Five UFC Battles That Scream Fight of the Night

UFC matchmaker Joe Silva does his best to make every fight both relevant and entertaining.

However some fights just need to be done, based on the entertainment value alone. While it seems that on most UFC events that the Lightweight division is always the front-runner for FOTN bonuses, (unless Gray Maynard is involved) there is at least one fight in every weight class that guarantees fireworks.

I love no.1 contender's fights and I'm the first to complain about undeserving fighters getting title shots, (see Silva vs Maia).

But I also get excited when I know a fight has the potential to be a war, no matter who's involved. Here are five fights (one in each weight class) that fans should be drooling over.

Lightweight: Clay Guida vs George Sotiropoulos

A classic Grappler vs Wrestler match-up, made intriguing by both Guida's energizer bunny approach to fighting and George's slick boxing and rubber guard.
Sotiropoulos’ crisp jab and good head movement would pick Guida’s wild striking attack apart, and Guida would have to take the fight to the ground early.

That's where it gets interesting. While George has shown off great ju jitsu skills in his recent fights against Joe Stevenson and Kurt Pelligrino, it's hard to imagine him being able to contain Guida for very long. Wild transitions on the mat would come in abundance.

Welterweight: Dan Hardy vs Paulo Thiago

Two fighters who like to stand and bang!

Hardy's striking is the most technical in the division, (yes, including GSP) but Paulo has the power in his hands to floor anyone.

Both fighters were dominated in their last fights by being taken down and getting beaten up from there, but I highly doubt that either of these two would be thinking takedown.

It's hard to imagine this one making it to the judges scorecards, but as long as it made it out of the first round, I think it wins both men a decent bonus check.

Middleweight: Wanderlei Silva vs Chris Leben

Leben asked for it, and I think the fans deserve it.
Wanderlei is one of the true legends of the sport, and has never put on a boring fight due to his knockout or be knocked out mentality.

Leben has had a fairly up and down career, but has finally turned himself into a contender at 185.
Both men have no problem staying inside and throwing wild, looping punches and as long as Wanderlei's chin can take a few hard shots, this should be a three round slugfest.

Light Heavyweight: Rich Franklin vs Forrest Griffin

Two fighters who are both well respected former champions, Franklin and Griffin seemed destined to meet at some point.

Neither fighter has ever been known for their knockout power, which should serve both men well due to their respective abilities (or lack there of) to take a punch.

Both men are in a similar place in the LHW division, coming off wins against highly regarded, yet past their prime veterans Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz.
The fight has the potential to be a classic stand up battle, and a good name for the winner to put on his resume.

Heavyweight: Cain Velasquez vs Junior dos Santos

The two brightest young fighters in the UFC's heavyweight division have had fans calling for this match up for months.

Velasquez has three straight wins over high caliber fighters Cheick Kongo, Ben Rothwell and Antonio "Minotauro" Nogueria, while dos Santos has his own five fight winning streak going, with names like Werdum, Gonzaga and Cro Cop already on his resume.
Both men have knocked out notoriously hard fighters to finish in Nogueria and Cro Cop, yet Cain has also shown his ground game is top notch.

However, dos Santos trains under the Nogueria brothers and both have said his BJJ is on a very high level.
This fight is going to be begged for by UFC fans until they get it, and if both win their next fights, it will be for the UFC Heavyweight title.