This Saturday night the much anticipated heavyweight battle between “The Last Emperor” Fedor Emelianenko and Fabricio “Vai Cavalo” Werdum takes place live from the HP Pavilion in San Jose, CA. and broadcast on Showtime starting at 10:00 P.M.

The current odds on this fight have Emelianenko favored at -800 and Werdum at +500. In this non-title bout, Fedor comes in with a 31-1 record with 25 wins by stoppage and 28 straight victories while Fabricio has a record of 13-4-1 and 11 wins by stoppage.

In his last fight back in November, Fedor took out challenger Brett Rogers with a second round knockout. Known for his strong background in Sambo, Judo, and Boxing he has the ability to stand toe to toe and slug it out or use his skills as a grappler to mix it up on the ground. It is this combination that has him regarded as the best heavyweight fighter in the world.

While this is a non title fight, a win over Werdum would most likely set up a title fight with current Strikeforce Heavyweight Champ Alistair Overeem later this year.

In Werdum’s last fight he defeated Antonio Silva in a decision. After surviving a first round barrage by Silva, he was able to come back to earn a 29-28 score on all three judge’s scorecards giving him the unanimous decision. Werdum will look to use his skills in Jiu-Jitsu, Judo, and Muay Thai to try and pull off an upset in this fight.

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He also has the ability to stand toe to toe and punch it out, but he will most likely try and fight this one on the ground as much as possible in order to negate Fedor’s incredible one-punch power. Against veteran fighter Mike Kyle he used a tight guillotine choke hold to finish him off.

Emelianenko has the overall power and skill to finish this one early as long as he can keep the fight from being contested on the ground. He has already shown he can take a punch as he was hit early and often in his last fight against Rogers but did not go down.

That is not say he cannot win the bout if it goes the other way, it is just that his raw punching power is clearly his strongest asset. Werdum’s only chance in this one is to avoid having to knock Fedor out to win. The longer he can stay in the match by keeping it on the ground, the better the chance he has to take it the distance in hope of getting the decision.

Unfortunately Emelianenko is not going to let that happen and gets the win by knockout in the second round.