There is a summer blockbuster arriving this weekend, and it has nothing to do with Batman: The Dark Knight. Saturday is shaping up to be an incredible night for mixed martial arts spread out over two events, featuring two fighters that are widely considered at or near the top of most pound-for-pound rankings.

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However, Anderson ‘The Spider’ Silva and Fedor Emelianenko won’t be squaring off against each other unless you consider television or pay-per-view numbers.

Affliction: Banned is having its inaugural event at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California while the Ultimate Fighting Championship counters with UFC Fight Night 14 from The Pearl inside the Palm’s Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. When the dust settles on this weekend’s events, wins and losses won’t be as important as the television viewership for the UFC Fight Night on Spike TV and the Affliction: Banned pay-per-view sales.

The UFC hastily put together this Fight Night event just two weeks after its successful UFC 86: Jackson vs. Griffin pay-per-view card. This was done to steer casual MMA fans away from an Affliction card that is featuring four former UFC heavyweight champions. Both of Saturday’s main events feature overwhelming favorites, and intriguing matchups for different reasons.

Silva (21-4), the UFC middleweight champion, has been installed as a decided $6.00 favorite (bet $600 to win $100) against Irvin, a $4.00 underdog (bet $100 to win $400) in a light heavyweight matchup. Silva will be moving back down to middleweight after this matchup to defend his title against Yushin Okami.

“It’s always a risk moving up in weight,” said Silva at Thursday’s media workout. “I’m an employee of the UFC, and I felt that this was a personal favor to (UFC President) Dana White.

“I consider the UFC my family, and I want to be involved in the biggest fights possible. I don’t feel any pressure for this fight, I’m the one moving up in weight.”

Irvin (14-4), who is coming off an eight-second knockout victory over Houston Alexander back in April, can move up the light heavyweight rankings with an upset in this spot. ‘The Sandman’ has won his last two fights, but he has had a hard time breaking into the upper echelon of this deep division. The Sacramento native sees a technical fight occurring inside the octagon against his Brazilian opponent.

“I’m looking forward to being in his clinch,” stated Irvin. “I think it’s going to be a Muay Thai fight.

“This is a win-win situation for me, I know how I feel when I’m 205 and 225. Silva is a very smart fighter, he’s considered the best pound-for-pound fighter for a reason.”

Meanwhile, Affliction: Banned will have a much tougher time reaching the masses even though the event is stacked. The Affliction card will feature former UFC heavyweight champions Tim ‘The Maine-iac’ Sylvia, Josh Barnett, Pedro Rizzo and Andrei Arlovski along with Fedor, but will have a hard time garnering significant pay-per-view numbers against a free UFC event.

Fedor, the Pride champion until the company was bought out by the UFC, remains one of the best pound-for-pound MMA fighters in the world despite being a heavyweight. The dominant Russian (27-1) is listed as a huge $5.00 ‘chalk’ over Sylvia, a $3.50 underdog. Fedor (27-1) has slipped in some pound-for-pound discussions due to his recent inactivity, fighting just four times since October 2006 encompassing five rounds.

Sylvia (26-5) fought for the UFC heavyweight title just six months ago, losing to Antonio Rodrigo ‘Minotauro’ Nogueira by guillotine choke in the third round. The 6-foot-8 striker uses size to his advantage, racking up 17 knockout victories during his career. However Fedor has amazing submission skills, especially against fighters with long limbs. The Russian Sambo expert has won 14 times by submission, including three of his last four fights by armbar.

Brad Young can be reached at byoung@vegasinsider.com.