UFC 136 Edgar vs. Maynard III: Who's on the Hot Seat?

For the first time since UFC 69, the UFC invades Houston, TX. With two title bouts and a possible middleweight title eliminator, UFC 136 is poised to blow the roof off of the Toyota Center. The last time the UFC held an event here was the night Matt Serra shocked the world and knocked Georges St. Pierre out and took the UFC Welterweight Championship back to Long Island, NY.

Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard will look to pick up where they left off this past New Year's night when the two men battled for five hard rounds only to see the fight scored a draw at UFC 125. Edgar will look to defend his title for the third time against the only man to have ever defeated him.

In what will most likely be Kenny Florian's last shot at winning a UFC title, the Boston native will take on Jose Aldo. This will be Florian's third attempt at winning a championship, having lost to Sean Sherk and BJ Penn in attempts to capture the UFC Lightweight Championship. Aldo will look to defend the UFC Featherweight Title for the second time, having defeated Mark Hominick at UFC 129.

Chael Sonnen makes his return after a 14-month layoff due to a suspension, as he will face Brian Stann in a bout that could determine the next man to face Anderson Silva for a shot at the UFC Middleweight Championship. Sonnen and Silva met at UFC 117 back in August of 2010. Sonnen dominated the champion for four and a half rounds before getting submitted via triangle choke late in the fifth round. Stann has won three fights in a row since dropping down to middleweight.

This card is so stacked that the Spike TV bouts could be as exciting as any of the main card bouts. Anthony Pettis will face Jeremy Stephens and Demian Maia will take on Jorge Santiago. Joey Beltran, a fighter who has proven to be very entertaining, is relegated to the undercard.

Now that we have gone over the positives of this card, it is time to take a look at the negative aspects. We will now focus on the fighters who could find themselves without a job should they lose on Saturday night.

Whether it's a losing streak or their inability to put on an exciting fight, there are always a few fighters who are on The Hot Seat.

Steve Cantwell

This will be Cantwell's first fight since losing to Cyrille Diabate at UFC on Versus: Sanchez vs. Kampmann. Before that he was on the shelf for nearly 18 months due to an undisclosed injury. The former WEC Light Heavyweight Champion has had a string of bad luck since winning his UFC debut by breaking Razak Al-Hassan's arm on the inaugural UFC: Fight for the Troops card in December of 2008.

Cantwell has survived three straight losses, but it's highly unlikely he can expect to keep his job should he lose to Mike Massenzio on Saturday night.

In what will be his first fight at 185 lbs., this bout represents one last opportunity for Cantwell to prove he has what it takes to remain in the world's leading mixed martial arts organization.

Mike Massenzio

Massenzio is 0-3 in the UFC since winning his debut against Drew McFedries back in September of 2008. Losses to C.B. Dolloway and Brian Stann were followed up with a loss to Krzysztof Soszynski at UFC 131. To be fair to Massenzio, he took the fight on three days notice and was severely undersized against Soszynski.

The New Jersey native has a solid wrestling pedigree and owns a victory over fellow UFC middleweight Dan Miller when the two met up in April of 2006 for Reality Fighting. A fourth straight loss will almost surely be the final nail in the coffin for Massenzio. His bout with Cantwell should be exciting, as the two men are in the same boat.

Eric Schafer

Schafer is on his third tour of duty with the UFC, but this fight with Aaron Simpson will mark the first time he will try his hand as a middleweight. Schafer is a respectable fighter, but his UFC record leaves a lot to be desired. After winning his debut against Rob MacDonald at UFC 62, Schafer has been inconsistent. He would lose his next two fights, get released and then win two in a row before losing his next two, and losing his job once again.

In 12 career wins he has won eight by submission. Going up against Aaron Simpson, he will face a stud wrestler who has power in his hands and enough sense to avoid submissions while in his opponent's guard. Schafer was successful in his middleweight debut against Chris Albandia at an XFO event. He will need to duplicate that performance if he expects to get another fight in the UFC.

Leonard Garcia

If you take a look at Garcia's win-loss record you will notice that he is currently 5-4-1 over his last 10 fights. He has won the Fight of the Night bonus three times over the course of his last five fights, with his first fight against Chan Sung Jung being honored with the Fight of the Year award.

If you decide to investigate a little further, you will realize that over his last five fights, he won two of them in very controversial fashion. His split decision wins against Nam Phan and Jung were booed heavily as many fans felt as though he was the loser in both match-ups. So if you look at it that way, he is 0-4-1 in his last five bouts. Dana White felt so badly for Phan that he paid him a win bonus because he felt as though the decision was as bad as they come.

Regardless of his record, Garcia brings it every time out and that has helped him keep his job in the UFC. He lost his rematch with Jung in very convincing fashion as he fell victim to the Twister and tapped out at 4:59 of the second round. If he loses to Phan on Saturday night, it could spell doom for the Team Jackson featherweight.

No matter how exciting a fighter is, they have to start winning at some point. Don't think that White doesn't have a strong opinion on some of the wins Garcia has, especially the first fights with Phan and Jung. Garcia's style is fun to watch, but it leaves him vulnerable to wrestlers and solid grapplers with strong submissions.

Anything less than a convincing win and Garcia may find himself unemployed.

Kenny Florian's Title Opportunities

Kenny Florian will most likely always have a home in the UFC. He is one of the Ultimate Fighter originals who has represented the company and himself with grace and integrity. He works as hard as any other fighter in the organization and has an exciting, well rounded style that has seen him finish 10 of his 12 opponents inside the Octagon.

It is all those reasons and more that has afforded Florian two attempts at the UFC Lightweight Championship, one lightweight title eliminator and his upcoming shot at Jose Aldo and the UFC Featherweight Championship. White likes to take care of his fighters and Florian is one of those guys. He went from a lightweight fighting 30 lbs. overweight on TUF, to one of the better fighters in the tough UFC lightweight division. He is very active with his fans on Twitter and co-host of MMA Live on ESPN. He has truly taken the ball and ran with it.

How many other fighters have been given two cracks at a championship, let alone three, especially ones who were unsuccessful in all of them. In his first shot at the lightweight title he took on a much bigger, stronger Sean Sherk in what was his fifth UFC fight and 9th overall. He was beaten, but he certainly did some damage, leaving Sherk a bloody mess due to Florian's elbows. He lost via unanimous decision.

He went on to win six fights in a row, including wins over Joe Stevenson, Roger Huerta, Joe Lauzon and Din Thomas to earn a shot at B.J. Penn and his lightweight title at UFC 101 in August of 2009. Penn controlled the entire fight before choking Florian out late in the fourth round. Once again Florian rebounded nicely and in impressive fashion, finishing both Clay Guida and former Pride Lightweight Champion Takanori Gomi in consecutive bouts.

The UFC gave Florian the opportunity of a lifetime, as they matched him up against the undefeated Gray Maynard at UFC 118 in front of his hometown Boston fans. The winner would go on to face the winner of that night's main event as UFC Lightweight Champion would defend his title against the man he won it from just months earlier, BJ Penn. Unfortunately, Florian was unable to stop Maynard's takedowns and lost a unanimous decision.

The decision to drop to featherweight was made because it was highly unlikely Florian would ever get near another shot at the lightweight crown. In his debut at Featherweight, Florian defeated Diego Nunes by unanimous decision and earned him a shot at Aldo. Florian may have the experience factor, but Aldo is quicker, stronger and much more athletic than Ken-Flo.

At 35 years old, a loss here will not get Kenny fired, but it will cement his status as a gatekeeper for the rest of his UFC career.