When it comes to pleasing packed arenas with electrifying performances and ungodly excitement, the name Matt Lindland isn't one of the first to roll briskly off of one's tongue. "The Law" is stuck in a quagmire of sorts, because while he isn't MMA's version of Arturo Gatti, Lindland certainly gets the job done. And he usually makes it look both painful and painfully easy.

When someone squawks that Lindland is a bore to watch and that he isn't really that great, just go ahead and ask Falaniko Vitale, Pat Miletich, Yoji Anjo or Tony Fryklund. The chances are extremely high that every one of those aforementioned fighters will say that Lindland is one tough S.O.B.

As Lindland prepares for what will hopefully catapult him into a second shot at the UFC middleweight crown, he has one rugged and brave hombre to get through first, and that is none other than David Terrell. While not many fans of the UFC may know who Terrell is, it can be assured that he deserves to be a UFC contender. A strong wrestler and with superb grappling skills to boot, Terrell could pull off a minor upset and score a win over Lindland.

"I'm sure he's pretty good if he's going to be in the UFC and [they are] throwing him at the number one guy in the world," Lindland says about Terrell, a man he admits to not knowing much about. "So I gotta imagine that he's very good to get that shot."

Lindland seemed nonchalant about not knowing his opponent like the back of his hand, and with the lack of knowledge about Terrell, he couldn't fully elaborate on his devised gameplan. But that doesn't mean that Lindland hasn't been doing his homework in the days succeeding our brief interview.

"As a fighter, I don't know a whole lot about him," Lindland simply stated.

But for all of you pro-Lindland fans out there, don't fret because it usually is a good thing to not know so much about your opponent. Much like what Lindland and many other fighters have claimed throughout the years is that if you know your opponent too well, you might be thinking in the ring or octagon more than normal and you could wind up making too many mistakes.

But while Lindland and the vast majority of Team Quest's roster are superb wrestlers, he may have his hands full with Terrell. Even though Terrell is only 4-1 as a pro MMA warrior, his grappling skills are better than most would expect. After losing his pro debut to the highly respected Vernon White, Terrell has been on a tear, scoring submission wins over the likes of Joey Villasenor, Marcos da Silva and most recently Osami Shibuya.

"I know he's an incredible grappler," Lindland said. "[Terrell is] very good at submissions, so I gotta work on that part of the game."

That is true. In order for Lindland to keep his winning streak alive he'll have to be his best against Terrell. And while fans may not be exactly clamoring to see him fight like they would the more popular Robbie Lawler, Lindland deserves his credit and should be mentioned among with the top of today's MMA stars.

Obviously, his fight against Terrell won't be the recipient of top billing at this Saturday's UFC 49, but it should be televised. Whether or not Lindland-Terrell will make it onto TV sets across the globe still remains to be seen.

"I don't have that information," Lindland quipped. "But I would imagine that it would be on TV."

Until then, do Matt and David a favor and keep an open mind in regards to this fight. Lindland has been bashed on numerous occasions across the various MMA forums for being a boring fighter who is too technical, but just remember his two memorable and absolute wars with Phil Baroni. If Terrell can perform as well as many MMA "experts" feel he can, this has the makings of being of the most intense, dramatic fight of UFC 49.