That much is evident when fighters who are known as pioneers of the game are still climbing into cages and winning fights convincingly. That occurred on Thursday, when 40-year-old Pat Miletich won his first altercation in more than two years, teaching a lesson to Thomas Denny with a second-round knockout at Adrenaline II.

Babe Ruth won’t be stepping to the plate anytime soon and launching one of his moonshots. He has been dead for 60 years.

On the other hand, Miletich – a former UFC champion at 170 pounds who has fought a total of three times in the past six years while turning his attention to training – is a living-color example of how far the sport has come in a period of time that can only be thought of as a jolting cup of coffee.

That cup might just runneth over from here on out.

During the same week that Miletich kept alive another link to its infancy, we got a strong glimpse at the thriving health of this still-burgeoning enterprise – thanks to the UFC’s hematoma-producing, leg-breaking “Fight for the Troops” on Wednesday night, followed by the latest “Ultimate Fighter Finale” on Saturday.

Several online articles have dissected the year in MMA, which has already been the most profitable in its brief history even without including income from one final star-studded event (UFC 92 on Dec. 27) that’s sure to delight.

Brock Lesnar should get a pat on his billboard-sized back for the assistance he provided in 2008. People swarmed to buy the three pay-per view events that featured the ex-WWE bad guy and former NCAA wrestling champ. The neophyte with XXXL hands went 2-1 and unceremoniously snatched the UFC heavyweight belt from Randy Couture, a fighter who at age 45 has more in common with Miletich, for example, than he does with a rising star like lightweight Nate Diaz.

The (thankfully) meteoric rise and fall of Kevin Ferguson could be seen as helpful, too, though we shouldn’t spend much time (is 14 seconds enough?) stroking his unkempt goatee and instead should probably give the props to Pink-haired Petruzelli for exiling the ridiculous “Kimbo Slice” myth on national TV.

With all of those fresh fans falling in line this year, an even larger explosion of popularity figures to take place in the near future.

It may well start with the Jan. 31 mega fight that headlines UFC 94: Georges St. Pierre vs. B.J. Penn II. Two of the top five fighters on Earth will clash, one looking to get even and become a double weight-class champion, the other looking to extend his legacy by dismissing a fellow stalwart with class.