Five Rounds: Chael Sonnen discusses Greg Hardy, Conor McGregor and more

— -- Each week, ESPN.com writer Brett Okamoto provides his take on the hottest topics in the world of mixed martial arts.

This week, Okamoto squares off with former UFC title contender and recently signed Bellator MMA fighter Chael Sonnen to debate the latest news and trends.?

1.? Former NFL defensive end Greg Hardy has announced he will pursue a career in mixed martial arts. How much should MMA fans care about this?

Sonnen:?They should absolutely care. One, it's attention. We always like that. But two, when you're talking about that size of a guy, the level of athlete does matter. If a guy is big and a good athlete, he can pick this sport up fast. He couldn't do that in wrestling. He also couldn't pick up boxing. But when you throw it all together -- you know, Floyd Mayweather's comment on this was a big insult to us. Even though it was an insult and we all resisted it -- guys could do this sport quickly but can't do that with boxing because boxing is more of a science. As much as he meant it as an insult, he was still right. You can learn this really, really quick. MMA is different. It's a lot more wide open in terms of the rules. Most big guys that level -- the elite athlete -- they usually go into other sports. They go into the NFL and NBA. If you took one of those guys and he was really in it, yeah, we're interested. Is he going to be a champion? No. But yeah, that interests me.

Okamoto: Whether you care about it or not, it's probably going to be hard to ignore it -- which is a little unjust in a lot of ways. If you look at Hardy's history, this move seems, at least on the surface, to be more about a lack of opportunities in football than it does a real change in passion to MMA. It's hard not to view this as a money grab on his part. And whether that is a nice perk about MMA or a liability, money grabs can be had if you're bringing the right name value. I guess I don't like the idea of someone coming into this sport, perhaps getting a preferable matchup and getting paid well when he essentially ran himself out of the NFL. But I also agree with Chael in that, if he is serious about it, there's a halfway decent shot he'll look respectable pretty quick.

2.? Conor McGregor was fined $150,000 for his actions during a UFC 202 news conference in August, throwing water bottles at Nate Diaz. Is this penalty just or unjust ?