UFC 131 Fight Card: The 7 Important Questions to Be Answered on Saturday Night

UFC 131 was originally the event in which former UFC heavyweight Brock Lesnar was to make his return against Brazilian slugger Junior Dos Santos. However, a second bout of the intestinal disease diverticulitis made other plans for the former NCAA Division-I champion and he was forced off the card.

His replacement was the heavy-handed former UFC interim heavyweight champion Shane Carwin. This fight has garnered significant attention from MMA fans and is in fact seen as a more legitimate contest (since many doubted and continue to doubt Lesnar's abilities after his fight with current UFC champion Cain Velasquez).

This "storyline" has dominated most of the fanfare concerning UFC 131 but the truth of the matter is that, while the main event is one of the important questions, there are other equally important questions that will be answered on Saturday night.

What are those questions? Read and find out!

Aaron Rosa: Can Crusher or Possible Contender?

Aaron Rosa vs. Joey Beltran is scheduled to be the second fight of the evening. Even though it's on the preliminaries, it promises to be one of the most entertaining fights of the night since both men are known to engage in crowd-pleasing slugfests.

While Beltran is a fan favorite and all-around nice guy, his record isn't the greatest and he is in a life-or-death situation at UFC 131.

Upon first glance, Aaron Rosa seems like a real contender because of his 16-3 record but in reality many of those wins are over spotty competition at best.

Record aside, if Rosa manages to crush Beltran Saturday night he may be on the fast road to becoming a possible contender in a thin heavyweight division.

Is Chris Weidman the Future at Middleweight?

Chris Weidman has long been touted as one of the top prospects in the world at middleweight. He managed to defeat a far more experienced competitor in Alessio Sakara back in March; it was only is fifth professional fight.

Weidman is now slated to face Canadian standout Jesse Bongfeldt as the opener for the Spike TV prelims at UFC 131.

This fight will show what Weidman is fully capable of since he has had a proper training camp—he took the Sakara fight on two weeks' notice—and will no doubt be ready to go.

Will Wrestling "Disappoint" Again?

Two very significant matches on Saturday's fight card feature a fighter with a wrestling background. These fights are the main event, Shane Carwin vs. Junior Dos Santos, and Mark Muñoz vs. Demian Maia; Carwin and Muñoz are the wrestlers.

It is possible (however unlikely due to the fighting styles of the wrestlers in question) that Carwin and Muñoz use their superior wrestling ability to grind out a lackluster win against their respective opponents.

Many fans would likely have an issue with this since many—including former UFC heavyweight champion Bas Rutten—recently accused Clay Guida of using his wrestling to grind out a boring decision win.

Will Carwin and Muñoz do this to Dos Santos and Maia respectively? Only time will tell but this is perhaps part of a more important question which is...

Will UFC 131 Break the Apparent Trend of "Boring" Events?

MMA fans complained about UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre's victory of Jake Shields, they complained about Quinton "Rampage" Jackson's victory over Matt Hamill (as well as the entire UFC 130 card), and they complained about the Ultimate Fighter 13 Finale (specifically the Clay Guida-Anthony Pettis fight).

Will UFC 131 finally be the event that gives fickle fans nothing to complain about? We will know after the smoke clears on Saturday night.

How Will the UFC's First Youtube Preliminaries Perform?

UFC 131 marks the first time the UFC has put its preliminary fights—most recently on Spike TV and Facebook—on Internet video behemoth Youtube.

This demonstrates the UFC's commitment to its foray into new media and the results will be interesting to see.

How many views will it generate? What will these mean for the sport and for the UFC? These questions are perhaps the two most important surrounding UFC 131 but will almost definitely receive almost no attention after the event is over.

Is "Shane Carwin 2.0" Still Good Enough to Beat Junior Dos Santos?

Since losing to Brock Lesnar at UFC 116, Shane Carwin has made numerous changes to his diet and his weight.

One only needs to look at Carwin to notice that he has slimmed down and looks much more fit. Many are calling this incarnation of Carwin "Shane Carwin 2.0."

However, will this really be enough to contend with Junior Dos Santos? Is this "Shane Carwin 2.0" Business really enough to bring  Dos Santos to his knees or is it just clever marketing?

Who Is the Hardest Heavyweight Hitter?

Shane Carwin and Junior Dos Santos are considered to the most powerful strikers in the UFC heavyweight division. Saturday night's main event will determine which of the two men is the most powerful striker in the UFC heavyweight division.

In addition, it will also determine who faces current heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez next.

Thus the seven most important questions going into UFC 131 have been asked. Although some are more important than others, they all have their place in the grand scheme of MMA making UFC 131 an important event in the long history of MMA that is to come.

Stay tuned to Bleacher Report for all things UFC 131, including the latest UFC 131 results, UFC 131 fight card analysis and ongoing UFC 131 news and reaction from Vancouver.