UFC 100 Preview: Two Titles on the Line and Akiyama Makes His UFC Debut

UFC 100 is this Saturday night in Las Vegas at the Mandalay Bay Events Center. Fans watching it live will be able to watch 11 fights.  Five of the fights are scheduled on the main card of the pay-per-view, and two of the fights will be for the title.

The main event is a rematch between Frank Mir and Brock Lesnar for the UFC Heavyweight Title. Lesnar, the current champion, lost in his UFC debut to Mir by knee bar. Lesnar was dominating the match until he got caught in the submission.

These two fighters have been talking a lot of trash and they don't seem to like each other. Lesnar has stated that he will not get caught in a knee bar this time, and Mir has ridiculed Lesnar for not knowing the technical aspects of MMA.

The co-main event is between Thiago Alves and Georges St-Pierre for the UFC Welterweight Title. The challenger—Alves—is on a seven—fight winning streak after losing to Jon Fitch in June of 2006.

His last win was against Josh Koscheck at UFC 90. St-Pierre is coming off a big victory over B.J. Penn at UFC 94.

Alves has knockout power and St-Pierre should try to take this fight to the ground. Alves is one of the strongest and biggest welterweights around, and it will not be an easy task to take him down.

Both title fights are scheduled for five rounds, but I don't see either fight going the distance.

International MMA superstar Yoshihiro Akiyama will make his UFC debut against Alan Belcher in another match on the main card. This will be a tough test for Akiyama as Belcher is no slouch. Fans in Asia will be very interested in this fight.

In a grudge match, Dan Henderson will oppose Michael Bisping. Bisping and Henderson were coaches in the lastest season of The Ultimate Fighter.

I did not see a single episode of the show, but I heard that these two fighters did not get along at all during the filming of the show. These two bitter rivals will finally get to meet in the center of the Octagon on Saturday night and settle their differences.

Jon Fitch will be back on pay-per-view when he takes on Paulo Thiago. Thiago is undefeated (11-0), but Fitch might be his toughest opponent yet. Fitch will be looking for revenge as Thiago won by TKO over Fitch's teammate Josh Koscheck at the American Kickboxing Academy, earlier this year.

I am hoping that a lot of the fights don't go to a decision, so we can watch some of the prelim fights. Exciting fighters such as Jon Jones and Dong Hyun Kim are on the under card, as well as a fight between Stephan Bonner and Mark Coleman.

Fans who want to watch the prelim fights must order the UFC 100 event online at ufc.com by Friday. You can watch the prelims right after the UFC 100 pay—per—view is over. It won't be as good as watching the fights live, but this is the only alternative the fans have.

UFC 100 looks great on paper and I hope the fights won't disappoint.