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Shinya Aoki (20-4) vs. Vitor Ribeiro (20-2)

The Storyline: Two of the most advanced grapplers in all of lightweight MMA will lock horns in this one. After Aoki, a former police officer, failed in his bids to win the Dream lightweight and welterweight tournaments -- and came up short in his glorified sparring match with Fedor Emelianenko -- Fighting and Entertainment Group representatives had a difficult task in building their spandex-wearing shingle fighter back up and delivering a compelling matchup in the process.

The Breakdown: Instead of preparing at Nova Uniao, probably the most stacked camp for lighter weight classes, Ribeiro chose to train with Ricardo Almeida in New Jersey. A top Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt, the “Big Dog” outweighs Ribeiro by 30 pounds, which leads one to doubt the quality of their sparring sessions. Ribeiro has not had a fight against a top 10 opponent in 22 months; his last ended in a 35-second drubbing at the hands of compatriot Gesias Cavalcante.

Aoki, meanwhile, has worked with the same crew at Paraestra Tokyo for the past couple of years. Even though that camp’s roster does not include anyone at or near Aoki’s level, it does possess a glut of capable bodies that can rotate in and push the “Tobikan Judan” to the max during training.

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The Prediction: Aoki has grown accustomed to competing at the highest level, having fought top 10 opponents in six of his last nine bouts. He has also stayed active, as he has fought a total of 10 times in the past 18 months. Ribeiro endured a long injury-induced break and only entered the ring once during that time period. To cut a long story short, Aoki should win the fight by decision.