CRUZ: Brazilian jiu-jitsu stylist Marcio Cruz (Pictures) is 2-0 in MMA. He fights as part of the Gracie Barra Combat Team and trains with Flavio Luiz Moura (Pictures), Gustavo Machado (Pictures), Alexandre Dantas (Pictures), Fredson Paixao (Pictures), Alexandre Barros (Pictures) and Renato Sobral (Pictures).

“Pe De Pano” (“Sugar Foot” - a reference to the horse from the Woody Woodpecker cartoons) has studied BJJ since 1996. He is a six-time World Jiu-Jitsu champion, an eight-time Pankration Jiu-Jitsu champion and the only Brazilian fighter to win the over-99-kg division of the Abu Dhabi Submission Fighting Championships.

Cruz won his Abu Dhabi title in 2003, defeating Mike Whitehead (Pictures), Saturday’s opponent Jeff Monson (Pictures), Alex Nagao and Fabricio Werdum (Pictures) in the finals.

Cruz defeated Liir Latifi in the opening round of the 2003 open weight competition at the ADCC Submission Wrestling World Championships. He beat Marcelo Garcia in the quarterfinals and lost to Dean Lister (Pictures) in the semifinals. He also lost the third place bout to the man he beat for the 99-kg title, Fabricio Werdum (Pictures).

At the ’05 Abu Dhabi tournament Cruz beat Russian grappler Miodrag Petkovic by decision in the open elimination round. He lost to Daniel Gracie (Pictures) in the quarterfinals but returned to action when Gracie was injured. In the semifinals Cruz lost to Gabriel Gonzaga. Monson beat Gonzaga to win the title.

Marcio just recently started competing in MMA. He made his MMA and UFC debut on the same night, defeating Keigo Kunihara (Pictures) by rear-choke in the second round of their UFC 55 bout last October. Then he dominated former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir (Pictures) in the first round of their bout. Marcio was a heavy underdog against the former champ, but he looked like the veteran in that career-making UFC 57 bout.

MONSON: Jeff Monson (Pictures) has a record of 20-5 in MMA and is 2-0-1 in professional boxing. Monson has trained with Matt Hume (Pictures) at AMC Pankration, Randy Couture (Pictures) at Team Quest and is now a member of the American Top Team West or (ATT Olympia) with Eddie Blackburn, Matt Lininger, Bristol Marunde (Pictures) and Wesley Welch (Pictures).

Jeff is a brown belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu; a two-time Abu Dhabi Submission Fighting world champion; a three-time NAGA super-fight winner; a three-time Grapplers Quest winner; and is the Cage Warriors heavyweight champion.

“The Snowman” is a nickname given to him by the Brazilian competitors in the ’99 Abu Dhabi tournament. They said he was “white, compact, and rolling and getting bigger and stronger as the tournament went on.” Monson plowed through four Brazilians that year (Fabio Capone, Roberto Traven, Rigan Machado and Saulo Ribeiro). He won the 2005 tournament taking out Karim Byron, Rhadi Ferguson, Fabricio Werdum (Pictures) in the semis and Gabriel Gonzaga to win the title.

Monson has an extensive MMA fight history beginning in ’97 when he fought in the UFCF as an amateur. He continued to fight in small shows but the quality of opponents was greater than one might expect.

He fought Tom Sauer (Pictures), Roger Neff, David Dodd and Bob Gilstrap (losing to Sauer and Dodd) before debuting in the Octagon at UFC 27. Jeff took a unanimous decision over Tim Lajcik and came back three months later to face Chuck Liddell (Pictures) in Japan. The bout went the distance but Jeff’s striking was unimpressive and it was more than a year before he was back in the UFC.

Monson choked out Roman Roytberg in Washington and filled in for Francisco Bueno, who never actually fought in the Octagon, against Ricco Rodriguez (Pictures) at UFC 35.

Jeff went nearly three rounds with Ricco before being stopped, starting a four-year absence from the UFC. He came up on the short end of a decision in a bout with TUF contract winner Forrest Griffin (Pictures) at WEFC 1 and played the journeyman role, fighting on card after card in small promotions to help build his current 14-fight win streak, which includes two submission wins over Tengiz Tedoradze (Pictures).

After dominating fighters in Europe and around the U.S., Monson finally returned to the Octagon last October against Hammer House fighter Brandon Lee Hinkle. Jeff scored a submission win using a nifty and unusual North-South choke late in the first round.

MY PICK: Monson. One would be hard pressed to ignore the immediate impact “Pe De Pano” has had on the UFC heavyweight division. But it needs to be put in perspective. He beat Keigo Kunihara (Pictures), who dropped into the Octagon out of nowhere, and former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir (Pictures), who had not fought in almost two years. I know what you’re thinking, “Mir was the champ.” Yes, he was, and this was supposed to be his “tune-up fight.” It didn’t pan out that way. Can we attribute the result more to the skill of Cruz or the rust on Mir? This bout may answer that question. Monson has a ton of experience, is on a 14-bout win streak and has already defeated Cruz in Abu Dhabi. He couldn’t have a tougher opponent at this stage of the game and the deck looks heavily stacked against him. Even with the significant height and reach advantage, experience in the cage usually shines through. If “Pe De Pano” does win it just adds to the parody of the UFC heavyweight class and the thinking that it is anyone’s division at any time. I think Andrei will have something to say about that Saturday night, too. Monson by TKO in the second round.