While NFL and MLB fear Twitter, UFC will pay year-end bonuses for Twit-beasts

When a league gets incredibly corporate or is run by a fossil, you'd expect there to be a huge gap between the head honcho, the players and most sadly, the fans.

MLB just fined Ozzie Guillen for venting some postgame frustration on Twitter, while the NFL has handed out multiple fines for tweeting at inappropriate times. As far as the UFC is concerned, there is no inappropriate time for fighters to deliver their message on Twitter.

According to MMAFighting, the fighters have a bonus system to reward success on Twitter:

Starting June 1, UFC and Strikeforce fighters will be divided into four categories, based on how many Twitter followers they currently have. At the end of each quarter, three fighters from each category will be awarded a $5,000 bonus. The three winners will be based on who has gained the most followers since the start of the quarter, who gained the highest percentage of new followers and who wrote the most creative tweets. White will be the judge of the last category.

At the conclusion of a full calendar year, the UFC will end up paying $240,000 a year to its fighters for their Twitter usage.

Twitter is double-edged sword. It's crushed a few athletes who sent out controversial messages, but for the most part it's served as a revolutionary way for athletes to close the huge perceived chasm between themselves and the fans.

There's no gap between Cagewriter.com and our "fans." Follow Yahoo! Sports MMA on Twitter @kevini, @yahoodoyle, @maggiehendricks and @stevecofield.

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What you need to know from this week on ‘The Ultimate Fighter’

Last week, Chris Cope and Ramsey Nijem punched their tickets to the semifinals. Two more fights are on the docket for tonight, as well as the semifinals match-ups. Who will win the quarterfinals? What fighter crosses the line? What is Ramsey doing in that picture? Read on for spoilers and a recap.

Nice guy of the week: Chuck O'Neil plans to give half of his win bonus to Charlie Rader, who needs money to deal with legal problems surrounding his kid. He hasn't seen his son in more than a year. Rader said that he isn't going to take the cash, but O'Neil isn't taking no for an answer.

Rematch of the week: Davis beat O'Neil in their first bout, so they are fighting with good knowledge of each other.

Quarterfinal: Zach Davis (Team dos Santos) vs. Chuck O'Neil (Team Lesnar)

Round one: The two started by throwing every strike in the book at each other until Davis dives in for a takedown attempt. O'Neil defends it, while Davis throws knee after knee. Davis tries to drop to a single leg to get O'Neil to the ground, but O'Neil lands strike after strike on Davis' face that opens a cut under Davis' eye. O'Neil takes over in the final minute, aggressively landing punch after punch while Davis showed little defense. As the round ended, Davis' face was swollen and bleeding, and O'Neil looked fresh and ready for more.

Round two: O'Neil knocks Davis to the ground with a quick leg kick, but as soon as he's in Davis' guard, Lesnar order O'Neil to stand up. Back on their feet, Davis still seems desperate to bring the fight to the ground. No matter what he does, he can't get the fight to the ground. After referee Steve Mazzagatti breaks the two apart, O'Neil stays aggressive. Davis tries another takedown attempt that makes Lesnar say, "That's weak!" For once, I agree with Brock.

O'Neil takes the fight in two rounds, and thoroughly impressed Dana White.

More bad news of the day: The loss was only the first blow to Davis. He tore the retinas in both of his eyes, and now is told that he can't ever fight again. He is clearly heartbroken, mentioning that his career has to end just when it was getting good.

Quarterfinal: Ryan McGillivray (Team dos Santos) vs. Tony Ferguson (Team Lesnar)

Round one: Early in the round, Ferguson caught McGillivray with a uppercut and then added a straight right. McGillivray staggered backwards, and then fell to the ground. Ferguson jumped on top quickly, ending the fight and earning himself another $5,000 bonus for a stoppage.

With that, Lesnar has three semifinalists and dos Santos has one. The semifinal match-ups are:

Ramsey Nijem vs. Chris Cope

Chuck O'Neil vs. Tony Ferguson

The fights will air next Wednesday, and decide who will fight in the finale on June 4.

Hijinks of the week: With the quarterfinals finished, the fighters decide to celebrate. That involves tequila, Ramsey stripping on the pool table, and throwing water.  Apparently, throwing water doesn't sit well with Ferguson, because he tackled Charlie Rader into a coffee table after Rader poured water on Ferguson's head. It turned really ugly from there. Ferguson wouldn't shake Rader's hand, then brought Rader's child into the discussion, saying, "Hit me, don't hit your kid!"

Whoa. That's as over-the-line as it gets. Ferguson didn't let up, despite Rader handling himself as well as can be expected. Later, when the rest of the castmates try to get Ferguson to apologize, he again brings Rader's son into the conversation. Rader had to be held back by several fighters, and Ferguson has marked himself as an enemy to the whole house.

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Photo of the Week: It?s Not Easy Being Max Biaggi

With World Superbike coming to Miller Motorsports Park next weekend, many eyes are on reigning champ Max Biaggi. Will Max be able to recover from a rocky season?s start to keep the title in Aprilia?s trophy case? Or will a charging Carlos Checa and upstart Marco Melandri continue to show no respect for Max?s greatness? Since his early days as a fantastic 250cc two-stroke rider, Max has had his share of disrespectful rivals. Last year ...

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