The UFC 135 Fight Card and 20 Reasons Why MMA Addicts Will Love This Week

If you haven't noticed yet, UFC 135 is not the only big card this week in the MMA World.

That may come as a surprise to anyone who is so accustomed to seeing the UFC brand of MMA all over the world with no hint at other forms of MMA existing, but for those of you who recognize MMA life forms outside of the UFC, you might actually come to love this week.

Sure, it's Zuffa and FEG this week, but that should fuel the week up for fans that can't wait for great MMA action before Jon Jones and Quinton "Rampage" Jackson take center stage in Denver.

Need a reason to care about the MMA that exists before UFC 135?

I have your hook up. 

20. TUF 14

TUF 14 just might be everything we all wish TUF 13 was.

You have two coaches that talk trash, exciting fights, Dana White's claim that the elimination round to get into the house is the best in TUF history and, of course, the one thing that no TUF season exists without, which is a feud between housemates.

It also doesn't hurt that, much like the movie Warrior (which I haven't seen, by the way), you officially have the brother vs. brother potential when two brothers fight on the show.

The show begins tonight, and I don't believe the show's ratings will rely heavily on the fights.

With the flaring tempers of Michael Bisping and Jason Miller, this could be the most heated season in recent years.

How heated could it be?

Put it this way: This could make season 10 look like season two in terms of how much Bisping wants to kill Miller and vice versa.

19 & 18. Titan FC 20

For those of you wondering why you should even care that the name Titan FC exists, here you go.

The card is a simple card with Jamie Varner and Brett Rogers being the biggest names on the card, but to say they are the only names worth watching is an insult to the others on the card.

While it's unknown if the other young fighters will ever reach elite status, we will be looking at the future of the sport when all of us who have HDNet watch Titan FC this weekend.

For those of you wondering about the Varner fight and the Rogers fight anyway, you can read on.

19. Brett Rogers vs. Eddie Sanchez

Brett Rogers is used to fighting guys like Eddie Sanchez—good enough to be considered a threat and tough enough to be considered a legitimate challenge, but not on the level as some of the names Rogers' moniker has been seen in comparison and contrast to.

In other words, Sanchez will give Rogers a difficult fight, but very few will angrily tweet Dana White about getting Rogers back with a KO win over the UFC and one-time Bellator veteran.

However, the road back to the UFC doesn't necessarily require a win over anyone that is ranked—just a win over someone worth mentioning in print will suffice. And besides, Rogers' current skid is enough to say that Rogers just needs a win.

18. Jamie Varner vs. Alonzo Martinez

Alonzo Martinez—he's a name most fans don't know unless they fancy UFC veterans that never quite broke through.

Jamie Varner—he's a name most fans don't know unless it sank in that WEC events often saved the MMA life of fight fans whenever UFC and Strikeforce events sucked.

Put Martinez in with Varner, who pulls double duty this season as he headlines an XFC event also, and what you have is a potentially entertaining fight for fans of MMA supershows (the name I choose to call regional and local shows).

17-11. DREAM 17's Bantamweight Grand Prix Fight Card

I was salivating to get to this part because it will complete an MMA trifecta: It airs the same day as UFC 135 and the Bellator 51 fight card.

If you're too addicted to fights to care about anything else this weekend, this card might be your forte.

17. Dream Bantamweight GP Part 1: Rodolfo Marques vs. Yusup Saadulaev

Ah, Bantamweights.

They seem to never want to stop, even when they visibly slow down and get tired. Fans of such exciting fighters might want to tune in when prospects Yusup Saadulaev and Rodolfo Marques tangle in the Dream Bantamweight Grand Prix quarterfinals.

All we can say from the get go is that Marques is a Nova Uniao prospect with only a loss to Luis Nogueira to his credit, and he gets an undefeated prospect in Saadulaev, who has not been seen much by mainstream MMA fans.

However, it will be an intriguing affair to see what both men are capable of when DREAM Bantamweight gold is up for grabs.

16. Dream Bantamweight GP Part 2: Masakazu Imanari vs. Abel Cullum

Masakazu Imanari vs. Abel Cullum should be the toughest challenge for "Ashikan Judan" Imanari—the master of the leglock—to date in MMA.

While famed for having 1,001-plus ways (figuratively) to trap a leg and wreck it, Abel Cullum is a young 18-5 fighter who is only 24 years of age and has already held a technical Bantamweight title.

Mind you, the 135-pound title of King Of The Cage is recognized as the Flyweight title, but for the purposes of this slideshow, we'll just call him a 135er.

Besides, the man has shown advanced-level submission defense and submission offense in the past, so don't count the American out against Imanari. But of course, don't bet on not seeing Imanari go for the move that brought him to the dance.

15. Dream Bantamweight GP Part 3: Bibiano Fernandes vs. Takafumi Otuska

Bibiano Fernandes vs. Takafumi Otuska...

For this one, let's just say Hiroyuki Takaya is not the only Japanese MMA fighter to have a past with "The Flash."

In 2009, Fernandes took Otsuka to a unanimous decision in the DREAM Featherweight GP, and ironically, both are looking to be the man that supports the gold of the DREAM Bantamweight class.

Otsuka is a top name, and he is 8-6-1 against "Big 15" names, but who among those 15 names could make him tap in an eighth of a heartbeat like Fernandes could?

For those who haven't figured it out, there is a reason why Bibiano Fernandes is called "The Flash."

14. Dream Bantamweight GP Part 4: Antonio Banuelos vs. Hideo Tokoro

Antonio Banuelos is back, folks.

For UFC/WEC fans, that's good news.

The downside is that he draws veteran Hideo Tokoro, who has seen it all in his day.

Banuelos should have no problems on paper with Tokoro, but the Japanese sensation, a 30-23-1 pro who has been everywhere except Bellator and the UFC, will not simply lay down for the WEC vet.

Bet your bottom dollar that Banuelos will be tested greatly against one of the sport's more underrated Bantamweights right now in what is a taste of what Banuelos can expect in this Grand Prix.

13. Tatsuya Kawajiri vs. Joachim Hansen 2

The Crusher vs. The Hellboy...

When they collided for the Shooto Welterweight title, an inside leg kick nut-checked Kawajiri while intending to simply counter the straight right hand-body shot Kawajiri had thrown.

Fast forward five years, and Kawajiri has dropped to Featherweight—11 pounds down from what he was in Shooto—to rematch Hellboy in what hopefully will not be the same fight.

Bank on this bout being an exciting clash between two experienced fighters who have evolved greatly from what they were in Shooto, but don't expect a nut shot to be what ends the bout this time.

12. Gerald Harris Is Back

Gerald Harris has been on a crazy trail lately.

One minute he was facing Maiquel Falcao and the next he's out of the UFC and in DREAM, opposite Kazuhiro Nakamura.

The question is not, "Has Harris evolved from the infamous Falcao fight?", but rather, "How much has Harris evolved since the Falcao fight?"

11. Japan's Finest and Most Legendary Are on the Card

Sakuraba, Uno, Aoki and even Minowaman.

Caol Uno has Takeshi Inoue, Shinya Aoki gets Rob McCullough, Ikuhisa Minowa is in an open weight bout with Mongolian Baru Harn and the legendary Kazushi Sakuraba is up against young upstart Yan Cabral.

So many questions surround Sakuraba and Uno, as well as Minowa, while only one surrounds Aoki:

Does Saku still have it?

Does Uno still have the same fire he once had?

How will Minowa's time in pro wrestling hinder or help his MMA return?

Most of all...

How much longer until Dana White signs Aoki to some of that BJ Penn money?

10. We Will Learn About Lorenz Larkin at Strikeforce Challengers 19

Light Heavyweight Lorenz Larkin is an up-and-comer who is undefeated by way of defeating 11 opponents, and Nick Rossborough has stepped in for Virgil Zwicker to serve as a test for the undefeated prospect.

Questions do surround how far Larkin can go and what Larkin can do against elite competition, but at the rate Strikeforce is going, there's a question of whether we will get an answer to that question.

Nonetheless, Larkin will thoroughly reintroduce himself to us this Friday night, and hopefully what he tells us will lead to hopes of him getting higher ranked competition.

9. Ryan Couture Will Excite on His Own Merits

Mind you, Ryan is still a work in progress and he will be having to work his tail off before we put him anywhere near the Top 25, where things turn up. However, on his own, Ryan is exciting to watch.

He is a hardworking young man with a bright future, and although he's close to 30 right now, there's no stopping this kid from proving why he deserves to be considered among the many men who will make large enough waves for MMA to see the next generation of Lightweights sooner than later.

8-5. Bellator's Season 5 Bantamweight Tournament

8 Bantamweights, two finalists...and they all want to make one shot count against the Bellator Bantamweight Champion, Zack Makovsky.

Seriously, I should have had you guys at Bantamweight, but for those of you guys who want more...

...you're lucky I'm the nicest guy on B/R, or I'd stomp a mud hole in you, then I'd stomp a mud hole in that mud hole and then I'd walk both of those SOBs dry.

Anyways, I'll touch up on a few points about the 135ers-only tournament, since we're already into the Welterweight tournament, and the natural selection for Hector Lombard's next sacrifice.

8. This Is the Toughest Fight That Joe Warren Is Supposed to Win on Paper

Alexis Vila is an Olympic Bronze Medalist who is a speedy fighter, and of course, it doesn't hurt his chances that, even at the age of 40, he's an undefeated fighter who has torn through most of his competition.

The only problem?

He's been ranked among the best Flyweights in the world, and not one of those guys on his record fought anything like Joe Warren.

Mind you, they probably never won decisions the way Warren has—which is either too convincingly to care or pretty unconvincingly—but Vila has certainly never faced a guy like the current Bellator Featherweight Champion before.

Then again, Patricio Freire, Joe Soto, the legendary Kid Yamamoto and even Bibiano Fernandes aren't guys that bring it the way Vila does.

On paper, Warren is supposed to be too much for Vila to handle on the ground, and it's unlikely that Warren is the one that tries to keep it standing, but how often do MMA fights play out as they would on paper?

Vila might be out of his natural weight here, but that doesn't mean he can't give Warren something to worry about come Saturday.

7. Chase Beebe Is Back, and so Is Marcos Galvao

It's been a while since I've talked about Chase Beebe, but I can say two things about him, aside from him being "the guy that beat Eddie Wineland before Urijah Faber did":

1. He's a nice guy that knows how to put on a show—and when we say he tries to put on a show, we're not saying it just so you'll watch the fight.

2. He will make Marcos Galvao earn a win and vice versa.

Galvao, you will remember, got robbed of a fight with Joe Warren the last time Bellator fans saw him in action, as some felt he did more than Warren to earn the the win.

However, it's all in the past as the brackets for the semifinals are unknown, and thus Galvao has to beat Chase Beebe in order to think about evening the score with Warren.

Of course, finishing the job that Marlon Sandro almost accomplished and bringing home Bellator gold to Nova Uniao at Makovsky's expense hurts no one in itself, but Beebe went through hell to give Rani Yahya hell in what was one of the more underrated title defenses in WEC history, and he definitely was not a standing target for Miguel Torres.

If Beebe does leave this tourney early, you can at least expect that he will make Galvao earn his right to move through to the semifinals, and it damn sure will not be pretty.

6. Ed "Wild" West vs. Luis Nogueira

Luis Nogueira wants the Bellator Bantamweight Belt, but to get it, he has to get by one Ed "Wild" West, which is a feat in itself.

West is a finisher who likes to find 1001-plus ways to submit a man, and against Nogueira, who bears no relation to the Nogueira brothers but does hold a win over fellow Bantamweight tourney entrant Eduardo Dantas, he'll look to exercise his strong grappling.

That said, it will take a strong stand-up arsenal to set up any of that grappling, and against Nogueira, who is a calculated striker, standing up and trading feverishly may not be the best plan to take unless West either works like mad on striking or lands more effective technical shots outside than Nogueira lands effective inside shots.

5. Eduardo Dantas vs. Wilson Reis

We know what Wilson Reis can do because we've seen him put in work at 145, and we know he feels like his skills are better suited for the 135-pound weight class, hence his choice to replace Joe Soto against Eduardo Dantas.

What we don't know is if there's any surefire way for Reis to beat Dantas before we even get a chance to see what the 22-year-old Brazilian can do.

Dantas is a man who has won by the judges four times, earned two finishes by form of KO and he's won four times by submission, and while he has beautiful Jiu-Jitsu form and technique, he prefers to stand.

Now, it's anticipated that Reis does successfully cut the weight and maintain his strengths, but even if Reis looks good and moves around better than Dantas, nothing is stopping Dantas from having a better night than Reis, and for that matter, nothing is stopping Reis from having a better night than Dantas.

Alright, Guys...Here We Go!

You can tell by the video what we're closing this out with...so let's do it!

4. Potential Releases Loom for 3 of the Defeated

The video will probably attract some Nick Diaz negativity, but hopefully some of you will see that there was a time when few could mess with Takanori Gomi.

He was considered one of the best Lightweights in the world for a time, but since he's debuted in the UFC, he has been less than stellar on the rough UFC road.

His bout with Nate Diaz joins the Ricardo Romero-James Te Huna bout and the Takeya Mizugaki-Cole Escovedo bout as UFC 135's "Hot Seat" bouts.

All six aforementioned men need a win in order to stay in the UFC, but only three can get it.

So the question stands for right now: Will Gomi be one of the three that get the win, or will he be one of the three that gets the boot?

3. Returns to Action, Rises to the Top and Eddie Yagin vs. Junior Assuncao

Eddie Yagin and Junior Assuncao debut to kick off the night of fights, and also Mark Hunt looks to carry momentum from his UFC 127 win over Chris Tuchscherer as he welcomes Ben Rothwell back to action. Meanwhile, Rob Broughton wants to cause a dent in Travis Browne's hype train and, of course, TUF fighters Nick Ring and Tony Ferguson want to cement their place in their respective divisions—with Ring hoping to do so at Tim Boestch's expense, and Ferguson at Aaron Riley's expense.

Believe me, there's more to it than that brief hit, but the point is, we're going to see plenty of young talent in the cage this Saturday. With what some of these guys can do, it's hard to imagine ourselves watching the event without wondering if we're watching the future of the sport of MMA, proving why he could take the torch of being one of the best ever.

2. Matt Hughes' Last MMA Fight Ever?

Matt Hughes...what do you say about him that we haven't already said?

Greatest Welterweight ever, the most dominant Welterweight champion in UFC history before GSP's current run (though, some still say Hughes' run is more impressive) and, of course, he has to prep for Josh Koscheck instead of Diego Sanchez this Saturday.

Now, it's not necessarily a bad thing, and some will argue that Hughes will prove that he still has more to offer against the rest of the active Welterweights come Saturday, but remember two things:

1. Kos hasn't fought since UFC 124.

2. This fight is the last fight on Hughes' contract, and it could be the last fight of Matt Hughes' MMA career, win or lose.

All the more reason to remember why Josh Koscheck had that sucker punch from Paul Daley coming...or to just remember how good Hughes is.

1. Jon Jones Will Test and Be Tested by Quinton "Rampage" Jackson

First of all, Quinton, I like you and I respect you, but there isn't a thing in your game plan that anyone is going to be surprised at.

Second of all, Jon Jones is the most stylistically unpredictable UFC Champion right now, and he is pound-for-pound, the most stylistically difficult champion to prepare for because you don't know what he will throw at you until he's already thrown it at you.

Quinton "Rampage" Jackson is an MMA World legend with knockout power that makes Freddy Kruger scared to sleep at night, and his wrestling is as punishing as wrestling gets, so to call it an upset for Rampage to knock Jones out when we know Rampage can knock people out—even as a journalist—is so absurd that it should not be allowed.

We know Rampage can put anyone away—it's just a matter of when he decides to pull the trigger.

Now that being said, we don't know if his power will be enough to lay Jones out on Saturday, perhaps because we haven't seen Jones get hurt by a guy like Jackson. But one thing fans notice is that even fighters like Matt Hamill and Lyoto Machida have taken some of Rampage's hardest blows, and call it a new-iron jaw or whatever, but they didn't go out the way some expected.

The same could happen with Jones, and if Jones takes Jackson's hardest shots and goes down but does not go out, it could be possible that Jones mentally sets himself up to beat Rampage at that very moment.

Now Then, If I Missed Any Other Fight Card, and I Probably Did...

Sherdog has you covered with the complete lineup of MMA events slated for this weekend, including Shooto's Shootor's Legacy 4, BAMMA USA's OC Auto Show event in Anaheim, MMA Big Show's "Cage Wars" event, Pure FC 8 in Red Deer Alberta, Canada, King of the Cage: Homecoming and lots more!

Thank you for viewing this slideshow, and I'll be seeing all of you this Saturday for your evening fix of UFC 135 action!