The biggest event in the history of the Ultimate Fighting Championship takes places on Saturday, as heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez defends his title against Junior Dos Santos.
Unbeaten Velasquez (9-0) is defending his title for the first time, and he is a 1.633 favourite at
Pinnacle Sports despite him being sidelined for the last 13 months with a shoulder injury sustained during his first-round TKO of Brock Lesnar.
That injury required surgery, and a long recovery period, which must cast some doubt over the champion's sharpness.
Heavy-handed Dos Santos (13-1) last featured in the octagon on June 11, winning a title eliminator against Shane Carwin on a unanimous decision, and he is a 2.430 underdog in his first shot at the gold.
This fight could be potentially explosive with Dos Santos winning eight of his 13 victories by TKO, and Velasquez all but one of his nine victories by the same method.
Dos Santos has stated that fellow Brazilian Heavweight, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, is his hero, so he will be looking for revenge on his behalf. Velasquez destroyed Nogueira in round one of his first Heavyweight title eliminator.
He then dethroned Brock Lesnar at the same venue he steps into on Saturday - the Honda Center in Anaheim, California. This is effectively his home-town cage, and that will guarantee a partisan crowd.
Though Velasquez v Dos Santos is the only fight of the night shown live on television, there are still plenty of exciting match-ups further down the card which you can see via the UFC’s Facebook page.
Clay Guida (29-11), with his relentless cardio, will provide an exciting spectacle taking on Ben Henderson (14-2) in the Lightweight division.
Back-to-back defeats in 2009 to Diego Sanchez and Kenny Florian, suggest that Guida had reached the limit of his potential, but four successive wins have followed - three by submission - suggesting improved ground skills.
Nevertheless, the Carpenter starts as 3.140 underdog against former WEC lightweight champion Henderson (1.417), who is making his third appearance in the octagon.
