After what has taken place this year in the UFC, Dana White is looking a lot like the Paul Tagliabue of MMA.  Tagliabue -- as many football fans know -- built the NFL into a league where parity rules the day.  The phrase "On any given Sunday ..." is commonly heard on autumn Sundays and for good reason: The truth is that on any given Sunday, the best team in the NFL can realistically lose to the worst team in the league. 

Tagliabue created this parity through the salary cap and free agency. Teams from small and large markets compete on a level playing field and its possible for a downtrodden franchise to right the ship in one offseason. This system has produced the best sports league in America -- one that stands head and shoulders above all other leagues in creating and sustaining fan interest throughout the entire year.

While his methods may be different, Dana White is slowly creating an MMA promotion that is starting to resemble the NFL in this key way -- the introduction of parity. This year, we have seen three major upsets in the last three pay-per-view cards with Randy Couture's victory over Tim Sylvia, Matt Serra's upset of Georges St. Pierre, and of course Gabriel Gonzaga's stunning dismantling of Mirko Filipovic Saturday at UFC 70.

We are increasingly hearing the phrase "In any given fight ..." in discussions of UFC matchups. Other than Chuck Liddell's stranglehold on the light heavyweight division, the title holders in all the other weight classes have held the belt for less than a year.  Gone are the days of Rich Franklin's seemingly interminable hold on the middleweight title or Matt Hughes' grip on the welterweight title.

Instead, what we see in the UFC is depth in all the divisions. In fact, the promotion's showcase weight class only a year ago -- the light heavyweight division -- is arguably the weakest division right now. And, nowhere is the depth more noticeable than in the UFC heavyweight division. A year ago, the fate of that division rested squarely on the shoulders of Andrei Arlovski and Tim Sylvia, with the future seemingly in the hands of up-and-comer Brandon Vera and a hopefully-rehabbed Frank Mir.

What a difference a year makes. Now, the division title is held by elder statesman Randy Couture and everyone else is jockeying for contention. Filipovic was supposedly the heir apparent to the crown and had he won Saturday, he would have faced Couture for the title. Instead, Filipovic must go to the videotape to figure out how he lost his title shot and how a relative unknown, Gonzaga, thoroughly dominated him on the ground as well as standing up. 

Gonzaga's victory is proof that star power doesn't equate to invincibility -- it is only an indication of what a fighter has done in the past.  But, is there any sport that asks the question "What have you done for me lately?" better than MMA?  Fighters today toil countless hours as professionals to perfect their game. Proper game planning (as Couture showed us) is just as important as physical training because the gap between the top fighters and those below is closing.

A byproduct of this newfound parity is that -- much like the NFL -- the UFC is creating a product that is bigger than any one fighter.  Unlike boxing, which has traditionally relied on one or two superstars to carry the sport until a new star emerges, UFC absorbs the losses to superstars like St. Pierre and Filipovic and simply rolls on to the next event. 

And in the process, UFC fighters have also dispelled the myth that PRIDE fighters are far superior. With Heath Herring's loss to Jake O'Brien earlier in the year and Fabricio Werdum's loss to Andrei Arlovski (along with Filipovic's loss to Gonzaga), UFC's homegrown talent has bested some of PRIDE's most notable performers. 

As UFC 71 looms on the horizon, the main event features Liddell against the only man who has beaten him, unavenged -- Quinton Jackson.  This is a title fight and a classic UFC-PRIDE matchup, to boot.  So, how will the UFC cope if Liddell -- clearly the promotion's most marketable fighter -- loses to Jackson?

In this new era, with UFC positioning itself to be an international sporting force -- not just an American novelty -- I believe the promotion has already proven it will be just fine.