UFC 160: Octagon Warriors Who Will Become Household Names

On Saturday night at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, a few fighters will use the spotlight provided by UFC 160 to smash their way into the forefront of MMA fans' minds.

While these fighters' previous exploits may have already garnered respect from the hardcore fans, Saturday night's pay-per-view event will take them to the next level.

Be sure to check out the performances of these three men.

"King" K.J Noons

You don't have to win to become a household name. Gray "The Bully" Maynard—who is also in action on Saturday vs. T.J Grant—is forever ingrained in the minds of MMA fans because of two bouts with Frankie Edgar.

The Bully didn't win either of those fights, but the way he fought and pushed Edgar established his reputation with the sport's faithful.

Noons—who is making his UFC debut—is the same type of fighter. This tweet from Noons proves warriors recognize their own:

You won't catch King K.J going for many—if any—submissions. The Strikeforce veteran comes to the Octagon to bang and his UFC 160 matchup with "Cowboy" Donald Cerrone could end explosively.

Cerrone is the more established UFC commodity and has faced a stiffer list of competition.

I picked him to win the bout, but that isn't to say Noons doesn't have an excellent chance to stop the Cowboy. Both men are excellent strikers who never seem to shy away from toe-to-toe battles.

Their chins give them the confidence to fire away in close quarters. Cerrone was stopped for the first time in his last bout with Anthony "Showtime" Pettis. A simply spectacular kick to the mid-section crumpled the Cowboy.

Noons has been stopped only once as well and that came in 2007. Needless to say, he has improved since then.

Cerrone's and Noons' styles will make for an action-packed bout. The battle will reaffirm Cerrone's reputation with UFC fans and establish Noons as a must-see fighter.

Nah-Shon "Rock N Rolla" Burrell

Cool nicknames are important and the Rock N Rolla certainly has one. He also has exciting striking ability which is important if anyone is to care about the alias.

He will battle Stephen Thompson as part of the Facebook preliminaries for UFC 160.

Burrell made his successful UFC debut at UFC 157 by defeating Yuri Villefort via decision. However, you haven't seen him at his best unless you've seen him win by KO.

Per UFC's official Twitter account, boxing legend and Father Time's fiercest competitor Bernard Hopkins gives Burrell a ringing endorsement.

His defeat of Lukas Les at Strikeforce Challengers 18 was his best work. As he makes his second appearance in a featured event, Burrell should be more comfortable.

Expect to see him take a few chances and really let his hands, knees and feet fly. As Burrell tweets here, he is hungry for another fight night bonus—and I strongly doubt he's targeting Submission of the Night.

Khabib "The Eagle" Nurmagomedov

Making Nurmagomedov's name roll off the tongue will take some practice, even if he is impressive on Saturday night.

Nurmagomedov's 19-0 record is beginning to force fans to brush up on their pronunciation of the young Russian's surname.

The Eagle will be facing a very tough and explosive Abel "Killa" Trujillo during the FX preliminaries. Trujillo is 10-4, stoutly built and extremely aggressive.

There is no doubt he represents the most dangerous foe the Eagle has faced in his career. This scuffle at the weigh-in proved he isn't intimidated.

The challenge will only cause Nurmagomedov to elevate his game. He'll show the sound submission techniques that UFC fans have only seen once: in the 24-year-old's UFC debut.

At UFC on FX in Jan. 2012, Nurmagomedov made Kamol Shalorus tap out from a rear-naked choke. Since then, he has shown the ability to win by decision and by KO.

Expect to see him come full circle on Saturday night. He will tap out the rugged Trujillo in a manner that will grab almost as much attention as his then 20-0 record will.

Be on the lookout for an expertly performed triangle choke.

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