The pound-for-pound best fighter on the planet, Anderson Silva, pulled off the most incredible victory I’ve ever seen last August after a terrible performance, and he better bring his “A game” Saturday when he fights Vitor Belfort at UFC 126.

Silva’s last fight was at UFC 117 against Chael Sonnen, and I believe that is my all-time favorite fight.  The storyline was perfect.  People started doubting Silva after a goofy performance at UFC 112 against Demian Maia, and Sonnen basically ran a campaign through the UFC that he was going to get rid of Silva.

Sonnen displayed the greatest trash talk I’ve ever seen in any sport, including fake ones (professional wrestling).  Sonnen backed up his trash talk by going in there and putting a beat down on the champ.  We all knew that Sonnen had the advantage with wrestling, but Sonnen out-struck the dominant striker.

Sonnen was nearly two minutes away from becoming the new middleweight champion before Silva trapped him in a triangle choke.  Sonnen was forced to tap, and the champ reclaimed his title.  The only way I could describe it using any other sport would be if a football team won the game after being down by 50 and threw a Hail Mary to win it.

UFC 126 has so many important fights, starting with the main event. Silva’s still undefeated in the octagon, but faces the most dynamic striker he’s ever fought against in Belfort.  Belfort has a legitimate shot to dethrone the champ and could easily walk out of Las Vegas as the new middleweight champion.

As for the fight itself, this is the first of two steps for UFC to make the biggest fight in MMA history this year.  If Silva beats Belfort Saturday and George St-Pierre defeats Jake Shields at UFC 129, they will fight for the middleweight championship.  That’s right—-pound-for-pound No. 1 vs pound-for-pound No. 2.

The light heavyweight division has a lot riding on the line Saturday, as four contenders square off against each other.  This is a special treat for me because two of those fighters are my two favorite guys to watch.

The co-main event features former middleweight champion Rich Franklin taking on former light heavyweight champion Forrest Griffin.  Griffin is a huge reason why I got into following the sport.  The man leaves it all in the ring every time he’s out there and has never been in a boring fight. The same can be said about his opponent.

I have no doubt that both of these men will leave it all in the octagon and put on a show.  This should be an absolute slugfest.  The real winner in this fight is going to be the fans.

The other important match-up for the division is between Jon “Bones” Jones and Ryan Bader.  Jones might be the biggest superstar the UFC has right now.  This 22-year-old is one of my favorite guys to watch in the octagon. His flashy style and dominant performances have every fan screaming for him to receive a title shot.  

The UFC has done right by him by not feeding him to the wolves just yet, bringing him up slowly and letting him get more experience.  Now Jones will face his toughest test yet against undefeated Bader.  Bader has shown that he’s the real deal with impressive victories over Keith Jardine and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira.  This should be another great fight when the unstoppable force meets the immovable object.

The last important fight on the card is a fight that will make history. This is the first time Miguel Torres will be on a UFC fight card, and he has a chance to show the world how great he is.  For a long time, Torres made his mark in World Extreme Cagefighting and now that WEC has merged with UFC, Torres will enter the spotlight.

For nearly two years, Torres was the bantomweight champion in WEC and was regarded as one of the best fighters on the planet.  After he was upset by Brian Bowles in 2009, Torres had another loss followed by a win in 2010. If you haven’t seen Torres fight then you’re in for a treat as he battles Antonio Banuelos on PPV.

If you’re not a huge fan of the UFC and just watch it from time to time to see some good action, I highly recommend you get this PPV.  The card is stacked and has the makings to be another historic night of MMA action.