more so than BJ did on the show. JD was talking about how the Penn camp brought over Antonio Banuelos from the WEC. In a quote filled with irony Penn said, “I really wanted some small, slipper guys.” Well, he didn’t like it when he accused Georges St. Pierre of being slippery, did he? Rogan put over Penn by saying that “Freddie Roach described BJ Penn’s boxing as the best in all of Mixed Martial Arts” and “II think BJ has to be more unpredictable (like GSP).” More irony, considering that St. Pierre recently visited with Freddie Roach in Southern California and how Penn would not be flattered with being compared to St. Pierre in any which way.

“I’m going to go in there and fight my balls off, that’s what I’m going to do,” exclaimed Edgar.

“I’m all about finishing my guy and I CANNOT WAIT… TO FINISH HIM,” Penn confidently remarked.

And yet, after watching the preview on this fight, you couldn’t help but think that this is not the real main event on the UFC 118 show. The real main event in the eyes of the casual fans is Randy Couture vs. James Toney in a ridiculous ‘boxing vs. MMA’ fight that Dana White admitted that he shouldn’t have booked in the first place but did anyways after Toney wouldn’t stop following him from UFC show to show.

The idea behind promoting the fight is simple. James Toney is legitimately insane, made a name for himself in boxing, and Randy Couture is one of the most popular cross-over figures the UFC has. He’s coming off of filming the movie The Expendables, he’s “Captain America,” and it’s two 40-somethings who are well-known symbols from their respective sports who will fight each other to prove… something. What that something is, nobody is sure of. The major Achilles’ heel in promoting this fight involves two steps:

1) Does the general public think that Toney has any chance of pulling off the upset?

2) Can Toney get the public to hate him enough to want to pay to see him get his ass kicked or will they be amused by his antics but not moved enough to pay to watch him fight?

To try to address these two issues, UFC’s Countdown show did their best to portray Toney as an animalistic killer who wants to embarrass the punks who fight in Mixed Martial Arts. John Arthur, who is Toney’s manager, said on camera that “Randy has never been in the ring with anyone as vicious as James.”

“He’s like a sponge, he soaks up everything that you give him and he applies it. This is something new. This is something that James wants. James is hungry. He’s out to prove the world who he is and where he’s going.”

Trevor Sherman, who the UFC credits as someone who helps train people in the FBI and US Government with fighting tactics, is listed as Toney’s MMA trainer.

“I believe that deep down in our cortex, we all have that vicious animal that we’ve evolved away from. I don’t think James has evolved that much. We’re not putting a man against Randy Couture, we’re putting James Toney in with Randy Couture. No one has ever struck Randy the way James will.

“This is a well-oiled machine, he’s got an incredible skill set which is legendary. You don’t strip away what they’ve got and try to rebuild a machine. What you look at a fighter like James Toney is, what can we add to that tool belt to make you successful in this arena?

“He’s getting so comfortable in that cage, it’s unbelievable.”

Toney, who had various jump cuts made during his Countdown promos, characteristically called out Couture… and UFC actually put subtitles on what he saying.

“Randy Couture think he’s the best, God bless him. Come on, come get your ass whooped. Randy, your nightmare is here. I ain’t going nowhere.

“Trevor been like the greatest thing to come into my career.

“We’re not changing to become a mixed martial artist. I’m still a boxer, we’re just adding some moves into it to make me even better.”

Couture discussed the fight as his usual self. Unlike other promos he has done for MMA fights, it seems very clear that Couture is comfortable and confident when discussing this upcoming fight. He seems genuinely excited about it.

“I’ll be the first one to say, I’m not a world class boxer. I haven’t won a world championship in boxing. But this isn’t boxing. There’s a whole lot of other things that go on inside of this cage.”

The biggest challenge in marketing this fight was laid out by the narrator on the Countdown special.

“But with only four months to prepare for an opponent with 14 years of experience, James is relegated to focusing on the basics.”

Even though it’s 2010 and MMA fans in general are gradually getting more educated, we’ve still seen that freak shows can draw. The fact that the Kimbo Slice phenomenon worked in 2009 and 2010 must be give hope to UFC management that they can sell the Couture/Toney fight.

“When it comes to fighting and technique, he’s almost a savant,” exclaimed Mr. Sherman. “We’ll discuss things, I’ll swear he’s not even listening to me. A day later in the cage, he’s doing exactly what I told him, so much so that I’m screaming like a 10-year old, going ‘you listened! you did it!’

“Does James know all the nomenclature of all the Brazilian locks and moves and the Granby roll and the sit through? I wouldn’t give him a written quiz, but put that stuff on him. Try to slap a kimura on him, try to get his back for a rear naked choke . He knows how to escape that.

“I’ve never seen anyone improve like this.”

Toney made his final sales pitch on the show, sounding as confident and stubborn as he’s ever been.

“Training for Mixed Martial Arts, I love it. It’s incredible. The conditioning is great. If I had this 10 years ago, I’d still be undefeated. I’d be 85-0 now — with 85 knockouts. Everybody wants to see who’s really the best, MMA or boxing? You’ve got the legend of MMA versus the boxing legend James “Lights Out” Toney. The Dark Emperor is here. We ain’t going nowhere. Boxing is still number one.”

At the end of that remark, Toney flashed his pearly whites. I’m not so sure he will be doing so after Saturday night, however.

News broke over the weekend that UFC Welterweight (soon to be Middleweight) Anthony Johnson was sentenced for three years of probation after reportedly being arrested for issues relating to domestic violence. Because Mr. Johnson pleaded no contest, he will serve community service and go through a court-appointed program. Issues like domestic violence and dog fighting are not good issues to have floating around in the sport, but you aren’t shocked when it happens because sometimes people in the fight business do really stupid things.

Like get named by federal prosecutors for allegedly looking for a hook-up for steroids.

A report surfaced in the Alabama media that a ‘professional fighter’ named ‘S.C.’ supposedly was linked to trenbolone, tesosterone, stanozolol injectable, and nandrolone — all steroids or compounds of steroids — from January 2006 to August 2006 via Tucker/Branch dba Infinite Health. Mobile has been a zone of investigation for several years now by the Feds over pharmacies accused of being involved with steroids in the world of sports (such as fighting and pro-wrestling). The initials S.C. are for Shane Carwin. Jason Genet, Carwin’s agent, said that his client will release a statement on the matter in the near future. Genet, for his part, recently had to settle with the SEC over allegations of a ‘pump and dump stock scheme.’ As part of the settlement, Mr. Genet admitted no guilt to the charges laid against him by the SEC in their initial complaint.

When the news broke that Carwin was linked to a federal investigation over steroids, there were plenty of media writers who indulged in schadenfreude over the fact that Carwin has been ‘hostile’ to ‘non-credential UFC media’ for interviews, especially in the lead-up to his fight against Brock Lesnar last July. Since Carwin’s loss to Lesnar, bad news has seemingly followed him around in public. In the end, though, the publicly largely forgets and moves on from those who are tied into steroids (unless the person is really dislikable). Carwin is soft-spoken, so I largely don’t see much if any damage coming his way after being named in the federal investigation.

Being linked to steroids is bad news. But as we’ve seen in professional sports, it isn’t as crippling as you might hope it would be.

And then there’s Tim Sylvia.

Tim Sylvia always finds a way to enter the world of absurdity. After getting into a heated love triangle feud with Andrei Arlovski during his UFC days and being asked by Arlovski “how’s my pee pee taste,” he ended up getting schooled by Randy Couture for five rounds and burped in between rounds on camera. Then Sylvia lost to Fedor in 36 seconds. And there was the whole debacle with Ray Mercer in Birmingham, Alabama in a fight that was initially going to be a boxing match inside of a cage. After that, Sylvia ended up fighting former World’s Strongest Man Mariusz Pudzianowski in Massachusetts and weighed over 300 pounds for the fight. Sylvia stated his intentions after that fight to get a deal with Strikeforce or get back into the UFC.

So, how did he prove that he was serious about getting back into shape? He took a fight against Paul Buentello for an independent show at the Bren Events Center in Irvine, California. It was supposed to be for the promoter’s heavyweight title. Sylvia ended up showing at 275 pounds, which is 10 pounds over the Heavyweight limit under the Unified rules. Nonetheless, Sylvia won the fight and got the promoter’s title so that he could get booked next against… Pedro Rizzo.

• Tim Sylvia knocks out Paul Buentello; Jens Pulver loses again
• Tim Sylvia bullies his way to a knockout win over Paul Buentello
• Tim Sylvia KOs Paul Buentello for biggest win in years
• Tim Sylvia too much for lighter Paul Buentello

Now, what’s so embarrassing about beating Paul Buentello, a respectable B-level Heavyweight? According to Todd Martin (who did reporting for The Los Angeles Times), the show in Irvine drew… 300 people. Former UFC Heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia is fighting in front of 300 people.

Listen, I understand that Tim Sylvia long ago gave up the notion of what his image is with the public. It’s easy to take quick pay days from promoters who may not be in business for future shows. Money marks come and go. I get it. But for someone who wants everyone to take him so seriously and wants a major level promotion to hire him, you do yourself zero favors when you are fighting in front of a couple of hundred people in a vacant building. Tim Sylvia has gone from fighting in front of 12,000 against Fedor at the Anaheim Pond to fighting in front of a few hundred people in Southern California.

Seriously? I hope the paycheck is worth it because whether you want to say your win over Paul Buentello is impressive or not, it’s not considering you didn’t fight at 266 pounds or below and that you fought in front of a few hundred people. Meanwhile, Josh Neer (of all people) fought Jesse Finney in a local St. Louis area show at Family Arena in front of a crowd estimated to be 8,000+. A 27-fight mixed pro-am fighting event in Brockton, Massachusetts drew an estimated 2,000 fans.

Scarily enough, the only event that I saw on television that had a crowd as scary in smallish size as the show Sylvia fought on was a Top Rank Boxing event from Laredo, Texas at Energy Arena with Ji-Hoon Kim fighting and losing on the card. It aired live on Fox Sports Net/Comcast Sportsnet, had Rich Marotta and Barry Tompkins announcing, and two – count them – ring announcers with BILINGUAL Lupe Contreras announcing in Spanish and boxing/Bellator ring announcer Mike Williams doing intros in English. You could literally see thousands of empty seats on camera during the telecast.

At least I got a real fight on Comcast Sportsnet and didn’t have to pay for it. Tim Sylvia keeps finding new ways to put himself into positions that unwittingly damage his reputation, in my opinion.

Some of the best and most knowledgeable MMA writers from across the MMA media landscape have come together to form an independent voting panel. These voting panel members are, in alphabetical order: Zach Arnold (Fight Opinion); Nicholas Bailey (MMA Ratings); Jared Barnes (Freelance); Jordan Breen (Sherdog); Jim Genia (Full Contact Fighter and MMA Journalist Blog); Jesse Holland (MMA Mania); Robert Joyner (Freelance); Todd Martin (Los Angeles Times and Sherdog); Jim Murphy (The Savage Science); Zac Robinson (Sports by the Numbers MMA); Leland Roling (Bloody Elbow); Michael David Smith (AOL Fanhouse); Joshua Stein (MMA Opinion); Ivan Trembow (Freelance); and Dave Walsh (Head Kick Legend).

Note: Paul Daley, Gilbert Melendez, Jake Shields, Nick Diaz, and Jason Miller are all temporarily ineligible to be ranked due to the fact that they are all currently serving disciplinary suspensions. Daley is serving a disciplinary suspension for punching Josh Koscheck after their fight was over, and all of the other fighters are serving disciplinary suspensions for their roles in the post-fight brawl at the Strikeforce event in Nashville.

Note: Due to the fact that Anderson Silva has said in numerous recent interviews that he plans to stay in the middleweight division for the rest of his career and has no plans to fight in the light heavyweight division anymore, along with the fact that Silva’s most recent fights have been at middleweight, Silva has lost his eligibility to be ranked in the light heavyweight division. Unless Silva returns to light heavyweight in the future, he will be eligible to be ranked exclusively in the middleweight division.

August 2010 Men’s Independent World MMA Rankings
Ballots collected on August 10, 2010

Heavyweight Rankings (206 to 265 lbs.)
1. Brock Lesnar (5-1)
2. Fedor Emelianenko (31-2, 1 No Contest)
3. Fabricio Werdum (14-4-1)
4. Cain Velasquez (8-0)
5. Junior dos Santos (12-1)
6. Shane Carwin (12-1)
7. Alistair Overeem (33-11, 1 No Contest)
8. Frank Mir (13-5)
9. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (32-6-1, 1 No Contest)
10. Antonio Silva (14-2)

Light Heavyweight Rankings (186 to 205 lbs.)
1. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua (19-4)
2. Lyoto Machida (16-1)
3. Rashad Evans (15-1-1)
4. Quinton Jackson (30-8)
5. Forrest Griffin (17-6)
6. Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal (7-0)
7. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (19-3)
8. Jon Jones (11-1)
9. Gegard Mousasi (29-3-1)
10. Thiago Silva (14-2)

Middleweight Rankings (171 to 185 lbs.)
1. Anderson Silva (27-4)
2. Chael Sonnen (25-11-1)
3. Nathan Marquardt (29-9-2)
4. Dan Henderson (25-8)
5. Vitor Belfort (19-8)
6. Demian Maia (12-2)
7. Yushin Okami (25-5)
8. Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza (12-2, 1 No Contest)
9. Jorge Santiago (22-8)
10. Robbie Lawler (17-6, 1 No Contest)

Welterweight Rankings (156 to 170 lbs.)
1. Georges St. Pierre (20-2)
2. Jon Fitch (23-3, 1 No Contest)
3. Josh Koscheck (15-4)
4. Thiago Alves (17-7)
5. Dan Hardy (23-7, 1 No Contest)
6. Martin Kampmann (17-3)
7. Matt Hughes (45-7)
8. Paulo Thiago (13-2)
9. Matt Serra (11-6)
10. Mike Swick (14-4)

Lightweight Rankings (146 to 155 lbs.)
1. Frankie Edgar (12-1)
2. B.J. Penn (15-6-1)
3. Kenny Florian (13-4)
4. Shinya Aoki (24-5, 1 No Contest)
5. Eddie Alvarez (20-2)
6. Gray Maynard (9-0, 1 No Contest)
7. Tatsuya Kawajiri (26-6-2)
8. George Sotiropoulos (13-2)
9. Evan Dunham (11-0)
10. Ben Henderson (12-1)

Featherweight Rankings (136 to 145 lbs.)
1. Jose Aldo (17-1)
2. Manny Gamburyan (11-4)
3. Urijah Faber (23-4)
4. Mike Brown (23-6)
5. Hatsu Hioki (21-4-2)
6. Marlon Sandro (17-1)
7. Bibiano Fernandes (8-2)
8. Josh Grispi (14-1)
9. Michihiro Omigawa (11-8-1)
10. “Lion” Takeshi Inoue (18-4)

Bantamweight Rankings (126 to 135 lbs.)
1. Dominick Cruz (15-1)
2. Brian Bowles (8-1)
3. Joseph Benavidez (12-1)
4. Miguel Torres (37-3)
5. Scott Jorgensen (10-3)
6. Takeya Mizugaki (13-4-2)
7. Damacio Page (15-4)
8. Wagnney Fabiano (14-2)
9. Masakatsu Ueda (11-1-2)
10. Rani Yahya (15-6)

The Men’s Independent World MMA Rankings are tabulated on a monthly basis in each of the top seven weight classes of MMA, from heavyweight to bantamweight, with fighters receiving ten points for a first-place vote, nine points for a second-place vote, and so on.

The rankings are based purely on the votes of the members of the voting panel, with nobody’s vote counting more than anybody else’s vote, and no computerized voting.

The voters are instructed to vote primarily based on fighters’ actual accomplishments in the cage/ring (the quality of opposition that they’ve actually beaten), not based on a broad, subjective perception of which fighters would theoretically win hypothetical match-ups.

Inactivity: Fighters who have not fought in the past 12 months are not eligible to be ranked, and will regain their eligibility the next time they fight.

Disciplinary Suspensions: Fighters who are currently serving disciplinary suspensions, or who have been denied a license for drug test or disciplinary reasons, are not eligible to be ranked.

Changing Weight Classes: When a fighter announces that he is leaving one weight class in order to fight in another weight class, the fighter is not eligible to be ranked in the new weight class until his first fight in the new weight class has taken place.

Catch Weight Fights: When fights are contested at weights that are in between the limits of the various weight classes, they are considered to be in the higher weight class. The weight limits for each weight class are listed at the top of the rankings for each weight class.

Special thanks to Eric Kamander, Zach Arnold, and Joshua Stein for their invaluable help with this project, and special thanks to Garrett Bailey for designing our logo.

MMAOnline.com: What is your role in The Expendables, explain your role a little bit?

Randy: I play a character named Toll Road. He’s a college educated guy that is in a group of mercenaries, a group of brothers, they are real concerned about the family and everybody getting along, but at the same time recognizes that everyone’s gonna have their own qwerks and secretes, and he’s just an educated guy trying to work on his.

MMAOnline.com: What was your favorite scene in the Expendables?

Randy: Theirs a lot if interesting stuff that is in this movie. I don’t know if I have a favorite scene yet. Sly did an amazing job spreading out the talent and everyone has their moment in the film. I kind of have my own monologue in the film. I think everyone’s going to get a real kick out of that.

MMAOnline.com: Who did you enjoy acting the most with while filming?

Randy: I enjoyed all the guys. The whole group of guys was pretty electric. The first couple times when we all came together was pretty cool. I spent the most time probably with Terry Cruz, reading lines and preparing making sure we were ready to do our things, espicially being out there inf ront of sly and all thes guys, we wanted to make sure we were fresh and prepared. He helped me out and I was helping him as well prepare.

MMAOnline.com: Now last month Stallone was on Letterman and he Said “If you put all these tough guys from the movie in a room together to see who would walk out, and came back in the room 10 min later you’d see randy couture sitting on top of us all having a chocolate fudge sunday.”: What do you think of that?

Randy: I’m pretty flattered, it’s pretty funny.

MMAOnline.com: How did Expendables compare to the other movies you’ve acted in?

Randy: Well, this was the first full-blown action movie that I’ve been involved in. I’ve done some smaller stuff and had small parts in a lot of movies, but this is definitely the biggest part I’ve had and the biggest movie I’ve been apart of so far.

MMAOnline.com: How do you think your MMA background helps you in acting?

Randy: As a sports athlete, we have a particular focus, we’re good at action and reaction and that’s what acting is, and we’re pretty coachable as well, you have to listen to your director, listen to what he’s trying to get in the scene, know the scene, make sure your paying attention to your ques and react approparttily when your supposed to, and I think a lot of those things translate well from sports.

MMAOnline.com: What do you ENJOY more: MMA or Acting?

Randy: Well I have a lot of fun training and competing. I’m pretty rational, I realize I’m not going to be doing it forever. I’m having a good time playing characters and roles in movies now. I think eventully I’ll make a full transition and move away from the cage competing and play more characters.

MMAOnline.com: Any other movies in the work?

Randy: I’ve been fishing around all summer to find a new role. I’ve been attached to a couple projects, I’ve passed ona couple projects. I’m just trying to find the right thing. It’s not easy.

MMAOnline.com: How do you feel about your upcoming fight with James Toney at UFC 118?

Randy: I’m real excited. Training has gone really, really well. The last two hard weeks at camp here and then it’s go time. Ready to go on both fronts. The movie comes out Friday, I’m excited about that and I’m at the final stages of preparation for the James Toney fight in Boston.

And then there’s Jon Fitch.

Jon Fitch is the Tim Duncan of MMA. No matter how good he is, people get bored by him. I can’t recall hearing so many people tell me this past weekend that watching him fight is like watching paint dry. He never finishes opponents decisively. He always gets a decision win. Shaquille O’Neal called Tim Duncan “The Big Fundamental” and yet most people think Duncan is completely forgettable. Style points do matter and so does finishing fights. MMA is as much a sport about entertainment than anything else. Fitch, facing the hardly-ever-makes-Welterweight-limit Thiago Alves, dominated his opponent but it was the kind of technical snoozefest that leaves people heading to the exits to go get a hot dog or more food as if it was an intermission. Sadly, you can almost predict what is going to happen in a Jon Fitch fight.

As Jordan Breen of Sherdog best put it:

“Fitch looked good. Thought most of Alves looking inert was due to Fitch looking better on the feet and stronger in the wrestling department. I always feel like the only person on earth who finds some joy in watching Jon Fitch fight.”

Kenny Florian tried his best to defend Fitch from the assault of angry online fans (via Twitter):

“People saying Fitch just “laid on top of Alves” = extreme ignorance to the grappling game. Grappling is an art deeper than the ocean. Finishing guys in the UFC isn’t easy guys. Alves is as tough as they come. Fitch tried but Alves had amazing defense.”

The problem with Jon Fitch is that he’s vastly more entertaining outside the cage than he is inside of it. When you listen to him talk about MMA, he’s really good at breaking down the technical aspects of the game. He’s entertaining and almost the complete opposite of his in-ring persona. When asked last week by Josh Gross of Sports Illustrated if he worries about his ‘boring fight’ label, Fitch shrugged it off and said that there’s not much he can do about it because his opponents aren’t going for the kill. He predicted that Alves would go for the kill and that there would be a finish. Sadly, there was no such finish to be found.

A couple of days before the fight, Dana White indicated to everyone that the winner of the Fitch/Alves fight would get a title shot against the winner of the Georges St. Pierre/Josh Koscheck fight coming up in December. The prospects of American Kickboxing Academy teammates Fitch and Koscheck facing each other raises a lot of interesting questions, especially since Fitch’s past stance has been that the only way he would fight Koscheck is if the gym doors were closed and no one else was watching. This was a stance that Dana White publicly mocked at a previous press conference.

The problems Jon Fitch has right now are almost impossible to fix. He’s good enough to get a decision over everyone except St. Pierre but he can’t finish his opponents. He’s nowhere near as good as St. Pierre (especially in striking) and will likely get blown out of the water again by the champion… just like he did the first time around. On top of all that, he’s a nice guy who simply doesn’t want to have to split up half of AKA to train Koscheck and the other half training him for a title fight. He even hinted in the past of moving up to 185 pounds just to avoid facing Koscheck.

So, what happened to Dana’s proclamation before the fight that Fitch would get a title shot against GSP if he beat Alves? Dana’s stance suddenly became a little more… nuanced, shall we say.

ARIEL HELWANI: “As far as Jon Fitch goes, did he secure himself as the #1 contender?”

DANA WHITE: “Well, here’s the thing with that situation. You’ve got… GSP and Koscheck have their season of The Ultimate Fighter, then they’re going to fight each other. You’ve got (Jake) Shields, who’s going to fight, you know, now we got Jon Fitch who’s in the mix. There’s a lot going on right now. We got to see how this whole thing shakes out. We’ll see who’s next. Fitch is in the mix. Shields is possibly in the mix. Kampmann is in the mix. We’ll see what happens.”

ARIEL HELWANI: “He’s dodging the question, but if he says to you, Dana, I’m not fighting my teammate. What do you do with him, though, as an employee sort of speak?”

DANA WHITE: “I tell you what, I like the way Jon Fitch has handled this. I don’t think he is dodging the question. Here’s the thing and this is what I can’t stand… you got these guys who are on the same team and they’re like, ‘no way, we’ll never fight each other, we love each other.’ You can be best friends with this guy and it’s happened in boxing many times. When best friends have fought each other. It’s not about being friends. You don’t have to dislike a guy that you fight. It’s about saying ‘I know that I’m in the best in the world, you think that you’re the best in the world, and there’s one way to find out, we’re going to compete against each other and see who the best is.’ You can’t not be friends, you know, you don’t have to not to be friends to do that and I think, personally, just from what I know of Jon Fitch and what I know of Josh Koscheck, I truly believe that these are two guys that would step up and say, yeah, you know what? We’re cool, I respect him, I like him, he is my friend, and I’m willing to step up and see who the best fighter in the world is. I truly believe that of these two guys and there’s some guys that aren’t and guys, listen, and there’s been guys that said that they wouldn’t and I respect them and I like them but it’s a [expletive] crock of [expletive]. It’s a crock of [expletive] and it has no place in this business.”

ARIEL HELWANI: “Why do you think he’s changed his stance?”

DANA WHITE: “Because I think they’re both those kind of guys. And I also think it’s close to reality now. It’s a lot closer to reality. Plus, you’re Jon Fitch, you know we were just saying you’ve won 22 out of 23 fights. Koscheck has worked his ass off to get to where he is today and to become one of the best in the world and you’re really to say, hey, we’re friends, let’s not go out and grab it and let’s not go out and you know a lot comes along with being the world champion, you know? Going down in history as one of the best. Being considered the best in the world right now. A lot more money, a lot more sponsors, a lot more things go with holding that title. And guess what? Fans want to see the guys that want to step up and go for it, you know, these guys are like ‘we’re friends.’ People don’t want to hear that [expletive]. Good for you, you’re friends. I want to know who’s better.”

Reading between the lines, it seems pretty clear that if we get a decisive winner in the Shields/Kampmann fight, that guy will become the #1 contender to the winner of St. Pierre/Koscheck. If it’s a close decision, that winner will likely fight Jon Fitch and the winner of that fight will then get the winner of St. Pierre/Koscheck. As much as we like to sit here and think that wins and losses ultimately matter the most in MMA, what matters just as greatly is how much fan demand there is to pay to watch you fight. Jon Fitch may have won 22 out of his 23 fights, but not a lot of fans are all that interested in paying to watch him fight these days. In many ways, Fitch is the complete opposite of Chael Sonnen — a man who scratched and clawed his way into a main event spot, seized the moment, and radically overachieved to win the respect of every fight fan in the world. Whereas Sonnen is respected by mostly everyone, Fitch is gaining more disrespect from the fans every time he fights and continues to get ‘boring’ decisions in the UFC.