A new phrase – money fight – has entered the mixed martial arts lexicon in the last few months. Most of those who use the phrase do so with disdain.

What, you may ask, is a money fight? Well, it’s a bout in which the rankings are largely ignored and deserving contenders are bypassed in favor of ones which feature popular fighters. Think Conor McGregor-Floyd Mayweather or Michael Bisping-Georges St-Pierre.

The UFC is considering allowing McGregor, its lightweight champion, to compete in a boxing match against Mayweather, the greatest boxer of his era, because of how much money the event would generate. If the bout is made, and there is no guarantee that it will be, it’s expected to sell more than three million on pay-per-view.

Only one fight, the May 2, 2015, boxing match between Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao, sold more. That match sold a staggering 4.6 million on pay-per-view.

The UFC matched Bisping and St-Pierre for the middleweight title, instead of giving No. 1 contender Yoel Romero his clearly deserved shot at the belt, precisely because of the business it will do.

St-Pierre was one of the biggest stars in the sport before walking away in 2013. He regularly put on some of the most lucrative matches in the UFC during his heyday. When he chose to return, the UFC bypassed Romero and gave St-Pierre the match against Bisping.

In his last three fights, Romero has beaten Lyoto Machida, Jacare Souza and Chris Weidman, and he would be favored to defeat Bisping. St-Pierre has never competed as a middleweight. But, he’s fighting for the title and Romero is not.

View photos UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping (L) will fight Georges St-Pierre (R) instead of No. 1 contender Yoel Romero. (Getty) More

Romero speaks little English, hasn’t shown he’s able to sell tickets or pay-per-views and few outside of MMA’s hardcore fan base could identify him in a lineup. St-Pierre, by contrast, is a massive draw who, like McGregor and former women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey, has crossed over into the mainstream.

This isn’t really a new phenomenon.

Dana White’s answer to the question, “What is your primary job?” hasn’t changed from that January day in 2001 when he and partners Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta purchased the UFC from Semaphore Entertainment Group.

The UFC president’s primary job, he’d have told you in 2001, 2010, 2015 or today, is to make the fights the fans want to see.

It’s why he flew around the world, once traveling to an island off the coast of South America, to discuss making a fight between Fedor Emelianenko and Brock Lesnar in the UFC.

The fights the fans want to see are the ones that sell the most tickets and the most pay-per-views. Not only doesn’t there seem to be anything wrong with that thought, it makes a lot of business sense.

But the issue that is troubling many of the fighters who aren’t of the favored nation status, as well as the sport’s most passionate fans, is that it decreases the importance of in-the-cage results and shifts it more to marquee value and name recognition.

It’s why Demian Maia can win six in a row, defeat highly regarded opponents like Carlos Condit, Matt Brown, Gunnar Nelson and Neil Magny and still be nowhere near a title shot.

Maia will face Jorge Masvidal at UFC 211 and hasn’t been guaranteed a title shot even if he wins that match.

And it’s also why former middleweight champion Luke Rockhold discussed fighting heavyweight Fabricio Werdum on “The MMA Hour” on Monday.

Rockhold fights at 185 pounds; Werdum fights at around 240. The middleweight division is loaded with elite contenders and interesting fights for Rockhold.

But he couldn’t secure a rubber match with Bisping, or even a fight with Souza, Romero or Weidman, so he called out Werdum.

“It’s chaos, isn’t it?” Rockhold said of his division Wednesday on “UFC Tonight” on Fox Sports 1. “I think they’re running down a slippery slope. Things could get out of hand. You never know what they’re going to do. Georges isn’t going to fight anybody at the top of the division if he wins this fight. Bisping could potentially be in the same boat. I’m bummed they took this route. It’s kind of taking away from the sport. The heart of the sport is about the top guys fighting each other. This isn’t WWE. This is fighting. It’s what it’s all about. When they make moves like this, it makes you question a lot of things.”

Story continues