UFC 134: Ranking the 5 Best Fighters on the Undercard

Before UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva and Yushin Okami square off on the main card of UFC 134, seven undercard bouts will be broadcast and available for free on Facebook and Spike TV.

Two bouts will be shown on Spike TV starting at 8 p.m. ET, including Rousimar Palhares vs. Dan Miller and Thiago Tavares vs. Spencer Fisher.

The Facebook bouts include Yves Jabouin vs. Ian Loveland, Yuri Alcantara vs. Felipe Arantes, Erick Silva vs. Luis Ramos, Raphael Assuncao vs. Johnny Eduardo and Paulo Thiago vs. David Mitchell. They begin at 6 p.m. ET.

Nine Brazilian fighters will fight on the undercard in the first UFC event in Brazil since 1998. The bouts will take place at the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro.

These are the top five fighters who will be fighting on the undercard.

No. 5: Thiago Tavares

Thiago Tavares comes into his bout with Spencer Fisher on the end of a brutal knockout loss against Shane Roller from earlier this year.

He has a 15-4 record with three of those four losses earning him Fight of the Night bonuses in the UFC. They were against Tyson Griffin, Matt Wiman and Kurt Pellegrino. Overall, he has five victories in the Octagon.

This is a must-win fight for Tavares, who is a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt. He will need to look for a dominant victory to stay relevant in the lightweight division.

No. 4: Dan Miller

Dan Miller has made a name for himself in the UFC by fighting the best, but hasn't had the best success beating the best. He and his brother, Jim, are two of the toughest fighters in their respective divisions.

Losses against Michael Bisping, Nate Marquardt, Demian Maia and Chael Sonnen set him back, but they are the best of the best when it comes to the middleweight division.

Despite having five losses against solid opposition, Miller has never been finished. All of his losses are by decision.

He takes on a leg-lock expert in Rousimar Palhares in the second Spike TV bout.

No. 3: Yuri Alcantara

Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt Yuri Alcantara is 24-3 in MMA with 12 victories by submission and 10 by knockout.

He went 1-0 in the WEC before signing with the UFC to take on Felipe Arantes in his first featherweight bout. His lone WEC victory was against Ricardo Lamas, who he knocked out in the first round at WEC 53.

In 2010, Alcantara won the inaugural Jungle Fight Lightweight Championship by defeating Manuelo Morales with a front kick to the body.

He has finished 10 of his last 11 opponents.

No. 2: Paulo Thiago

Paulo Thiago is currently on a two-fight losing streak with losses to Diego Sanchez and Martin Kampmann. It was a considerable setback for the Brazilian and BOPE member, but he returns this Saturday to take on David Mitchell in the fifth Facebook bout.

Thiago is 3-3 in the UFC with victories over Josh Koscheck, Mike Swick and Jacob Volkmann. He had two spectacular finishes against Koscheck, who he knocked out at UFC 95, and Swick, who he submitted with a D'Arce choke at UFC 109.

Of his six bouts, he has earned three bonuses, including a Fight of the Night, Submission of the Night and Knockout of the Night bonus.

No. 1: Rousimar Palhares

Rousimar "Toquinho" Palhares is 12-3 in MMA with a 5-2 record inside the Octagon. His victories include wins over Jeremy Horn, Dave Branch, Tomasz Drwal, Ivan Salaverry and Lucio Linhares.

Known for his leg-locks and heel hooks, Palhares has submitted five of his opponents via limb-breaking submissions. His nickname stands for tree stump, and he has the power of one.

At 5'8" and 185 pounds, Palhares is considered by many to be the strongest fighter in the division.

He takes on a tough fighter in Dan Miller to end the Spike TV card, and it gives him the chance to make a statement in the middleweight division if he can finish a fighter who has never been stopped before.