One to Watch: Thales Leites vs. Chris Camozzi

Yes, that's right, there's another UFC show coming your way. On August 6th, the UFC heads to the Vivint Smart Home Arena in Salt Lake City, Utah, for the promotion's first visit to the state.

It's a belated debut in Utah, as UFC Live: Jones vs. Matushenko was meant to take place in Salt Lake City on August 2010 before it was moved to San Diego, California, due to poor ticket sales.

It's times like these when a small section of MMA fans say the UFC has over-saturated its own product with a string of events coming one after the other following international fight week. In fact, Saturday will see the seventh UFC event materialise in the space of a month. But, the UFC has done well to keep some interesting and meaningful fights throughout all those fight cards in that time.

UFC Fight Night: Rodriguez vs. Caceres (otherwise known as UFC Fight Night 92) has a number of fascinating fights such as the headliner featuring the ever-exciting Yair Rodriguez taking on the beloved Bruce Leeroy (aka Alex Caceres), Dennis Bermudez vs. Rony Jason and Cub Swanson vs. Tatsuya Kawajiri.

However, this week's One to Watch is the middleweight clash between Thales Leites and Chris Camozzi.

The two men in question are the perfect example of how a quick detour away from the UFC roster can do wonders for your career when you return to the promotion.

Leites enjoyed a real resurgence in his career upon returning to the UFC fold in 2013. The middleweight fought for his division's title against Anderson Silva back in 2009. He wasn't the most popular candidate as a title contender and after an uninspiring unanimous decision loss to Silva, followed by a split decision loss against Italian Alessio Sakara, Leites was cut from the promotion.

After the loss to Sakara, Leites went 6-1 in his career, earning the Superior Challenge middleweight title in the process before being recalled to the UFC. The Brazilian's return to the UFC saw him reel off wins over the likes of Tom Watson, Tim Boetsch, Ed Herman and Francis Carmont. However, he is presently on a two-loss slide after dropping two decision losses to Gegard Mousasi and current UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping (yes, it still feels odd writing that as an Englishman).

Camozzi's UFC career has proved a little more complicated. In the midst of his third tenure with the promotion, Camozzi's UFC adventure started while on The Ultimate Fighter.

The American was a highly-touted prospect and won his preliminary fight against Victor O'Donnell to get into The Ultimate Fighter season 11 proper. However, Camozzi broke his jaw during that hard-fought decision victory and was ultimately sent packing early. He was given a chance at redemption at the TUF finale, however, and beat fellow contestant James Hammortree by unanimous decision. This was followed with another decision victory over South Korean brawler Dongi Yang, but a submission loss to Aussie Kyle Noke saw Camozzi receive his walking papers despite going 2-1 in the UFC.

After a brief stint in regional promotion Shark Fights, Camozzi returned to the UFC roster to face off against promotional newcomer Francis Carmont, which saw him lose a unanimous decision. After that, he reeled off four consecutive wins over Dustin Jacoby, Nick Catone, Luiz Cane and Nick Ring before dropping four consecutive losses to Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza, Lorenz Larking, Bruno Santos and Rafael Natal – the latter of which saw him get cut from the UFC once again.

If you could criticize Camozzi for anything, it won't be for his dogged determination. After picking up the Prize FC middleweight title and successfully defending it, Camozzi was on hand to save the day as a last-minute replacement for the injured Yoel Romero against old adversary Jacare once again. That didn't end so well, submitting to the armbar of Jacare within three minutes, but it signalled Camozzi's third stint in the promotion.

It looks like Camozzi has turned a corner in the UFC and is now riding a three-fight win streak, having overcome Tom Watson, Joe Riggs (in 26 seconds, I hasten to add) and Vitor Miranda.

Both men can certainly claim to have plenty of in-cage experience heading into this fight. But, the transformation seen in the performances from both Leites and Camozzi is so clear to see in comparison to their earlier UFC runs.

Leites remains a talented grappler who largely relied on his ground game to earn the submission victory or to grind out a decision. Now, the Brazilian is highly proficient in handling a fight on his feet and appears to actually prefer it that way.

In Camozzi's case, his last appearance against Miranda aligned with the early promise we saw from him as a considerably younger man trying out for The Ultimate Fighter. Miranda was bullied by the relentless Camozzi over three rounds and the only surprise from that fight was how the Brazilian managed to stay in the contest long enough to make it to a decision in the end.

The pair are essentially fighting for their spot in the top 15 UFC middleweight rankings with Leites looking over his shoulder ranked at #12 and Camozzi seeking to enter the reckoning for the first time in his career.

Camozzi has been in this position before. Not to say Leites is in the same class as the aforementioned Jacare, but he is a considerable step up in competition. However, last time around, Camozzi's loss to Jacare was the beginning of the four-fight losing streak which cost him his place on the UFC roster for a second time. He appears to have matured plenty since then, so can he finally overcome the hurdle of big-name opposition?

Meanwhile, Leites could be fighting for his UFC life despite being in the top 15 rankings. UFC president Dana White regularly talks about how bloated the organisation's roster is—a necessary bloating considering the number of events the promotion puts on these days, in my opinion—and, after all, Leites was cut after only two consecutive losses last time around and one of which was a title shot.

Both men have enjoyed and endured their rollercoaster ride of respective careers so far. Saturday night will give us a glimpse of the next chapter of their stories.