Houston Alexander was a relative unknown when he stepped into the ring with "The Dean of Mean" in May of 2007. Not many gave Houston a chance in that fight, Jardine himself thought that he was being disrespected by having to fight Alexander, but something special happened that night, the rise of a new power in the UFC light heavyweight division.

48 seconds after the the fight started, Houston Alexander was the man left standing. Keith Jardine was in a crumpled heap near the edge of the cage, further away from a title shot than he'd been in a very long time. Right from the opening bell, both fighters went at it, but it was Houston Alexander who landed the big uppercut that jarred Jardine, after that it was punch after punch until the ref stepped in.

After that fight, half of the UFC fans thought that Alexander had something, a big, strong, athletic fighter with huge power in his fists. The other half didn't see enough to make a decision.

Alexander's second fight, against Alessio Sakara took longer, thirteen seconds longer in fact. Alexander got caught early, but laid a beating on Sakara leaving the fans in disbelief, but wanting more. The fans are about to get it on November 17th when Houston Alexander takes on undefeated UFC light heavyweight fighter Thiago Silva.

New Jersey is the host city for UFC seventy eight "Validation". The main event fight features two other light heavyweights, winners of seasons of the Ultimate Fighter TV series, Rashad Evans and Michael Bisping. Both of those two fighters are coming off of uninspired performances. Rashad had a draw against a very tough Tito Ortiz, while Bisping won (and lost) to Matt Hamill. While Houston Alexander isn't in the main event fight that night, I beleive that he should be ranked higher than the other two given his victory over Keith Jardine.

If Houston Alexander wins this fight convincingly then there is no doubt that he belongs right up there in title contention with the big UFC light heavyweight stars. It's crowded at the top, but I'm sure that somebody with Houston Alexanders strength and power can push his way through. I don't want to make a prediction for this fight, but it's difficult to ignore a fighter who has been so very dominant with fighters of the stature of Jardine and Alessio. Especially when you consider that Keith Jardine has wins over Chuck Liddell and Forrest Griffin. Between those two they've defeated Shogun, Tito, Randy. Babalu, Bonnar and the list goes on and on. Keith Jardine is at the very top of the UFC light heavyweight division, the deepest division in MMA and Alexander man handled him.

Is Houston Alexander a future 205lb champion? At 35 years old, he doesn't have much time, he's going to need to make that title run over the next two years. My gut feeling is that one more win and Dana will be lining him up to fight the top dogs in the division. Griffin, Shogun, Wanderlei, Chuck or Tito. How would he match up against those guys? We haven't seen enough to make that decision yet, hopefully Saturday night will give us more insight into the UFC's latest super star.

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