At the age of 30 years young Captain Stann has amassed quite a list of accomplishments. United States Marine Corp Captain, check. Silver Star Recipient, check. WEC Light Heavyweight Champion, check. This Memorial Day Weekend the Iraqi War Veteran will enter the Octagon looking to keep his perfect record at middleweight in tact.

Ever since Stann dropped a unanimous decision victory against light heavyweight Phil Davis last February he has taken the UFC Middleweight division by storm. His knockout of Chris Leben (I’m still not clear if he knocked out Leben once or thrice during that fight) was extremely impressive considering Leben, a veteran of 30+ professional fights had only been KO’ed one time prior, courtesy of an Anderson Silva knee.

Stann was originally slated to welcome the Legendary Wanderlei Silva back to work this weekend. However, the beloved “Axe Murderer” feared he would be hated if he took on a former marine captain, so enter Jorge Santiago. After a 1-2 run under the UFC banner back in 2006 all Santiago has done since is win 11 out of his last 12 fights, 10 by way of finishing on his own terms. Becoming the first and only Sengoku Middleweight Champion and winning a couple of Tournaments during that stretch couldn’t have hurt his stock either.

A win at UFC 130 this Saturday night for either of these fighters puts them one more win or even one untimely injury away from a title shot. Will Stann continue his dominance at Middleweight or will Santiago’s second stint in the UFC prove to be the one he will be remembered for? Questions like these can only be answered when the cage door is closed this Saturday at UFC 130.

Picture Courtesy of Dana White’s Twitpic