MMA and UFC: The Future Is Now... and Nobody Seems to Notice.

Mixed Martial Arts and its flag bearer, the UFC, now stand on a road diverging into a proverbial yellow wood.

One path leads down a road remarkably similar to the path it now travels. The other leads to a future with unfettered growth, legions of fans in attendance and watching broadcasts, and a product that is universally appealing.

That path is paved on the backs of men who weigh in at 155 and less.

It seems to be a widely accepted American truth that if you like watching fights, you are drawn to the Heavyweight Division. The awe of two giants swinging lunchbox sized fists at each other with the ever-present possibility of a sense-severing knockout can bring in even the most casual of fans. We overlook their lack of technique and conditioning because we want to see something exciting. And as a mixed martial arts fan, we will waiting fourteen minutes and fifty-nine seconds with that hope.

The established divisions of American Mixed Martial Arts may topple under the weight of their large men. Heavyweight has two likely contenders after Dos Santos, a handful of prospects, and a vast wasteland populated with uneven performances from incomplete fighters. After Machida and Rashad, an apparent challenger to Jon Jones seems distant. Anderson Silva has made the Middleweight ranks look so foolish, we're left rummaging through his scraps to find a contender.

So why should we put up with these incomplete, often uninteresting fighters and uneven divisions?

Can anyone remember the last heavyweight to earn a submission victory?

Stefan Struve, to save you the trouble. He earned a submission of the night award, more for the rarity of the submission by a heavyweight than the relative complexity.

And Pat Barry, a man just as guilty of getting winded and sloppy, still has a job after numerous losses and no improvement. This is a clearer case of the lack of excitement at heavyweight than it is for his potential.

The UFC, and we as fans, need to invest greatly in the 155 and below. While welterweight has it's first crossover star and a surplus of new talent, it's the lightweights, featherweights, bantamweights and soon, flyweights that can really carry us forward.

Dominick Cruz and Demetrious Johnson headlined a free card with a title on the line. Urijah Faber and Brian Bowles, both former world champions, are a footnote on UFC 139's card. Benson Henderson and Clay Guida put on a Fight of the Year candidate on Facebook, not national television.

Knockouts? Still happen. Perhaps not with the alarming frequency of their 205+ pound counterparts, but goodness, the trip to that point is exciting. Weight is replaced by cardiovascular superiority. Looping haymakers are replaced by sharp, tight, speedy combinations. Plodding, wind sucking rounds are replaced by fights that most closely resemble two cats stuck in a bag.

Fast, Frantic, Frenetic, Fun. Four F words that are said after a Bantamweight bout that went the distance.

Far more than I can say for the F words muttered after a Heavyweight bout does the same.