The Light Heavyweight Fighter To Watch At UFC 97

The light heavyweight to watch at UFC 97 isn't Shogun Rua or Chuck Liddell, although that fight has its own intrigue.  However, the light heavyweight fighter to watch at UFC 97 is Luiz "Banha" Cane.  Cane is basically undefeated, as the lone loss on his record is a result of a DQ in his UFC debut against James Irvin.  Since then, Cane has gone on to smash Jason Lambert and Rameua Thierry Sokoujou and will be facing former WEC Light Heavyweight champion Steve Cantwell this weekend.  MMA4Real currently has Cane as the #9 light heavyweight in the world, and listed him as one of the up and coming light heavyweight's to make a splash in 2009.  The guy constantly moves forward applying pressure, can take a lot of punishment, and always looks to stop his opponents.  He's also a BJJ brown belt.  Below is a excerpt from an interview on UFC.com about his UFC 97 fight:

On April 18th you are going to take on a former WEC light heavyweight champion in Steve "The Robot" Cantwell. What do you know about him, and what do expect from this fight?
LC: I think he is more dangerous than Sokoudjou is, even through the kid does not have the same power. He is a more complete fighter than Soukdjou. I am waiting for a war against him. A lot of people have doubts over my Brazilian Jiu-jitsu and I think Cantwell will try to explore it. Who knows, maybe I can use my BJJ to earn a win. But I can not foresee; I think this fight will have several levels due to our abilities.

I think his analysis is spot on, and this should be a good fight.  However, I expect Cane to win convincingly.  You heard it here first.