Jean Silva (Pictures) obviously enjoys a challenge. Fresh from facing Takanori Gomi (Pictures) at PRIDE’s Bushido 8 show, Silva returns to the UK in order to defend his Cage Rage world lightweight title against a man many observers consider to be the world’s No. 1 lightweight.

In terms of style, Silva is nothing if not unorthodox. A capoeira master, he enjoys mixing flips, cartwheels and general high-risk buffoonery with a solid grappling game. Silva’s 11-3-3 record is impressive but there are some qualifiers here. Many observers felt that Silva was lucky to be awarded a draw against Ollie Ellis at CR 7 and doubly lucky to be given the same result against Leigh Remedios (Pictures) at CR 10. That said, Silva has sometimes been very, very good. His wonderful high kick knockout against Remedios in their first match at CR 5 sticks in the mind, as do his slick triangles against the wily Gerald Strebendt (Pictures) and the tough Samy Schiavo (Pictures).

The Chute Boxe fighter has repeatedly complained of injury problems and these may help to explain his occasional lukewarm showings. Either way, he’ll need all his skills and more if he hopes to remain champion after Saturday.

Vitor Ribeiro (Pictures) is widely regarded as one of the top, if not the top, lightweights in the world. Sporting an almost perfect 12-1 record, Ribeiro’s only blemish came at the hands of the small but scary Tatsuya Kawajiri (Pictures) (whom he had previously defeated). Besides that, Ribeiro has taken on and beaten guys like Joachim Hansen (Pictures), Ivan Menjivar (Pictures), Jani Lax and Ryan Bow (Pictures) to name but a few.

Nobody seriously expects Jean Silva (Pictures) to win this. If the champion wishes to keep his belt then he’ll have to keep this standing. Kawajiri proved that Ribeiro can be knocked out but I really don’t see it happening unless Silva calms down and shows up in 100 percent health. If he goes too crazy he may get a lucky shot but it’s much more likely that the calm, cool “Shaolin” will take this to the floor and dominate the champion en route to a second round submission.