Each week, ESPN.com writer and MMA Live Extra analyst Brett Okamoto provides his take on the hottest topics in the world of mixed martial arts.
This week, Okamoto squares off with legendary fighter, trainer and broadcaster Pat Miletich to debate the latest news and trends. Miletich, 47, became the UFC's first welterweight champion in 1998 and retired from professional fighting in 2006 with a record of 29-7-2.
1. Assuming both are healthy and motivated, what's the top "nostalgia" fight between fighters from the past that you most want to see today?
Pat Miletich: I have honestly never given that thought. Randy Couture and Fedor Emelianenko would be awesome, I'd love that. For guys that fought for a lot of years and were active during that time, when Fedor went undefeated for 10 years, he was kind of that picture of perfection that everybody wanted to obtain. He lost one fight [against Tsuyoshi Kosaka in December 2000] due to a cut, so really he was undefeated for a decade. To me, that would be amazing to see those two guys go at it.
Brett Okamoto: Yeah, it's Couture-Emelianenko. I'm sure RIZIN [the Japanese promotion which signed Emelianenko in 2015] wouldn't mind seeing that fight, either. I'm guessing that matchup would draw more eyeballs than Emelianenko-Jaideep Singh last New Year's Eve. That fight would have historical relevance -- still, even at this point in their careers. It would be pretty incredible to see it come together now and, again, it's not like there's a lack of promoters willing to put this fight together. There's hope.
2. Which main event are you more interested in this weekend: Bellator MMA's Royce Gracie-Ken Shamrock III or UFC's Donald Cerrone-Alex Oliveira?
Miletich: I'm an old guy, so I'm interested in the old guy fight. I'd like to see Cerrone come back and get a victory after his last fight. The shellacking he got in his last fight [TKO loss to Rafael dos Anjos on Dec. 19] is going to motivate him hopefully. I'm interested in both to be frank with you. With Bellator I have a special interest because I'll fight either one of them. I've been training four months for the Leadville 100, which is the highest altitude, 100-mile, 24-hour race in the country. I'm up to running 30 miles on my long runs, lot of stuff I couldn't do in my 20s and 30s. I think Royce would probably be a fight that goes longer but I don't fear him doing any damage to me. Ken is obviously quite a bit bigger than I am so I would have to watch out the first few minutes before I could gas him. Scott Coker and I have talked and he's well aware I want to fight. I think it just comes down to one of those guys -- the winner -- saying yes.
Okamoto: Call me politically correct on this, but I honestly feel there are two answers to this. If I'm buying a ticket to either one of these? Give me Gracie-Shamrock III all day. It's a spectacle. It's entertainment. Kimbo Slice will be there! I can brag to friends on social media that I went to a "tent-pole" event. As a journalist and an everyday consumer of MMA? I'm more interested in the UFC and Cerrone. Why? Because he's not 50, that's why. He's two months removed from fighting for the UFC's 155-pound championship. Cerrone is high-level MMA and that, personally, is what interests me most. But I understand the "fun" answer here is Bellator.
3. If Bellator MMA's reputation becomes mainly for "legend" or "circus" fights, is that sustainable?
Miletich: Well, I would say no but I'm sure that's not Scott Coker's goal. He's trying to get eyes on Spike TV using his knowledge of marketing and Viacom money and trying to get the ball rolling. In my mind, to be quite frank, when Scott Coker took over they should have changed the name. I think that is the biggest mistake is sticking with the Bellator name and I'm sure that probably wasn't Scott Coker's decision. That was probably Spike and Viacom executives, probably because they invested so much money into the marketing of that name they didn't want to start all over again. I think it went on for so long -- the tournament format -- that people get turned off by that. If you start a new organization, you do tournaments to establish your new champions and that's it, you roll with that.
Okamoto: That's really a question for Bellator's parent company, Viacom. What are expectations for the Bellator brand? Since Coker has taken over and added his influence to the promotion, Bellator has done its best numbers ever. Kimbo Slice-Ken Shamrock (a two-minute fight) drew an average of 1.58 million viewers -- in a key demographic. That's a figure the UFC, the No. 1 promotion to Bellator's No. 2, would be fine with. I imagine Spike TV was fine with it as well. Maybe the appeal of these fights will wear off for consumers over time. Then again, maybe not. Reviews for the Tito Ortiz-Stephan Bonnar main event in November 2014 were not kind, but that didn't stop fans from re-tuning in to see Slice fight an aged Shamrock in 2015. In the meantime, if Bellator can produce just a small handful of its own ratings-boosters? That might be sustainable, yeah.
4. Following news of CM Punk's recent back surgery, how confident are you he does indeed ever fight in the Octagon?
Miletich: He has been through an awful lot [with] his body in pro wrestling. I'm sure he's certainly not a pristine specimen right now. He has been through a ton and the amount of travel and the bumps those guys take is pretty brutal. I don't know the extent of the back surgery. I don't know what they had to do. The spine is the one thing that will stop a career in this sport faster than anything else. They can rebuild a knee, a shoulder, but rebuilding a spine is not easy to do.
Okamoto: Call me naive, but I'm still very confident. I don't believe this was all for nothing. I've spoken to CM Punk, or Phil Brooks if you prefer, and I don't get any sense he's doing this as a publicity stunt. I think his interest in competing in the sport is genuine. I think the work he has dedicated to it so far is real and hasn't been overblown by media. He doesn't strike me as someone who's going to back out of this now, after a full year of buildup. He knew (or at least had a realistic idea) what he was getting into when he held a press conference to announce his UFC contract. And really, when you think about it, it hasn't been that long people. Learning MMA from scratch takes time. Punk will fight.
5. What is the one biggest thing you would change about MMA today?
Miletich: I would say individual belts for every organization is fine but there has to be one sanctioning body -- and boxing is screwed up with this -- where all promoters have some stake in terms of sitting on the board and being able to figure things out and have rankings systems. I want to see one belt that means you are the champion of the world. There are guys who have come across to UFC from Strikeforce who have obviously done a lot of damage, so, when you're the champion of one organization it means you're the [boxing promoter] Bob Arum champion or the Don King champion, it doesn't necessarily mean you're the world champion. I think at some point, for this sport to truly go mainstream and athletes get what they need, I think it's going to have to come down to belt unifications.
Okamoto: I agree an independent sanctioning body with an independent title would be great, although you'd run into the same issue the sport has right now with rankings in that it's difficult to be No. 1 if you don't fight for the UFC. The bulk of talent is in the UFC. So, it's hard for Will Brooks, Bellator's lightweight champion, to earn the No. 1 rank in the world when he's clearly not fighting the level of competition Rafael dos Anjos is in the UFC. Long story short, the biggest thing I'd change about MMA today: the foundation of a fighter's association. A collective fighter's association would deal with a wide range of issues in this sport. I'm not suggesting it's easy to form one or that it would solve everything, but this sport has matured to a level that demands it.