The final fight preview in our five part series is Alan Belcher vs. Yoshihiro Akiyama.  If you're not familiar with Akiyama's body of work and are confused as to how this fight ended up on the main card while Bonnar-Coleman and some other good ones were stuck on the undercard, you'll soon see why.

The signing of Akiyama by the UFC went down with very little fanfare in comparison to the potential impact that a fighter with his skill set could have on the middleweight division.  He's as well-rounded as anybody in the division and UFC fans that haven't seen him in the Japanese and Korean markets are in for a real treat.  He's 12-1 in his pro career and his lone defeat came in only his second pro fight and his opponent was a heavyweight, two weight classes higher than his.  This guy is tough.  A two-time Asian gold medalist in Judo, Akiyama knows how to get fights to the canvas when he wants to.  Once down, he possesses some seriously slick submissions but if you had to choose just one thing as a strength of his it might be his kickboxing.  If this guy adapts well to the UFC octagon like experts believe that he should, he just might be the next middleweight hope to take the belt from Andersen Silva.

Akiyama's UFC 100 opponent, Alan Belcher, has a pretty complete game himself.  The Biloxi, Mississippi native is a proficient striker with dangerous Muay-Thai skill.  Much like his counterpart, Belcher won't be accused of being one-dimensional.  Five of his fourteen wins have been submissions.  He's fearless, twice accepting fights on less than two weeks notice, one of those fights was at 205lbs. vs. Sean Salmon.  Belcher choked him out in :53 seconds.  This being his ninth fight in the UFC, Belcher has the advantage of experience in the cage over Akiyama and he'll need to use every advantage he can get.

The most important card in the history of mixed martial arts' grand daddy organization introduces Yoshihiro Akiyama to the world outside of Asia, and the unfriendly welcoming committee is headed up by Alan Belcher.