One to Watch: Ovince Saint Preux vs. Jimi Manuwa

UFC 204 is special night in many ways. Michael Bisping returns home to defend his title against long-time rival Dan Henderson, while the Manchester Arena will be rocking in the early hours of the British morning with the main card expecting to start at 3am local time in order to cater for the North American pay-per-view market.

Saturday will also see the first PPV to be held in the EMEA market (Europe, the Middle East and Africa) since UFC 112—the ill-fated Abu Dhabi show which saw Frankie Edgar unexpectedly, and controversially to some, dethrone BJ Penn of his lightweight title, while Anderson Silva danced around and openly mocked opponent Demian Maia during a bizarre title defense of his middleweight crown. Bisping will be hoping to emulate Silva's success at UFC 204, though I doubt he'll be opting to do it in the same manner of the Brazilian showboater.

The main event is what sells this particular fight card—it was a fight many fans were clamoring for despite it not making much sense from a rankings perspective. However, there are solid match-ups throughout with bouts such as Vitor Belfort vs Gegard Mousasi, Stefan Struve vs Daniel Omielanczuk and Iuri Alcantara vs Brad Pickett. Those are some good fights, but nothing sends the pulses racing quite like the light heavyweight showdown between Ovince Saint Preux, otherwise known as "OSP" and Jimi "Poster Boy" Manuwa.

Both men are knockout artists with plenty to prove having lost their last bouts—with OSP losing a late notice decision in an interim title fight against the disgraced Jon Jones, while Manuwa was knocked out upcoming title contender Anthony Johnson back in September 2015. Despite their failings in their last outings in the UFC's Octagon, both OSP and Jimi Manuwa never fail to provide plenty of action.

OSP, a former collegiate football player who impressed as a linebacker, has three "…of the Night" bonuses to his name. He earned a Fight of the Night bonus in an entertaining back-and-forth fight against Brazilian bruiser Glover Teixieira and garnered two Performance of the Night bonuses with the devastating 34-second knockout over Mauricio "Shogun" Rua in his own back yard and a slick submission win, a rare Von Flue choke, over Ukrainian brawler Nikita Krylov. Meanwhile, Manuwa earned a Fight of the Night award with his losing effort to former UFC light heavyweight title challenger Alexander Gustafsson.

If you want a fun fighter to watch on Fight Pass, there are few better options than Manuwa. The Briton Poster Boy was a domestic light heavyweight champion in London-based promotion Ultimate Challenge MMA, going 11-0 in the UK before signing with the UFC. 10 of those 11 wins came by knockout, the other coming by a guillotine submission. Many thought Manuwa would be hard-pressed to maintain his ability to finish his opponents in the step up made in joining the UFC roster, but he proved those doubters wrong by forcing Kyle Kingsbury, Cyrille Diabate and Ryan Jimmo to all retire with injury in his first three UFC bouts—maintaining an imposing 87% knockout rate in all his wins.

Following his first ever MMA loss to the aforementioned Gustafsson, Manuwa went to his first ever decision in his mixed martial arts career in a successful effort against tough Polish striker Jan Blachowicz in Krakow. Five months later, Manuwa suffered a vicious KO loss at the heavy hands of Johnson—his last UFC outing.

The pair's careers are running close to parallel. Both men have lost two of their last three contests and are heavily reliant on their sheer power and supreme athleticism. Another similarity is that both men have faltered when making a significant step up in competition. This is a step up in competition for Manuwa compared to those who he's beat, but OSP will be more than aware of the danger posed by the punches, elbows and kicks of Poster Boy.

This is an important fight for both men given their recent run of form. But, given the skills each fighter possesses, this contest has fireworks written all over it.