The UFC will return tomorrow night from Brazil with UFC Fight Night 61 and the event will be headlined by a heavyweight bout as Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva meets former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir.
In addition to the heavyweight bout in the main event, the co-main event will be an interesting lightweight bout as Edson Barboza looks for his third win in a row as he meets Michael Johnson, who is returning to the cage for the first time since defeating Melvin Guillard eleven months ago.
The fight card will kickoff with the Fight Pass prelims at 5 p.m. ET/2 p.m. PT and the televised preliminary card on Fox Sports 1 will have four fights beginning at 6 p.m. ET/3 p.m. PT. Following the conclusion of the prelims, the main card will start at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on Fox Sports 1 with Jon Anik and Kenny Florian calling the fights from the Gigantinho Gymnasium in Porto Alegre, Brazil.
Take a look at the five biggest questions heading into tomorrow’s fight card.
1. Will this be the last time we see Frank Mir in the UFC octagon?
Mir will be stepping into the UFC octagon for the 24th time tomorrow night when he meets Silva and he becomes the first fighter in UFC history to headline a fight card after losing four in a row. His last win came over three years ago when he defeated Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira by technical submission at UFC 140, which was the submission of the year in 2011.
Since that victory, he has lost to Junior dos Santos, Daniel Cormier, Josh Barnett, and Alistair Overeem. This will be his first fight since losing to Overeem just over a year ago and Mir’s back has to be against the wall. A fifth lost in a row would likely mean that Mir could have a talk coming from UFC President Dana White that he needs to retire and a role in UFC broadcasting could be coming sooner than Mir may want.
2. Which lightweight will make their case that they should be “in the mix?”
Outside of the main event, the only other fight on the card that features two top 15 fighters in the UFC rankings meeting is in the co-main event as #6 Edson Barboza faces #12 Michael Johnson. Barboza will enter this fight after winning back to back fights and Johnson has won three in a row after losing two straight.
Barboza is known for his spectacular knockouts and is the only fighter in UFC history to earn knockout finishes stemming from head, body, and leg kicks. He is coming off a win against Bobby Green in November and he is 9-2 in the UFC. On the other side, Johnson will be entering the cage for the first time in 351 days and this is the longest layoff of his career. With a victory, it would be the first time in his career that he has won four fights in a row and would be one of the biggest wins of his career.
With where both guys currently stand in the UFC lightweight rankings, a win should equal both fighters being “in the mix” for a title shot. Not saying a win put them next for a title shot, but it should put them at least another win or two away from a potential crack at the title.
3. How will Rustam Khabilov respond following defeat to Benson Henderson?
When Rustam Khabilov made his UFC debut in lat 2012, he made an immediate impact as he defeated Vinc Pichel by knockout due to suplex and punches. He followed up that victory with wins over Yancy Medeiros and Jorge Masvidal before meeting former UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson.
He met Henderson in the main event of UFC Fight Night 42 last year and got off to a tremendous start in the fight. As the fight entered the fourth round, most people had Khabilov up on the scorecards, but Henderson would finish the fight at the 1:16 mark of the fourth round with a rear-naked choke submission history.
This is the first fight for Khabilov since losing to Henderson, which took place eight months ago. How will he rebound from that defeat? Will we see an improve Khabilov in this fight? Those are the questions heading into the fight for him and a victory should secure him a fight against someone in the top 15 UFC lightweight division rankings.
4. Will Iuri Alcantara make a case for a top opponent in his next fight?
Iuri Alcantara dropped to the bantamweight division at the beginning of 2013 and he has gone 4-1, 1NC in the 135 pound division. His only defeat in the division came against top contender Urijah Faber in 2013 and he enters this fight on a three fight winning streak.
His three fight winning streak is tied for the second longest active streak in the UFC bantamweight division and he is coming off a unanimous decision victory in September against Russell Doane. During his fight with Faber, he proved that he can hang with one of the best fighters in the division and he should receive a top fighter in his next fight if he can score a victory against Frankie Saenz.
5. Can Marion Reneau continue to prove Dana White wrong?
Marion Reneau won her UFC debut 50 days ago by unanimous decision when she dominated Alexis Dufresne at UFC 182. After the fight was over, UFC President Dana White stated that he turned down Reneau to be a contestant on The Ultimate Fighter 18 due to her age. Reneau is 37 years old and White felt she was too old to compete on the show.
Back at UFC 182, Reneau proved to White that she deserve to be on the reality show and in the UFC. She will be looking for her fifth win in a win as she meets Jessica Andrade in the headlining bout of the preliminary card. A win over Andrade will propel Reneau into the top 15 UFC rankings in the UFC women’s bantamweight division and once again prove to White that he made a mistake in not placing her on the reality show in 2013.