I was about eight or so when Mike Tyson was terrorizing the sport of boxing, drawing previously unheard of pay-per-view numbers and ultimately crashing and burning against Evander Holyfield in Las Vegas.

It was the mid-90s and I followed each bout with great anticipation, nevermind never actually having seen the fights. Thanks to an anomally that allowed the pay-per-view channel to be broadcast on our television set albeit with a severely distorted picture, I was able to sit nice and close and hear the $50 bout perfectly fine, free of charge.

Today, Tyson is terribly overweight and still a shell of his former self. Holyfield is one knockout away from senility and about to challenge 7-foot-2 heavyweight champ Nikolai Valuev in December. Vitali Klitschko returned to the ring last month to retain his heavyweight title - thanks to drenching his hands in his three-year-old son's piss. Yep, the heavyweight scene has seen better days...an ideal climate for mixed martial arts to stake its claim as the top show in town these days.

Saturday the Ultimate Fighting Championship expects to deliver its biggest draw yet. Randy Couture - the 45-year-old heavyweight champ - returns after a 14-month hiatus to defend his crown against Brock Lesnar, a former collegiate wrestling champ, pro wrestling star and overall exception to any preconceived limitations of the human body.

In October 2007, Couture informed the UFC that he would resign. President Dana White stopped him in his tracks, saying he could retire but could not walk away from a contract with obligations for more fights. A lengthy, draining and bitter legal battle ensued but what ultimately prevailed was perhaps the only peaceful outcome to any UFC conflict.

Meanwhile, the jury was still out on Lesnar. Was this guy for real? Or a sideshow cut from the mold of Kimbo "I Miss Youtube" Slice? Lesnar started his career off with a decent win but fell to former heavyweight champ Frank Mir in his second fight after his over-aggresiveness found him a victim to Mir's ground game. At 1-1, Lesnar was staring at the prospects of an early exit from the UFC when he was primed to face another former heavyweight titleholder, Heath Herring.

That first punch - you know which one - sent Herring summersaulting backwards and cracked his orbital bone. Unfortunately, a blood thirsty Lesnar sent an emphatic message to the MMA world in taking his torture of Herring to the distance, landing a heavyweight title shot just three months later.

Lesnar's welcoming back of Couture is perhaps the biggest chance taken by the UFC in the sport's relatively young tenure. Rarely does a fighter wind up fighting for the gold or fighting at all just three months after a previous bout. Lesnar's greenness has drawn the ire of some tenured followers and fighters but White will be laughing all the way to the bank with this one - he expects 1.5 million pay-per-view buys.

The world has responded as well. Press credentials have been scooped up by journalists from South America, Europe and Asia in addition to the United States and Canada. Something is happening here.

Now I will be the first to stop myself at going on a "The UFC is Rising" tangent...we've heard it before. And we get it. The UFC is big now...make that huge.

It will be more so come late Saturday night - so long as Seth Petruzelli is kept out of the Octagon. Lesnar-Couture is the most intriguing matchup since McCain-Obama. In one corner we have the seasoned vet who has seen and done it all. In the other, a rising phenom, still relatively unknown but with the potential to truly shake things up.

Couture has done more to dispel concerns about age in sports. Much more so than Brett Favre. Need proof?

Both fighters are skilled on the mat with stellar amateur wrestling backgrounds. I'm not in the business of handicapping fights but if I resided in Vegas I'd be having a tough time right about now. Couture has the experience...but in MMA that can at time be equated with mileage - notably for a 45-year-old who hasn't fought in nearly 14 months. Personally I don't think this will be a problem. As you can tell, he keeps himself in ridiculous shape.

As with any fight, the chance for an electrifying knockout looms large. If this happens it will be because either Lesnar's way-too-large fists connect with fatal precision or because Couture gets Lesnar on his back and out of sync.

Lesnar is a monster. And yet you can't look away. The man has to cut weight to make the maximum requirement of 265 lbs. - that is just for the weigh in though...he'll likley jump to 275+ by Saturday night. Couture will weigh in around 220-225 lbs. Few athletes can combine his terrifying size and strength with the speed and quickness of a linebacker such as James Holt.

Saturday may well be a changing of the guard in the heavyweight hierarchy of the UFC...with Lesnar improbably leading the organization into a new era of blockbuster fights and growing popularity.

A Couture win would be equally special and will continue the legacy of one of the sport's living legends. Although it is tough to pick against Couture, Brock Lesnar will be the new UFC Heavyweight Champion after Saturday if my prediction holds true.