Don't worry, Stemm, you can keep expecting those residual checks.

Tonight (Feb. 4, 2012) at UFC 143: "Diaz vs. Condit," the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) unveiled a brand new introduction for its pay-per-view (PPV) events. The video package which cost -- according to Dana White -- an obscene amount of money to produce was scored by Academy Award-winning composer Hans Zimmer.

Coincidentally enough, Zimmer also scored the Russell Crowe tour de force "Gladiator." It seems the UFC couldn't stray too far from its roots.

So the music was top notch, that much is certain. So what about the accompanying video? It was fantastic. Some of the greatest moments in the promotion's history -- Royce Gracie choking out Ken Shamrock, Matt Hughes slamming Frank Trigg and Anderson Silva kicking Vitor Belfort unconscious are just a few -- are set against a CGI Octagon background while an arena begins to form around it. The huge screens above the cage also show snippets of UFC history until the very end when images of Nick Diaz and Carlos Condit appear. This will presumably change from event to event.

But, "Face the Pain" makes the cut, as well as the "fighter against a black background pre-fight trash talk" montage of main and co-main eventers.

Baby steps, fight fans, baby steps.