Five Questions for UFC 90

For the first time in its 15-year history, the UFC will host numbered events on back-to-back weekends. While UFC 89 “Bisping vs. Leben” boasted just two world-ranked fighters -- Keith Jardine and Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou -- on its card, UFC 90 offers half a dozen top 10 combatants this Saturday at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Ill.

Only two of them -- Josh Koscheck and Thiago Alves, the second- and fifth-ranked welterweights in the world -- will square off in a head-to-head confrontation, but there will be much at stake in some of the other bouts, including Anderson Silva’s middleweight championship.

Here are five questions UFC 90 should answer.

1. Who is the best 155 pound jiu-jitsu player in South Florida?

Deep on the undercard rests the fight between Brazilians Hermes Franca and Marcus Aurelio. With both men 2-2 over their past four bouts, neither of them will be in title contention anytime soon. Some might even go so far as to say that, being in their mid 30s, both are unlikely to regain the form and status they enjoyed the last two years, during which Aurelio submitted Pride Fighting Championships titleholder Takanori Gomi and Franca challenged Sean Sherk for UFC gold.

Still, a lot of other factors make this fight interesting. Aurelio was one of Franca’s instructors when he started learning Brazilian jiu-jitsu. They also share a common history. A former member of American Top Team, Franca was Aurelio’s teammate for two years until he left the powerhouse Coconut Creek, Fla., academy to become the head instructor of a rival school.

Affiliations were thrown overboard a long time ago. Now, these two BJJ black belts will duke it out for bragging rights.

2. Which will prevail, old school or new school?

A second 155-pound matchup on the UFC 90 docket will pair former lightweight champion Sean Sherk with rising star Tyson Griffin. Sherk and Griffin are practically carbon copies of one another, as they share similar builds and styles. The only major difference falls in the experience category. Sherk’s 11 years Griffin’s senior and has three times as many fights under his belt.

The 24-year-old Griffin, still the only man to defeat reigning World Extreme Cagefighting featherweight champion Urijah Faber, will face arguably the toughest test of his career in Sherk. Griffin will carry a four-fight winning streak into the bout, having used strong wrestling, a good sprawl and solid hands in victories over Brazilian jiu-jitsu players Thiago Tavares, Gleison Tibau and Aurelio. Now, he will collide with a freakishly strong opponent who can match his wrestling skills.

A victory over the 10th-ranked Sherk could position Griffin as the number one contender for B.J. Penn’s UFC lightweight championship.

3. Will an elite Brazilian heavyweight let another chance at a major title slip away?

Back in 2005, an undefeated Fabricio Werdum burst on the mixed martial arts scene with a flash under the Pride Fighting Championships banner, as he choked out the respected Tom Erikson and submitted Fedor Emelianenko protégé Roman Zentsov -- both inside one round. Consequently, he was awarded a title eliminator fight against Sergei Kharitonov at Pride 30. “Vai Cavalo” blew his opportunity with a lackluster performance -- despite the fact that his Russian counterpart competed with a badly injured shoulder -- and dropped a split decision.

After he beat Brandon Vera in June, the 31-year-old Brazilian jiu-jitsu master was promised a title shot in early 2009 against the winner of the UFC 92 match between interim champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Frank Mir. That was before Randy Couture returned to the fold. The UFC has since drafted a mini-tournament, which includes Nogueira, Mir, “The Natural” and former World Wrestling Entertainment superstar Brock Lesnar. Werdum appears to be a man on the outside looking in, at least for the foreseeable future. He needs to do his homework against countryman Junior dos Santos in order to stay in contention.

Beating “Cigano,” one of Nogueira’s pupils, will remove the first roadblock in Werdum’s path, as he waits for his shot at the heavyweight crown.

4. Will the next top welterweight contender emerge?

A match that originally pitted “The Ultimate Fighter” season one winner Diego Sanchez against Brazilian striker Thiago Alves now has second-ranked Josh Koscheck substituting for the injured Sanchez. This bout will likely determine the number one contender for the UFC welterweight championship currently held by Georges St. Pierre.

Both Alves, ranked fifth, and Koscheck have questions to answer in this one. Alves has blossomed at the age of 25 and has finished his last five opponents, including Karo Parisyan and Matt Hughes, by knockout or technical knockout. Still, his failure to make weight -- he missed by four pounds -- for his UFC 85 showdown with Hughes dogs him to this day and likely nixed an immediate shot at St. Pierre.

Koscheck, on the other hand, needs an impressive performance to quiet the critics who consider him overrated. Granted, the 30-year-old Pennsylvania native has improved by leaps and bounds since his appearance on the first season of TUF. But one cannot deny the fact that his biggest wins have come against an injured Sanchez, the still-green Dustin Hazelett and divisional gatekeeper Chris Lytle, who was 4-7 inside the Octagon when the two met at UFC 86 in July.

The victor in this classic striker-versus-grappler affair could solidify himself as the next challenger for St. Pierre at 170 pounds.

5. Can “The Spider” knock out another challenger?

The featured attraction at UFC 90 pits arguably the sport’s most versatile and devastating striker against a man who has never been knocked out. The soft-spoken and kind-hearted champion, Anderson Silva, has cut a swath of destruction through the middleweight division since he arrived in the UFC in the summer of 2006, finishing all seven of his foes inside the first or second round.

Canadian challenger Patrick Cote, on the other hand, has endured a much bumpier road to the top of the division. After three straight losses inside the Octagon, the Quebec native was forced to work his way back to the UFC on “The Ultimate Fighter.” A cast member on season four, he reached the middleweight final but submitted to Travis Lutter.

Cote has reeled off five consecutive victories since. His list of victims includes Pat Miletich protégé Drew McFedries, former EliteXC middleweight title contender Scott Smith and decorated Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt Ricardo Almeida. When Cote passed his test against Almeida at UFC 86, matchmaker Joe Silva knew he had a viable contender for Silva’s crown on his hands.

Still, Cote remains a 6-to-1 underdog against the outstanding Brazilian champion. Can Silva, who boasts 13 career knockouts, send the granite-chinned Cote crashing to the canvas?