If you're a young, upstart Brazilian in the UFC, the past two weeks have been pretty good to you.

At UFC 89 in Birmingham, England, Luis Arthur Cane stole the spotlight, and perhaps the hype, from another light heavyweight prospect in Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou with a second-round stoppage. Yet, seven days later at UFC 90 in Illinois, two of Cane's fellow countrymen made his breakout performance seem pedestrian.

A little-known pupil of Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Junior "Cigano" dos Santos stepped into the Octagon for the first time and needed just 81 seconds to smash through the highly regarded Fabricio Werdum, who seemed to be biding his time until the UFC's heavyweight tournament unfolded.

However, no fighter did more for himself than Thiago Alves.

Although he had clobbered Matt Hughes in June, the win was tainted by failing to make weight. Alves won his battle with the scale at UFC 90 and then won his fantastic battle with fellow 170-pound standout Josh Koscheck with a performance that firmly places the "Pitbull" as the next man to challenge for the UFC welterweight title after the much-anticipated Georges St. Pierre-B.J. Penn rematch in January.