UFC Rotterdam preview: Clash of the titans

Color UFC Fight Night 115's main event a gentleman's agreement between giants.

After expressing mutual interest in squaring off on social media, Stefan Struve and Alexander Volkov have seen their initiative culminate in a top billing on Saturday's card in Rotterdam, Netherlands.

Whatever niceties the pair of towering heavyweights have exchanged will be checked at the Octagon door, as both will be looking for a seat at a contenders' table in dire need of new blood. Now five fights removed from a 19-month layoff brought on by a heart condition, the eighth-ranked Struve aims to regale his fellow countrymen with his third consecutive W to come inside the distance.

The last time he competed in Rotterdam, the appropriately dubbed "Skyscraper" (he stands 7 feet tall), did this to Antonio Silva:

Struve may feel right at home when he takes the Ahoy Rotterdam on fight night - and rightfully so - but for just the second time in his UFC career, he'll be picking a fight with someone his own size.

With the exception of Travis Browne, the Dutchman has enjoyed a healthy height and reach advantage over every one of his UFC foes. That won't be the case on Saturday, as Volkov stands 6-foot-7 and trails only Struve and Jon Jones in the wingspan department at 80 inches.

"Drago" takes a gaudy professional record of 28-6 including 18 knockouts into this veritable clash of titans, and like Struve, he'll vie for his third straight victory in the Octagon. The former Bellator and M-1 champion edged Timothy Johnson in an uneventful split decision in his UFC debut last November, but atoned for the dud with a dominant performance over granite-fisted vet Roy Nelson at UFC on FOX 24 that put him one spot above Struve in the divisional rankings at No. 7.

Struve has promised he and Volkov won't see the scorecards on Saturday. With 46 stoppage wins between them, it's hard to argue otherwise.

Bahadurzada's back

(Photo courtesy: Getty Images)

Over his five-year UFC stint, Siyar Bahadurzada has been repeatedly saddled with the burden of reintroducing himself.

The oft-injured 33-year-old has graced the Octagon just four times, with each of those fights separated by layoffs of 11, nine and 27 months. He'll end yet another hiatus - this one of 18 - opposite undefeated promotional newcomer Rob "Razor" Wilkinson in Saturday's middleweight co-main event.

Bahadurzada halts his latest layoff in familiar territory, and in more ways than one. The Afghan native moved to the Netherlands as a teen in 1999 and became a fixture on its MMA circuit during the early-to-mid-2000s, primarily under the Shooto Holland banner. He later captured the Shooto 185-pound title and defended it twice before debuting in the UFC in 2012, where he's split a quartet of bouts as a welterweight, the last a third-round submission of Brandon Thatch at UFC 196.

Also taking on a debutant is Marion Reneau, who faces jiu-jitsu specialist Talita Bernardo in a women's bantamweight bout on the main card. The 40-year-old Reneau was scheduled to welcome former featherweight queen Germaine de Randamie back to the division in the co-headliner, only for the Dutchwoman to suffer an injury last week. Reneau will now look to get back in the win column after fighting Bethe Correia to a majority draw in March, with Bernardo eyeing her fifth straight victory - and first in the UFC.

Welcome to the Terrordome

A great deal of hype will follow a pair of lighter-weight prospects to the cage on the show's undercard.

One of seven fresh faces competing on Saturday's bill, former ACB featherweight champion Zabit Magomedsharipov makes his UFC debut against Mike Santiago. The 26-year-old has won eight straight - all but one by stoppage - and been lauded as a future titleholder by boxing coach Mark Henry and teammates Frankie Edgar and Eddie Alvarez. Magomedsharipov locks horns with another newcomer in Santiago, who fills in for an injured Nick Hein not two weeks after dispatching Mark Cherico on Dana White's Tuesday Night Contender Series.

Related: Everything you need to know about Zabit Magomedsharipov before his UFC debut

Denmark's Mads Burnell will be stepping into slightly deeper waters, as he moves up from 145 pounds in Islam Makhachev's stead to tussle with experienced lightweight Michel Prazeres.

The 23-year-old upstart owns a pro record of 8-1, with all five of his stoppage victories coming by way of first-round submission, the latest an 81-second effort against Fernando Duarte last November:

Burnell gets no can in his UFC debut, as the stocky Prazeres - a second degree Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt - has won four straight and tasted defeat just twice in 24 professional contests.

Related: UFC Rotterdam predictions: Towering heavyweights take Holland