Cain Ramirez Velasquez, one of  the UFC’s rising stars in the now stacked heavyweight division, looks to prove himself as a top contender for the title with a win this Saturday at UFC 110.

Cain Velasquez

The main event of UFC 110 will feature Velasquez, 27, facing off against Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (32-5-1, 1 NC) in Sydney, Australia.  Velasquez holds a perfect professional MMA record of 7-0, with six of his wins coming by way of knockout or TKO.  He holds a 5-0 record in UFC competition.

Velasquez first developed his strong wrestling base at Kofa High School, located in Yuma, AZ, where he became a two-time 5A state champion.  He went on to become a two-time All American collegiate wrestler at Arizona State and a Junior College National Champ at Iowa Central Community College.

As an American MMA fighter based out of California, Velasquez strongly embraces and takes pride in his Mexican descent.  He is currently fighting out of American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose, CA.

Velasquez’s lone decision victory came in his fight against French kickboxing ace Cheick Kongo (14-6-1) on June 13 at UFC 99. Velasquez dominated the fight on the ground scoring a unanimous decision: 30-26, 30-27, 30-25.

Despite the one-sided nature of the judges’ scores, the fight did reveal weaknesses in Velasquez’s game and was perhaps his only professional MMA fight to do so.  He was caught with big shots, which seemingly hurt him and forced him to go for the takedown at the beginning of each round.

This demonstrated a weakness of Velasquez leaving himself too open to strikes while looking for the takedown, or poor striking defense in the stand-up in general.  However Velasquez weathered Kongo’s devastating blows and took the upper hand, which demonstrated a phenomenal chin.

In his next fight Velasquez ran through a top-level opponent and showed unquestionable progression as a complete MMA fighter.  Velasquez took down Ben Rothwell (30-7) with seemingly little effort and battered him on the the ground  for a TKO victory on October 24 at UFC 104.

Velasquez controlled Rothwell on the ground and in the clinch, reigning down blows until the fight was stopped in the second round (0:58).  Rothwell had very little response or defense to Velasquez’s game plan.

Velasquez’s strong wrestling skills were undoubtedly the most pivotal part of his game in his last two octagon appearances.  However, his takedown offense and strong ground game may not be as relevant in his upcoming fight, as they may present dangerous situations for him against submission specialist Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira.

Nogueira holds a black belt in both brazilian jiu jitsu and judo.  Velasquez holds just a purple belt in brazilian jiu jitsu.  Nogueira’s technical ground game and particularly his strong submission skills will pose a challenge to Velasquez’s wrestling game.

Of Nogueira’s 31 career wins, 20 have come by way of submission.  Velasquez will likely break away from his normal game plan and possibly even change his training regiment in order to counter this threat.  It would not be out of the ordinary to see a stand up battle between two ground experts.

Ever since its advent in 1993, The Ultimate Fighting Championship has been the paramount battle ground for mixed martial artists. It has been and still is the event fighters participate in to prove their prowess and skill not just to themselves, but to the world. Greats such as Chuck Liddell and Randy Couture passed through this system and gained international fame by beating opponents into submission there.

So here we are, at UFC 104. Wow. One hundred and four contests. The proving grounds are no longer graced by the likes of Liddell and Couture however; the grounds of UFC 104 belong to Anthony Johnson and Yoshiyuki Yoshida…at least in the welterweight category.

Johnson, an American fighter known for his kickboxing style, owns an impressive 7-2-0 record, with both losses happening to have been in UFC events. His last fight was against American Luigi Fioravanti at UFC Fight Night 17 (taking place between UFC 94 and UFC 95) on February 7th, and the result was memorable: a four-and-a-half minute technical knockout of Fioravanti on punches. Watch the fight, and as you watch you’ll see Johnson’s a pretty intense fighter.

Yoshida is a Japanese fighter known for his Judo style and a solid 11-3-0 record. His last fight was in the welterweight division of UFC 98 on May 23rd against former Navy SEAL American Brandon Wolff. And guess what? Yoshida put the ex-military man in a Guillotine choke that would make even Dana White cringe. Don’t take my word for it though; check out the video and see for yourself. Anthony Johnson might want to make those last minute changes to his will sometime soon.

UFC 104 looks to be a great match-up, especially in the welterweight class. A battle between two fighters in their prime always makes for great TV, and you don’t want to miss it. UFC 104 airs live on Pay-Per-View Saturday, October 24th at 10 p.m. Get excited with the preview video below and be sure not to miss what your buddies will be talking about for weeks afterward.