UFC 84 has a huge main card, with top fighters battling it out, and compelling storylines to boot. But if you take a look at the undercard there are some pretty interesting stories as well. Let’s take a look at five big ones.

1. The next “Next Big Thing”?

This weekend marks the UFC debut of All-American wrestler/football player, Shane Carwin. The massive heavyweight, along with fellow wrestlers Cain Velasquez and Brock Lesnar have been ear-marked to fill the void in the heavyweight division in the wake of Couture, Cro Cop, Sylvia, and likely Andrei Arlovski’s departure. Carwin is 8-0, and is spoken very highly of by training partner Nathan Marquardt, so it will be interesting to follow his progress in the octagon. His submission skills will be tested right off the hop as he faces Christian Wellisch on Saturday night.

2. Overseas Welterweight Arrivals

UFC 84 features the anticipated debuts of top Korean and Japanese welterweights Dong Hyun Kim and Yoshiyuki Yoshida. Kim will be facing Brit Jason Tan. The Korean star has strong straight punches and a solid judo pedigree. Despite this being his first cage fight, Kim should be a strong favourite over Tan.

“Zenko” Yoshida faces TUF alum Jon Koppenhaver. Like Kim, Yoshida has a judo background, but also has significant cage experience and a nasty ground and pound attack, just ask Akira Kikuchi. This is a more stern test for Yoshida then one might think. Koppenhaver is a big, strong American welterweight which could pose problems like it has for other Japanese fighters in the UFC. In the long run though, I think Yoshida’s technique and experience will win out.

3. Can “No Love” continue to roll?

One of the UFC’s most active fighters lately returns to the Octagon to face Liverpool’s Terry Etim. Look for a submission from Clementi ending this fight in the first round, as well as a step up in competition for Rich’s next fight.

4. BTT’s New Hope?

The fabled Brazilian Top Team hasn’t had much of anything positive to talk about lately, but Rousimar “Toquinho” Palhares will be looking to change that come Saturday night. Palhares most recently won the Fury FC 83kg GP in December defeating Fabio Negao and Daniel Acacio both with leg-locks. He’ll be facing off against wily veteran Ivan Salaverry on Saturday, who has only fought 4 times in the last three years. It looks like Salaverry’s full-time fighting days are rapidly coming to a close, so the time is right for Palhares to make a splash, and become the next dangrous Brazilian in the rapidly improving UFC middleweight ranks.

5. Sokoudjou: Myth or Reality?

Rameau Sokoudjou burst onto the MMA scene with a vengeance in 2007, blasting Minotoro and Arona into unconsciousness, but looked far from unstoppable when Lyoto Machida quite frankly schooled him at UFC 79. So which “African Assassin” is the real one? Is he a top ten light-heavyweight, or were those two Pride upsets simply….lucky. He has no easy task on Saturday night. Although he doesn’t get a whole lot of respect, and should probably be fighting at middleweight, Rameau’s opponent Kazuhiro Nakamura is a tough hombre. The fact of the matter is Nakamura has only been beaten by elite fighters, the likes of Rogerio, Hendo, Barnett and Shogun amongst them, and he is very difficult to finish. A win, especially a stoppage win over Nakamura would be huge for Sokoudjou as far as getting him back into the light heavyweight picture is concerned, a loss(more of a possibility than some pundits may think), would be devastating.