The Ultimate Fighting Championship travels to Minneapolis, Minnesota for the first time to host UFC 87: Seek and Destroy. The Target Center will feature a couple of intriguing matchups highlighting the welterweight, heavyweight and lightweight divisions.

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Saturday’s main event pits welterweight champion Georges ‘Rush’ St. Pierre (16-2) against Jon Fitch (21-2). St. Pierre, a two-time champion, is gunning for his first successful title defense. The athletic French-Canadian fighter was upset in his first title defense against Matt ‘The Terror’ Serra back at UFC 69: Shootout.

Caesars Palace has installed St. Pierre as a $3.60 ‘chalk’ (bet $360 to win $100) over Fitch, a $2.80 underdog (bet $100 to win $280).

St. Pierre rebounded from that Serra setback to upend Josh Koscheck and then beat Matt Hughes for the interim title. The 27-year-old then recaptured his belt with a dominating performance over Serra at UFC 83: Serra vs. St. Pierre II with a second-round technical knockout with knees to the body.

Now St. Pierre will face one of his toughest tests when he stands opposite of Fitch inside the octagon Saturday night.

“Jon Fitch is the best overall fighter I have faced,” said St. Pierre. “He’s got different tools and a different style, but I truly believe I will be able to solve the problem.”

Fitch enters this matchup having tied the record with most consecutive victories in the UFC, winning eight consecutive fights inside the octagon as part of an overall 15-fight winning tear. Only Hall of Fame fighter Royce Gracie has won as many UFC fights in a row during the early years of the organization.

Fitch, who wrestled at Purdue, has won his last two fights by decision after beating Diego Sanchez by split decision and Chris Wilson by unanimous decision. The 30-year-old has won four of his bouts by knockout, along with five submissions, seven decisions and one ‘other.’ His last setback occurred back in 2002 by TKO to Wilson Gouveia.

While his grind-it-out style isn’t loaded with highlight reel events, Fitch’s performance has caught the attention of UFC President Dana White.

“This sport is so competitive and there are so many good guys that it’s almost impossible to win two in a row let alone eight,” stated White. “Think of how many great fighters have fought in the UFC and haven’t been able to do what he has done.”

There isn’t as much on the table for the heavyweight fight between Brock Lesnar (1-1) and Heath ‘Texas Crazy Horse’ Herring (29-13-1), but don’t tell that to the two fighters. Lesnar is still searching for his first victory with the UFC, while Herring hopes for another shot at the title.

Caesars Palace lists Lesnar as a $2.50 favorite, while Herring is saddled as a $2.00 underdog.

Lesnar dropped his highly anticipated UFC debut to Frank Mir by first-round submission, and is in just his third MMA fight. The 31-year-old was a NCAA wrestling champion at Minnesota before joining the World Wrestling Entertainment. Lesnar usually weighs around 285 pounds, and will have to cut weight down to 265 to make weight for this division.

Herring is 2-2 with the UFC after recording a split-decision victory over Cheick Kongo. All four of his UFC fights have gone to a decision.

‘Texas Crazy Horse’ has a dominant edge in experience over Lesnar, fighting 43 times since 1997 against such notables as Fedor Emelianenko, Enson Inoue, Mark Kerr and Mirko Filipovic to name a few. An interesting trivia answer is that Herring was actually favored over an unknown Fedor back in 2002.

There is also an important lightweight matchup between Kenny Florian (9-3) and Roger ‘El Matador’ Huerta (22-1-1). This was originally thought to be a number-one contender fight, with the winner getting the next shot at champion BJ Penn. However, White stated earlier this week that a title shot is not guaranteed. White has plans for champions Penn and St. Pierre to meet once again at the end of the year at 170 pounds should St. Pierre get past Fitch.

Caesars Palace opened Florian as a slight $1.60 home favorite over Huerta, a $1.30 underdog.

Florian has recorded four straight victories in impressive fashion since losing to then lightweight champion Sean Sherk. Huerta has won all six of his UFC fights, including a third-round submission victory over Clay Guida last December in a matchup that garnered some Fight of the Year consideration.

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