Floyd Mayweather apparently got one look at Ultimate Fighting Championship lightweight titlist Sean Sherk and decided he wanted nothing to do with mixed martial arts.

The newly crowned WBC 154-lb. champion talked a lot of smack about MMA leading up to his fight with Oscar De La Hoya.

But UFC president Dana White, Zuffa LLC co-owner Lorenzo Fertitta, and Sherk, the UFC's 155-lb. champ, showed up at the MGM Grand looking to give Mayweather the chance to put his money where his mouth was.

And the Pretty Boy changed his tune. According to the Web site FightNews.com, Mayweather, using former Nevada State Athletic Commission chairman and current UFC employee Marc Ratner as an intermediary, signaled he wanted to make peace with the UFC.

"I apologize to the UFC, sometimes we say things that we shouldn't have said and I'm man enough to admit that," said Mayweather.  "I apologize to the Fertittas, Lorenzo and Dana White. I respect MMA fighters and what they do in the UFC. I have no plans of fighting in mixed martial arts."

While Mayweather left the MGM Grand a winner last week, it appears the sport of mixed martial arts was the biggest beneficiary of last week's hype.

The bulk of the coverage leading up to the Mayweather-DeLaHoya fight prominently mentioned MMA's encroachment on the boxing market.

True, some of the coverage was lowlighted by tired clichés from the usual suspects, but the joke is on them. It became painfully clear last week the only people left who still cling to "these are just bar brawlers" nonsense are: 1. Old-school boxing types, who are understandably protective of their favorite sport; 2. Journalists who are completely out to lunch on the topic; 3. Attention seekers in various media platforms who are simply out to get a reaction.

There has been a shift in sports fan opinion on combat sports. The average fan now understands that top-notch MMA fighters have athletic credentials that match those of the top athletes in any sport, even if some in the media still don't get it.

Saturday night's fight card was a case study in why MMA is succeeding where boxing isn't.

The main event was a good, but not great, technical fight. But the real telling aspect was in the second fight from top. A pair of featherweights that your average sports fan couldn't name to save their lives, Rocky Juarez and Jose Hernandez, slow danced for 12 rounds before Juarez took the decision. 

Half the crowd at the MGM Grand hadn't arrived yet. The half that was there never at any point indicated they had the slightest interest in the match. HBO signaled its disinterest in its own second-billed attraction by running a long, rambling interview with Larry Merchant and Floyd Mayweather Sr. during the fight.

Viewers paid $54.95 for that?

Contrast the Juarez-Hernandez scene to UFC 68 in Columbus on March 3, where all 19,000 fans at Nationwide Arena were in their seats in time for the opening, non-televised preliminary fight, and stayed with the action for four hours, through all nine matches. Or UFC 65 at Arco Arena in Sacramento last November, where the sellout crowd of more than 15,000 popped for the transitional ground work as much as the KO kicks.

The question that remains unanswered: What would happen if Mayweather did tangle with Sherk?

No one is questioning what would happen if they met in a boxing ring under boxing rules. Sherk's background is amateur wrestling. Even the most complete MMA fighter isn't spending any more than 25 percent of his time on his boxing game. Mayweather would own Sherk under boxing rules.

Under MMA rules? Well, for one thing, Mayweather's track-meet style wouldn’t win him points in the UFC. Among MMA scoring criteria, judges are supposed to base their decisions on aggression and octagon control. For another, there is the sheer difference between a ring and a cage. There are no rope breaks to be had in MMA. If you get cornered and taken down, you have to fight your way out. That's not Mayweather's style.

There have already been a couple glimpses at what would be considered boxer vs. martial arts style fighting, and neither made boxing look good.

One occurred all the way back at UFC 1 in 1993. Art Jimmerson was a light heavyweight with a solid record of 29-5 when he squared off against Royce Gracie. Gracie needed all of 2:11 to pick Jimmerson apart. From that point on, Jimmerson went 4-13 in his boxing career. Word got around boxing quick to stay away from UFC.

OK, maybe Jimmerson isn't a big enough name to impress you. How about Muhammud Ali, then?

Back in 1976, Ali took on wrestler Antonio Inoki in Tokyo. They went 15 rounds before the fight was ruled a draw. Inoki spent most of the fight on his back in a basic jiu-jitsu defensive posture and repeatedly kicked at Ali's legs. Ali's punching was useless, as he threw just six punches the entire fight.

It was a dreadfully boring exhibition by all accounts. But no less an authority than Thomas Hauser reported in his definitive biography Ali that Inoki did so much damage to Ali's legs, that Ali had to be hospitalized with blood clots and extensive muscle disrepair. Promoter Bob Arum went on to speculate the beating helped speed up Ali's in-ring decline.

So there you have it. Three decades before MMA stole boxing's thunder and 17 years before Gracie burst onto the scene, the greatest boxer of all-time could do nothing against a professional wrestler who used defensive martial arts tactics that were primitive by the standards of today's MMA.

Maybe Mayweather knew what he was doing, backing off from his trash talk against UFC.

Sorry about the lack of a follow-up post on UFC 65, I headed home for the holidays straight after the show and haven't had a chance to get caught up. There will be a more lengthy piece on the implications of the start of the Georges St. Pierre Era in the next Weekly Tapout, but for now, a few observations:

*Ever notice since Matt Hughes' second fight with Frank Trigg, in which he suffered a low blow and had to fight through it because he wasn't given a chance to recover, he's always made sure to back off and call attention to anything that might have been a foul? Hughes refused to use St. Pierre's low kicks as an excuse for losing on Saturday, understanding that using quick  inside leg kicks were a big part of GSP's game plan. In fact, Hughes went so far as to say the low kicks may have affected St. Pierre more, since they made GSP more self-conscious about where he was kicking.

*Not only should Hughes get an immediate rematch with GSP when he's ready to fight again, but it is the only proper thing to do in this situation. The man dominated the division for years, went on an unprecedented tear, and was a critical player in helping build MMA to its present level. You don't cast someone of his stature in the sport aside and make him climb the ranks again after one loss. St. Pierre will fight Matt Serra first because that's what was contracted, but after that, Hughes deserves another crack at what was his crown and the real travesty would be if he was forced to fight a lower-level fighter first.

*The crowd in Sacramento was red-hot pretty much throughout the night at UFC 65, and it was pure bedlam in Arco Arena after GSP won the title, a scene comparable to a home team winning an NFL playoff game with a touchdown on the last play of the game. Las Vegas will always be UFC's home base, but the hot crowds for the debut shows in both Anaheim and Sacramento show that getting out to new cities promises to be a solid business plan for UFC going forward. Houston has long been considered a potential site for a show; Dana White has expressed a desire to run a show in Boston; and at this point, a show at the Bell Centre in Montreal headlined by GSP would basically be a license to print money.

*Tim Sylvia heard the jeers of the crowd before, during and after his win over Jeff Monson, but the UFC heavyweight champ is not going to change his style, which could be called the neutral-zone trap of MMA, to please the fans. "I've got to hold on to my title," he said. "That's the most important thing to me. Those guys who are booing, those are the people that just want to get drunk and see people beat each other up. They should just go watch bum fight DVDs. People who understand the sport know what I'm doing out there."

*White mentioned in the post-fight press conference that lightweight champ Sean Sherk recently underwent rotator cuff surgery, and that they do not have his next opponent lined up at this point.

New UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva was asked last night who he would like to face next. His answer, through his interpreter? "I wish I could clone myself and fight me."

Who could blame him for coming to such a conclusion after his dominant performance at UFC 64? Silva stunned the crowd at Mandalay Bay by  dismantling someone thought to be one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the game in Rich Franklin.

 

There will be lots of conjecture about Franklin's performance last night. Here are a couple things to ponder:

 

1. Was Franklin gun-shy after his long, injury-induced layoff? Franklin's match with David Loiseau was a war. Both came out of it hurt; Franklin tore a hamstring and broke a hand. Both Franklin and Loiseau looked tentative in their return fights.

 

2. Did Franklin let his ego get in the way in thinking he could match Silva toe-to-toe? Silva has never been knocked out or TKO'd in his career, but he has been taken down and submitted twice. Of course, this is easy for me to say sitting behind a computer screen after the fact.

 

As for what's next in the middleweight division, that's tough to say. The winner of the middleweight division in the Ultimate Fighter is guaranteed a title shot. Umm … good luck to him. Mike Swick is on the radar, but he didn't look ready for a title match in his win over Loiseau last month. Dana White was asked about the possibility of bringing Matt Lindland back, but, as White pointed out, Lindland is under contract to the IFL right now. Franklin, as the former champion, is deserving of a rematch. I think it is too soon to call Franklin overrated. Every fighter has his bad night, and the real test will come with how he responds to the setback.

*Ken Florian had one of those performances last night where you gain in stature by losing. No doubt Sherk won convincingly (I had it 49-46); but for a fighter with his experience level, Florian's jiu-jitsu was solid and he did his share of damage. Ironically, the cut over Sherk's eye ended up backfiring on Florian, as it may have enabled Sherk to slip out of his opponent's submission attempts. "It got me on that armbar," Florian said. "I thought I had it sunk in and I turned and he just slipped right out of it. The blood and sweat made it real hard to lock anything in."

 

*For new lightweight champion Sherk, the win was redemption. Not that long ago, Sherk walked away for nearly a year after giving his best and coming up just short as a welterweight. "I've been waiting for this moment for 12 years," said Sherk. "Ever since I saw the early UFCs and wanted to be a part of it, all the effort is worth it now."

 

*This is simply an observation and you can attach whatever meaning to it you wish. The following fighters were booed by a noticeable portion of the crowd last night: Yushin Okami, Kuniyoshi Hironaka, Cheick Kongo, Silva. It wasn't the majority of the crowd, and maybe these fans were simply rooting for American fighters, but either way, it was an ugly display.

 

*White talked about UFC's plans to run 26 shows in 2007, including five pay-per-views from the United Kingdom. UFC needs to guard against overexposure. Our reader response to UFC 64 was down from any PPV we've covered. That's not an exact science, but would seem to indicate with lots of shows to choose from in a short period of time, some people decided to skip this one.

Chuck Liddell, Tito Ortiz, and Matt Hughes are the biggest draws in the UFC. UFC 64 came just three weeks after Hughes fought at UFC 63 and four days after Ortiz-Shamrock III. UFC 64 also happened with viewers knowing the next two PPVs feature highly anticipated showdowns with  Hughes-Georges St. Pierre and Ortiz-Liddell, and with next week's PRIDE show on the horizon (incidentally, White said he will attend the PRIDE show).

*White also said the next season of The Ultimate Fighter will focus exclusively in the lightweight division.

 

*Finally, White in his upcoming three-round boxing match against Ortiz: "This is the stupidest thing I've ever done. I'm too old for this. I'm going to go ahead and do this because Tito insisted on this as part of his contract and I'm going to live up to my end of the deal."

This match is for the vacant UFC lightweight championship. Jens Pulver was the first 155-lb. champion, left the promotion without dropping the title back in 2002, and it has gone unfilled until now. Sean Sherk (30-2-1) is a veteran from Minneapolis. He previously fought as a welterweight and holds the distinction of being the only fighter ever to take UFC 170-lb. champ Matt Hughes a full five rounds (in a decision loss). Sherk's only other career loss is to No. 1 welterweight contender Georges St. Pierre. Florian, a former Ultimate Fighter contestant from the Boston area, is much less experienced than Sherk, but has won his past three fights, including a quick submission of Sam Stout to earn the shot.

Round 1: They trade jabs and Sherk scores an immediate takedown. Sherk has dominant position, but Florian, a jiu-jitsu specialist, is able to keep him pretty well tied up. Sherk gets in a few wild swings, and connects with an elbow around the two-minute mark. Florian sinks in a choke from the bottom. He might have position. He's got it pretty good. But Sherk manages to break it, and hits a couple lefts. Sherk broke loose for a few shots, but again, Florian is doing a nice job keeping him tied up. Sherk nearly sinks in an armlock, then Florian almost gets another choke. Sherk back in Florian's guard. Florian's defense was solid but Sherk was more aggressive and wins the round.

Round 2: Sherk with a jab, Florian with a kick to the midsection. Sherk with a takedown. Florian scoring with a few punches from the bottom. Florian and Sherk both cut each other open something fierce, Florian around his right ear. The doctor checks both. Restart from the ground. Florian is managing to keep Sherk's legs tied up, so he can’t do much. There are some morons in the crowd booing a pretty good ground battle. Sherk nearly gets Florian's back, but Florian ends up on top and lands a punch. Now Sherk is in the guard. They're back up. Sherk is busted wide open. Sherk shoots on Florian and backs him against the fence. Florian to the ground, trying to sink in a guillotine. They get back up. Sherk clinging to Florian's leg as they go for position, but nothing doing. They finish standing up. Very good round. Very close. Sherk has a deep cut up high on his forehead over his left ear. Big ovation for both from the crowd. I'm giving round two to Florian.

Round 3: Sherk is bleeding before they even start fighting. Florian aiming for the cut with a couple punches and a kick, but Sherk throws a left and scores a hard takedown. Sherk isn't doing much, but Florian isn't defending as crisply as before. Sherk hits several elbows. Florian flips over, and Sherk is on his back, but can't do anything as yet. Florian rolls back over and ends up in the guard, eating a big elbow in the process. Ref orders a restart with less than a minute left. Florian with a kick, Sherk lands an exchange. A big flurry and two huge kicks from Florian to end the round. This is starting to look like something out of a fight movie, as both fighters are drenched in blood but they still keep going and going. Florian's shorts were white starting the fight, now they're red, I give round 3 to Sherk. Huge ovation for both fighters at the end of the round. Eddie Bravo of the UFC has all three rounds for Sherk and the crowd booed the scores something fierce.

Round 4: Florian with a kick. Florian evades a flurry of Sherk punches and runs right into the corner padding. Sherk finally ends up on top over by the fence. Sherk with several lefts from a side position. Florian tries to get back up but can't, and Sherk ends up back on top. Crowd chanting "Kenny." "Sherk" chant starts, but not as loud. Florian tries to throw Sherk but can't. Florian hits two elbows and a series of lefts. Ref finally stands them up with 30 seconds left. Florian pops Sherk with a kick. I give this one to Sherk. My scoring is 39-37 Sherk; Bravo has it 40-36, so Florian is going to need to make something happen this round to pull it out. His corner is telling him to stand in the middle.

Round 5: Sherk goes for a low kick. Florian goes for kicks to the midsection and ends up getting slammed hard to the mat for his troubles. Florian nearly catches Sherk in a kimura. Sherk hits two elbows. Mazzegati stands them up with 3:40 left. Sherk still way cut open over the eye, Florian still aiming for it, and hits a kick. Florian finally evades a takedown and gets a guillotine in. Sherk is breathing hard, it is obvious from the other side of the octagon. This is Florian's chance and he's pulling for all he's worth. Sherk breaks it. They get back up, grapple, and Sherk picks Florian up for a huge slam (after Florian initially grabbed the fence to avoid it which is illegal). One minute left, Sherk is on top, and just needs to hold on to win the lightweight titles. Some idiots in the crowd boo. Yeah, I'm sure if they were fighting for 24 minutes they'd do better. Right. Florian ends up attempting another choke but doesn't have much behind it. The fight ends, both fighters help each other off the mat and they get a standing ovation from the full house.

I have this 49-46 Sherk; Bravo has it 50-45 Sherk. Two judges have it 49-46, one 50-45, for the new UFC lightweight champion, Sean Sherk. Sherk is going to make a formidable champion at 155; Florian showed tremendous heart in his performance and considering he's young and still only had a handful of fights, should be in the picture for a long time to come.

We're live from the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. Prelim fights start at 5:15 pm Pacific; the pay-per-view broadcast begins at 7.

Light heavyweight Mike Nickels had to pull out of his prelim fight with Keith Jardine due to a late back injury, so the bout has been cancelled and the show will go on with eight matches.

Here's what the readers think about tonight's show, which is headlined by Rich Franklin vs. Anderson Silva for the middleweight title and Sean Sherk vs. Ken Florian for the lightweight crown:

Raul, Albuquerque: I respect Rich Franklin. He's a class act, nobody trains harder, and a true champion. But it's time to see some change in the UFC, Anderson Silva is world class and will prove it tonight. There are many other fighting organizations around the world with extremely talented hard nosed fighters that could be UFC champions.

Jerry, Cleveland: Florian is the best up-and-coming fighter at 155lbs and will prove it when he wins the title tonight with choke-out. I hope Franklin has his wind up.

 

Badawi, Chantilly, VA: Franklin will win. Why? Rich is the most complete fighter out there. Whether standing up or grappling, wherever the fight goes he is always on top. Not to underestimate Silva but a lot of us UFC fans don't know what is Silva really made off, knocking out Leben is not a big accomplishment. Leben is way lower in class than Franklin, Leben only has his strong hands and his jaw and that's it. Franklin will take it home in the 2nd round by TKO.

Mac, Manchester, NH: I'll take Franklin, but only by a hair. I don't think the fight is going to go the distance, both like to push the action. I also like KenFlo over Sherk. I'll go with KenFlo for two reasons, he's the local guy and he may be too crafty for Sherk.

In our poll on the site, 82% of readers think Franklin will beat Silva.

Everyone made weight for UFC 64. Here's the breakdown, courtesy UFC.com:

Middleweight title: Rich Franklin (185) vs Anderson Silva (185)

Lightweight title: Kenny Florian (155) vs Sean Sherk (154.5)

The rest: Jon Fitch (170) vs Kuniyoshi Hironaka (170); Cheick Kongo (226) vs Carmelo Marrero (222); Spencer Fisher (155) vs Joe Lauzon (155); Keith Jardine (205) vs Mike Nickels (205); Yushin Okami (185) vs Kalib Starnes (185); Justin James (155) vs Clay Guida (154.5); Kurt Pellegrino (154.5) vs Junior Assuncao (155).