UFC 126, Fedor's Return, and Penn vs. Fitch on February's MMA Must-See Schedule

Four is the magical number, since for the fourth straight month, the MMA world has four events to look forward to, highlighted by a triple-threat of intriguing UFC fights this Saturday to truly kick off Super Bowl weekend.

Between that, the return of Fedor and one of the most intriguing 170-pound main events in quite some time, the shortest month of the year will be long on great MMA action.

Saturday, February 5

UFC 126
Las Vegas, NV - PPV

There's already a nice buzz building for UFC 126, which is what happens when you have three strong fights on top.

Headlined by UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva vs. Vitor Belfort (finally!), with Rich Franklin vs. Forrest Griffin and Jon Jones vs. Ryan Bader providing support, this is going to be a great event that should do good numbers on PPV.

Personally, I'm really excited for Griffin/Franklin, as the winner is going to elevate themselves in the still-rebuilding 205-pound division and Jones/Bader obviously has some important ramifications as well. The light heavyweights need some love and this Super Bowl show will hopefully begin the healing process.

If that wasn't enough, Miguel Torres, Chad Mendes, Donald Cerrone and the debut of Kid Yamamoto all punctuate an awesome undercard—a big reason why the event is already sold out.


Saturday, February 12

Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Silva
East Rutherford, New Jersey - Showtime

One week later, the tournament that will hopefully be a highlight of 2011 for Strikeforce kicks off with the much-anticipated return of Fedor Emelianenko against Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva and relative mainstream unknown Sergei Kharitonov vs. Andrei Arlovski.

The heavyweight Grand Prix is something that is going into full-press mode for the promotion's Q1 and Q2 plans and Strikeforce is counting on it to fuel a great rest of the year for their heavyweight division.

There has been plenty of criticism of the company for their brackets, but given what they are trying to do, they make sense. Just be happy the fights are booked and there's backup fights in place in case of injury.

This particular event is all heavyweights and features prospect Shane Del Rosario vs. Lavar Johnson in a fight that will fly under the radar, but really shouldn't.

Friday, February 18

Strikeforce Challengers 14
Cedar Park, Texas - Showtime

Strikeforce continues with their two-a-month events, putting on their 14th edition of the Challengers series in Cedar Park, Texas, headlined by Lyle Beerbohm vs. Pat Healy.

Ryan Couture returns in the co-main event position, but that's about it in terms of name value. I get what they are trying to accomplish, but I'd rather see the promotion put these fights on the undercards of their bigger shows and use the footage to create longer televised shows or must-see web content.

Then again, maybe people need to see David Douglass vs. Nick Gonzalez live.


Saturday, February 27

UFC 127
Sydney, Australia - PPV

The UFC returns with their second PPV of the month with a considerably weaker lineup, headlined by BJ Penn vs. Jon Fitch in an uber-important bout for both guy's career.

One thing we know: it will be a sold-out Acer Arena in Sydney, Australia. They will go nuts for countryman Georges Sotiropolous vs. Dennis Siver, but how will they react to Michael Bisping vs. Jorge Rivera or Carlos Condit vs. Chris Lytle?

Prepare for the Dana White rant against critics of cards before they happen. There will be a lot of complaints about this one, but it could turn out ok if the undercard talent goes above and beyond.

Josh Nason is a New England-based freelance MMA journalist that covers live events, contributes to FIGHT! Magazine and frequently does radio/podcast appearances. He asks for your "like" for ESPN Boston to cover MMA. Follow him on Twitter.