MMA - Velasquez vs. Dos Santos: The Most Important Fight in UFC history?

There comes a point in every sport's life cycle where rubber meets the road.

Now it's time to see if the UFC has what it takes to gun it ... or will it simply become a skidmark?

Much like Band-Aid and Q-Tips, the UFC is nearly synonymous with the sport it proliferates oh-so-well. Some people don't even realize UFC is an organization - they assume it's another initialism for "mixed martial arts."

In that way, the UFC could be responsible for taking MMA to uncharted territory, solidifying its stance amongst elite, mainstream sports. This weekend, heavyweight juggernauts Junior Dos Santos and Cain Velasquez (C) will do battle before the largest audience the sport could possibly imagine.

It's a primetime slugfest on FOX, and it might mean more than "The Ultimate Fighter"s epic Forest Griffin vs. Stephan Bonnar ever will.

In the ratings game, UFC has a chokehold on the MMA market. Let's face it - if you're a red-blooded American male, chances are you've seen at least one cagefighter get knocked the %&*@ out. But this will be a litmus test to see just how much broadcast impact the UFC's punches have.

Led by Dana White, Joe Silva and financial powerhouses Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta, the UFC rose from its ashes to cable-TV prominence and pay-per-view immortality. Now it's time to see how much juice this train-o-pain has in its tank.

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