Notice something very different last night (Feb. 4, 2012) with the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) intro video?

Unless you've been living under a rock, then the absence of the now-infamous (or is it posthumous?) UFC gladiator that kicked off pay-per-view (PPV) broadcasts did not come as much of a shock. Indeed, the mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion cut him after several years of loyal service, replacing the ancient Roman with a slick new, historically-inspired 60-second vignette.

One that UFC President Dana White said cost an "obscene amount of money" to make thanks in large part one would imagine for having super-composer Hans Zimmer score it, among other things. It was apparently worth every red cent, at least according to our very own Sergio Hernandez, who called it a "big step up:"

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.

The follow-up "Face the Pain" music notwithstanding, were you a fan of the new opening or were you expecting, naturally, something better/different?

Big thanks to IronForgesIron.com for the video.