UFC 178 preview: Five burning questions going into 'Johnson vs. Cariaso' in Las Vegas

Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to the pay-per-view (PPV) market this weekend (Sat., Sept. 27, 2014) for its first offering since the indubitably paltry UFC 177 event last month. This time, the UFC has made up for its prior faults by stacking the deck for what should be a sensational UFC 178 event, taking place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

This card is undoubtedly the most stacked event the UFC has put together in quite some time, and ironically enough, the main event flyweight title fight between Demetrious "Mighty Mouse" Johnson and Chris Cariaso is the least anticipated fight of them all!

With former Bellator champion Eddie Alvarez making his long awaited UFC debut against the red hot Donald Cerrone in the co-main event, and Irish trash talking face-punching superstar Conor McGregor getting his first real test against the ever tough and durable Dustin "The Diamond" Poirier, this card cannot come soon enough.

Just how stacked is this card?

Well, former UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz (who has not fought since 2011 when he defeated Demetrious Johnson) makes his long awaited return to the Octagon against the streaking Takeya Mizugaki on the main event of the prelims on FOX Sports 1.

Without further ado, here are "five burning questions" heading into the Las Vegas event this weekend.

5. Could this potentially be the best PPV of the year?

The UFC put together eight PPV events thus far this year, and plans on having four more before 2014 comes to a close. Historically, this has been a weak year for the PPV market, with only a handful of the UFC's offerings coming in the "highly anticipated" category.

Without Anderson Silva and Georges St. Pierre to lead the way, as well as injuries to heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez and lightweight champion Anthony Pettis, the UFC struggled to put on the big events we were accustomed to seeing.

Ronda Rousey, Chris Weidman, and Jon Jones led the PPV charge this year, and although they all put on exceptional fights, they were often not backed by a strong undercard.

UFC 178 is a huge exception to the rule, as the promotion has absolutely stacked the deck with big name fights, marquee bouts with title ramifications, intriguing debuts, and multiple storylines.

While the card may have extra anticipation being built due to the poor UFC 177 card that preceded it, there is no question that this event may in fact be the PPV of the year.

The major competition?

Well it remains to be seen, but with UFC 181 being co-headlined by the Welterweight title fight between Johny Hendricks and Robbie Lawler alongside the lightweight title fight between Anthony Pettis and Gilbert Melendez, it is sure to give UFC 178 a run for its money (see the current line up here).

4. Can Dominick Cruz return to old form and potentially fight for the title?

When Dominick Cruz steps into the Octagon this weekend against Takeya Mizugaki (barring a last second injury a la UFC 169), it will be his first time fighting in nearly three years.

Let's get a quick recap of a few things that have happened in the last three years while Cruz was mending two ACL surgeries and a major groin tear:

1. Renan Barao became the interim, and then undisputed, bantamweight champion before getting shellacked by TJ Dillashaw in May.

2. Current UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman was 2-0 in the UFC at the time, and was a month away from choking Tom Lawlor unconscious. He was still a year away from his first title fight against Anderson Silva.

3. The flyweight division was implemented, and Cruz's last title challenger, Demetrious Johnson, became the champion. Oh, and he also happens to be headlining the PPV event this weekend.

With all that being said, has the MMA world moved past Dominick Cruz? More importantly, has his health deteriorated so much to the point that he will no longer be able to fight at the championship level we were accustomed to seeing?

The UFC didn't give Cruz any favors by matching him up with Takeya Mizugaki for his return bout. The Japanese product has won five straight fights, and has improved leaps and bounds since his days in the WEC. While Mizugaki is still a brawler at heart, he has honed his skills to become a tough out for anyone in the division.

If Cruz is able to show off his once revered footwork and striking prowess accompanied by a healthy batch of takedowns, then he could very well be on his way to fighting TJ Dillashaw for the title in early 2015.

3. Will Donald Cerrone and Eddie Alvarez put on the fight of the year?

There have been a handful of exceptional fights this year that will surely make their way onto nearly everyone's "fight of the year" list by December, but none may be more anticipated than Donald Cerrone vs. Eddie Alvarez.

Even before this fight was announced, even before Eddie Alvarez was cut by Bellator and signed by the UFC, fans in the MMA world were drooling at the rumor that they may in fact see this bout come to fruition.

Donald Cerrone has been a man possessed as of late, winning four straight bouts alternating submission finishes with brutal head kick knockouts. Cerrone has proved time and again that he is a walking highlight reel, and with the newfound vigor to become champion, he is a very dangerous man to face.

Eddie Alvarez lost a good year or two of his prime while dealing with Bjorn Rebney and Bellator's constrictive contracts, but he has finally made it to the promised land. When Alvarez begrudgingly returned to Bellator after a year long layoff, he won back his title by defeating Michael Chandler in yet another epic bout for the ages, seemingly much to the chagrin of Bjorn Rebney.

Alvarez has never had a dull fight in his career. His modus operandi? Get hit, get hurt, and then fire back as if his opponent just said something inappropriate about his mother.

Simply put, both Alvarez and Cerrone are animals inside the cage, and have put on some of the best fights in MMA history. Expect nothing less this Saturday night when they throw down in the co-main event.

2. Can Conor McGregor prove he is among the elite in the featherweight division by finishing Dustin Poirier?

Conor McGregor has talked the talk ever since joining the UFC in 2013. Up to this point, he has backed up his superabundant trash talk by throttling Marcus Brimage, Max Holloway, and Diego Brandao.

If anyone in the UFC has the "it" factor, it is undoubtedly the former two division Cage Warriors champion. All you had to do was witness his coming out party at UFC Fight Night 46 earlier this year to recognize that McGregor could potentially become one of the UFC's biggest stars of the last decade.

McGregor has taken the MMA world by storm by calling out every top 10 fighter in the featherweight division since his debut, and now he will finally get his crack at top-flight competition as he takes on No. 5 ranked Dustin Poirier.

For all of Poirier's defensive flaws, the kid simply knows how to fight and win, and he will not go out easily against McGregor this weekend. If Poirier is flattened out amidst the three round affair by a styling McGregor, expect him to leapfrog the rest of the division en route to a title shot.

The UFC and Dana White can already see the money signs if that gold plated piece of leather is strapped around the Irishman's waist, and they will not hesitate to put him in the cage against either Jose Aldo or Chad Mendes.

1. Can Chris Cariaso pull off a TJ Dillashaw against Demetrious Johnson?

"You can't count anybody out..." Those were Chris Cariaso's own words during the UFC 178 countdown show.

MMA fans and pundits alike were reminded of that sentiment this past May, when unheralded challenger TJ Dillashaw took out not only the UFC bantamweight champion, but arguably one of the top pound-for-pound fighters in the world in Renan Barao, at UFC 173.

Dillashaw beat Barao to the punch every which way, and then finished the champion in the fifth round to put an emphatic stamp on one of the biggest upsets in UFC history.

Heading into UFC 178, we are looking at an eerily similar scenario as the dominant flyweight champion Demetrious "Mighty Mouse" Johnson is the heavy favorite to take out Chris Cariaso.

Just like Dillashaw, everyone is counting Cariaso out, but when will we learn from our mistakes?

This fight will be Johnson's sixth title fight in the last two years, making him the most active champion on the roster today. Recall that Barao was quite active as well during his reign, fighting three times in nine months. Many attributed the Brazilian's poor performance at UFC 173 to the fact that he fought three months after defeating Urijah Faber at UFC 169, and the two tough weight cuts impeded his abilities.

Could Demetrious potentially be facing a similar scenario, as he too is fighting three months after his last bout against Ali Bagautinov in June? Will the stars align for Chris Cariaso this weekend?

We will have to wait until Saturday night to find out.