Vitor Belfort vs. Lyoto Machida: What will go down:

It seems as if this matchup between two of Brazil's favourite sons should've occurred in both savage strikers primes, nevertheless, former UFC Heavyweight king Vitor 'The Phenom Belfort meets Karate practitioner Lyoto 'The Dragon' Machida in the opening main card clash of UFC 224 in the homeland of the compatriots. Vitor managed a controversial decision against the recently retired Nate Marquardt in his last UFC outing, while former fellow gold holder Machida impressively overcame the up and coming Eryk Anders at UFC Fight NigNight Belem after a brutal knockout defeat to the powerful Derek Brunson. Both men are two of the most decorated and feare strikers to ever step foot out of South America but in the twilight of both men's careers, it's a shame it's taken this long to come to fruition.

One of the UFC's most recognisable and deadliest finishers of all time, the aggressive Vitor Belfort undeniably holds a spot in the UFC Hall of Fame upon his timely retirement. A star studded career spanning 22 years, brutal striker Vitor Belfort holds career highlight victories over the likes of Wanderlei Silva, multiple victories over Dan Henderson, and two brutal head kick stoppages over Michael Bisping and Luke Rockhold, dislodging the Brit's retina firstly, before scoring arguably his most replayed stoppage yet, landing a lightening fast wheel kick on Rockhold sending him to the canvas before finishing with his revered ground and pound. Coming in at a close second as Vitor's most terrfiying knockout was his 2003 knee stoppage over the slick Marvin Eastman. A firmilar aggressive barrage seen Belfort land a huge knee, opening one of the worst cuts in octagon history above the left eyebrow of the kickboxer, obviously bringing a sudden end to the meeting.

A real innovator of the karate style upon his UFC debut, Lyoto 'The Dragon' Machida embarked on a successful quest to the UFC Light Heavyweight championship. Proving a hugely complex puzzle to solve for the likes of Sokoujou and Tito Ortiz, with Thiago Silva and 'Suga' Rashad Evans suffering knockout losses to the Bahia native, with Rashad losing his 205lbs crown to the striker. Defending the title once against compatriot Mauricio 'Shogun' Rua, Lyoto was then stopped by Rua in the pair's rematch. Machida went winless until his match with pioneer Randy Couture, landing a highlight reel crane kick sending 'The Natural'  into retirement.

This meeting In my opinion comes down to whether Vitor can as he's done countless times before, land an early barrage or whether Lyoto can keep his fellow countryman at bay with kicks, particularly with front kicks, his safety first approach to a still very dangerous Vitor Belfort.

Vitor Belfort via knockout.