By simply telling us folks how wonderful Pepsi tastes, or how great the products that he endorses are, Fortune and MSN Money individually listed Shaquille O'Neal as number 7 in their list of top ten endorsement superstars at $15 M a year. Never mind if you like him or not, he sure does stir awareness and influences positive response to the products or brands he endorses.

Like it or not, the UFC – or mixed martial arts in general – is still in its infancy stages when compared to NBA, NFL, or even boxing. How else would you explain the pay differences between an Arlovski or an Ortiz to a Mayweather or a Pacquiao? In case you don’t know, $1.5 million is the rumoured highest paycheck to an MMA gladiator. Compare this to Manny Pacquiao’s guaranteed purse of $11 Million for his fight against Oscar De la Hoya.

Now comes the Dr. Shaq, or Shaq Fu, or Superman (however you want to name this media magnet) practically telling everyone he intends to fight inside the octagon (perhaps a career change?) after he retires from NBA. Now, that’s directing the entire world’s attention to the world of mixed martial arts that’s still in the Mesozoic Era.

Never mind if you like him or not, but the guys sure knows how to stir a hornet’s nest. Whether he stars in Kazaam (voted by “Rotten Tomatoes” as “The Worst Movie of All Time”) or weave flop poetry through his rhymes, or by thrashing Kobe Bryant, Shaq sure knows how to create buzz.

When Shaquille O’Neal called out on Hong Man Choi, and kissed Chuck Liddell’s lips after he topples him – ok, it’s not Chuck, it’s his standee poster – the guys from UFC and everyone else in the world of mixed martial arts should consider saving $3 Million dollars on promotions (PepsiCo pays Shaq this amount annually).

Never mind if you like Shaq or not, but the 7’1” tall, 340 lbs “Shaqovic” (who have trained in MMA for several years already) clashing out with the 7’2” tall, 340 lbs MMA warrior from Korea is something we don’t wanna miss.

Heck, this could even be better than a stale Kobe-Shaq verbal tussle.

MMA warriors, get a hint from that “little Filipino” pugilist.

Manny Pacquiao, who has just cemented his slot to becoming one of the the greatest boxers in history, must be today’s most popular fighter.  What makes him so?  It’s not the number of fights he won, it’s not the number of championship belts he collects – it’s how he fights.

The thoroughness, the intensity, the power – the heart! Now, that’s what we’re talking about.

It’s the process. It’s how you do it.  It’s how you win.

I heard my little girl sing this song from whoever-she-is-montana-hanna.  It goes something like this:

“Ain’t about how fast I get there/Ain’t about what’s waiting on the other side/It’s the climb.”

Yessir! It’s the climb.  It’s the experience you give the audience.  It’s the spectacle.

We don’t want to go see two “intelligent” fighters dancing around the octagon thinking the fight out, and whoever outhinks the other wins.  Leave that to chess players.  Otherwise, I’d rather watch my son play Kung Lao in Mortal Combat – it’s more exciting.

What is MMA?  It’s a bloody fight!  Remember when it was still in its heydays, when it was still an underground (legally banned) sport.  It’s a bloody brutal fight.

No, we’re not saying that MMA gladiators kill each other.  No, we’re not saying MMA warriors should all be brawn with no skill or intelligence.  Au contraire, we’d love our fighters bright, with style… heck, we’d love them fighting with flair and class.  Do that Silva, and MMA fans would multiply overnight like twitter users.

And only then would you see the day where you earn by the millions of dollars, PER FIGHT.

And they say boxing is dead….

Not quite.

The crew of MMA Weekly News believes boxing has to thank Manny Pacquiao and his fighting heart.  Thanks to Freddie Roach for his grudge against Oscar de la Hoya and starting this crazy idea of pitting his smaller pitbull fighter against a legend.  Thanks to Bob Arum for riding on with this "crazy idea."  And special thanks to the Golden Boy for biting into this crazy idea of a "mismatch" in favor of the lure of the Benjamins offered by PPV.  It turns out to be a real mismatch — Golden Boy was no match for the world's number one pound-for-pound boxer in the world.

They say, mixed martial arts has taken over boxing as the most scientific game on the mat.  Manny Pacquiao proved them wrong.  Boxing's number one pound-for-pound fighter displayed a spectacular level of discipline and technicality in his game plan never before seen in his earlier fights.  Pacquiao has been known as a brawler, someone who doesn't mind getting hit while he delivers his bone-crunching blows.  This was not the case with his fight with De la Hoya.

With utmost agility and cunning, he controlled the fight from start to finish–never giving in to the temptation of pouring all his blows even when De la Hoya already looked so helpless.  You can clearly see that Pacquiao, while delivering his jabs and straights and upper cuts with surgical precision, never forgets about De la Hoya's lethal left hook.  He knew that one small window, one small lapse in his defense, and the Golden Boy's left hook could change the direction of the fight.

It was mostly hit and disappear to De la Hoya's left, rendering the Golden Boy's lethal weapon useless.  De la Hoya and his high-profile handlers must have prepared for Pacquiao's 1-2-3 combos which is characteristic of his being a brawler, and they got stood up on their ambush plan.  There were no Pacquiao flurry of punches on the early rounds, just surgical precision straights to the face of De la Hoya.  The Golden Boy could barely counter as the Pacman would disappear after each hit to the right, apparently De la Hoya's blind spot.

The brawler has turned into a precision fighter.  With Manny Pacquiao, the world can start looking at boxing with a better perspective.

We could not blame anyone for thinking that boxing is losing its appeal, what with allegations of corruption and with the diluting of the term "champ' with all these alphabet titles.  Manny Pacquiao simply brought back the heart, the gritting discipline, and the nobility of the sport back into the front page.

Proponents of mixed martial arts have more reason to be glad with this development.  The death of boxing could mean the waning of the public's interest in full-contact sports.  Boxing is MMA's elder cousin.  And whatever demise boxing would suffer could conversely affect mixed martial arts.  On the other hand, keeping boxing alive speaks so much about the future of mixed martial arts as a mainstream sport.