It's not quite an Oktoberfest of MMA this coming month, but there are a few shows to check out between now and the time you need to start thinking about your Halloween costume. Me? I'm thinking about going as Georges St-Pierre. Slutty Georges St-Pierre.

Dragon looks to make his first title defense by pushing Abobo off the conveyor belt.

UFC: Well, obviously October will just miss out on Wednesday night's TUF fight between Kimbo Slice and Roy Nelson. It promises to be one of the most significant fights of the year, although it's highly doubtful that it will be one of the most well-fought. TUF will continue to air through the month, but without Kimbo fighting (even if he wins, his next fight won't air in October) it will be interesting to see if the show can sustain the ratings bump it's received.

The big show is UFC 104: Lyoto Machida vs. Shogun Rua on October 24. All eyes are on Machida, who is looking to justify the rumblings that the Big Three at the top of the pound for pound rankings should really be a Big Four. With Rua not afraid to get in and throw bombs, Machida's stellar striking defense should be tested again; I see the fight going much like the Thiago Silva fight (entertaining but perhaps too quick).

The other notable undercard fight is Cain Velasquez against Ben Rothwell. While I have to think that Couture will fight the winner of Lesnar/Carwin if only for the big PPV numbers, the undefeated Velasquez should be next in line if he can get past Rothwell here, who's replacing Carwin. Rothwell shouldn't be too much trouble for young Cain, but we'll see for sure on the 24th.

I'm surprised by some of the choices UFC has made for the main card. I know Yushin Okami hasn't fought in a year (and his last one was a bit... tedious) but if they're serious about finding a middleweight challenger for Anderson Silva, this guy is SI's #2 MW fighter and one of four men ever to beatthe Spider (if only by DQ). And he's fighting in the prelims against a former WEC champion, Chael Sonnen! That boggles me. I'd much rather see that fight than Johnson-Yoshida or Stevenson-Fisher. And while I'm mentioning TUF alums, no love for the undefeated Ryan Bader in his return from injury? Gotta keep people thinking about him in the LHW division; I know he should breeze to victory, but I'm hoping they can squeeze that one in during the telecast. I don't believe Machida-Rua will go the full five, so hopefully we'll get to see some of these fights the night of.

Article Author: Matt DeTura

Matt DeTura is a sports nut -- particularly, a big fan of MMA -- currently located in Washington, DC. He can be followed at http://www.twitter.com/mdetura.

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