MANCHESTER - Brandon (The Truth) Vera has long wondered just how good a fighter he really is. He'll find out Saturday when he takes on UFC Hall of Famer Randy (The Natural Couture) at UFC 105.

At 46, Couture continues to defy Father Time. His chiselled torso is the stuff of envy to men half his age. "There is no more old. He's broken all barriers," the 32-year-old Vera said admiringly.

And Couture has shown in recent losses to heavyweights Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Brock Lesnar that he is still competitive -- and relevant -- in mixed martial arts.

"There's no quit in Randy, there's no quit in that dog at all," Vera said.

"The fight's in the dog, but I've just to got to touch that chin and see how much is left in Randy."

The two men will meet at light-heavyweight, with Couture dropping down to 205 pounds once again in his storied career.

Saturday's fight card at the M.E.N. Arena will be seen live in more than 50 countries and territories (in Canada, live on Rogers Sportsnet Ontario and tape-delayed on other Sportsnet channels and Spike TV, check local listings) and will eventually be seen in 130 regions, according to the UFC. In all, the card will be available in more than 400 homes worldwide.

Also on the main card, Canadian middleweight Denis Kang takes on local favourite Michael (The Count) Bisping in the English fighter's first outing since being knocked out by Dan Henderson at UFC 100. And welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre of Montreal will be watching the 170-pound bout between England's Dan (The Outlaw) Hardy and Mike (Quick) Swick with interest, knowing he will probably face the winner.

The card is a coming out of sorts for local talent, with 10 English fighters in action.

The main event was cobbled together just two months ago after former light-heavyweight champion Rashad Evans opted against facing Couture, inexplicably opting for a date with Brazilian Thiago Silva instead.

Couture and Vera both fought at UFC 102 on Aug. 29, making for a short turnaround. Couture lost a three-round battle to Nogueira while Vera dominated Canadian Krzysztof Soszynski in winning a decision.

Couture, who emerged from the Nogueira fight with stitches around his right eye, spent a week by a pool in Mexico and then went hunting. When he returned for a compact six-week camp, he turned his attention on the six-foot-two Vera and his Muay Thai skills.

"He plays a longer game," Couture explained. "He's a strategic striker, he uses his footwork well, changes his leads (lead legs) and tries to set up his kicking and punches off of those lead changes. He's a very interesting style.

"He's very effective at keeping range and moving and picking his shots and kind of drawing people in to fighting his fight," he added.

Couture (16-10) has been training with two-time Muay Thai world champion Quentin Chong to prepare for Vera.

The key for Couture is to get close, without taking damage. If Couture, a former two-time U.S. Olympic wrestling alternate, can do that, he can impose his own game plan. That is to test Vera's wrestling skills in the clinch and defence on the ground.

Vera (11-3) will look to repel Couture with kicks and punches, shrugging him off in the clinch if the two gets up close and personal.

Vera's ability in the clinch will be crucial in this fight.

"I think it's an area that certainly that Brandon possesses skill at but he doesn't use them much. And it's a big piece of my game. So it'll be an interesting part," Couture said. "I intend to put him there and see what he has."

Said Vera: "I wouldn't say I welcome the clinch but I'm well-prepared for it, I believe."

Vera has spent a lot of time on wrestling in his camp, training with former NCAA champion Phil Davis (Penn State) and fellow UFC fighter Mark Munoz, also a former NCAA champion.

The fight pits Vera against his one-time mentor. A former member of the air force wrestling team, Vera worked with Couture more than a decade ago at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Vera still addresses Couture as Randy or Mr. Couture, but says he will not be awed in the cage.

"If you hesitate, if you decide that you want to hold back, especially against Mr. Couture, you're going to catch a bad ass-whupping. He has handed out some of the worst ass whuppings I've seen in the history of the UFC, pounding people's face in and I don't want to be on the receiving end of that. Come fight night, come Saturday, you're going to see potentially the best Brandon Vera that you have seen so far and I won't be hesitating at all, I promise."

People have been waiting to see the best Vera for quite a while. He made his UFC debut as a heavyweight back in October 2005 and won four straight, including a dominant win over Frank Mir, before losing to Tim Sylvia -- breaking his hand in the process -- and Fabricio Werdum in what he thought was a premature stoppage.

The UFC convinced him to move down to light-heavyweight where he is 3-1 after losing a split decision to Keith (The Dean of Mean) Jardine at UFC 89.

It was that loss that convinced him to rededicate himself to the sport.

"The Jardine fight was the one that made me realize damn I'm better than him, technically better than him. Way better than him. How the hell did he beat me on a split decision? He worked harder.

"That's how I came to realize like 'Look man, you've got to change. You'e trying to be the best in the world, you can't just talk that shit no more, it's time to start moving, time to start moving on."'

Vera admits his earlier success had gone to his head.

"The easiest way for a fighter to realize his head is getting too big is to getting his ass whupped in the ring, the Octagon. Nobody whupped my ass. I've lost a couple of crazy decisions (a TKO by Werdum and the Jardine loss), there's always some underlying reason why I lost, some kind of reason why I lost. I never got my ass beaten like nobody's ever just pounded me into the ground. ... I never learned the hard way."

"I was reading all the media hype, I was watching all the MySpace stuff, I was talking to everybody online," he added. "I was believing all the bullshit that people were saying. It's not really bullshit -- knocking people out, I mean it's pretty easy to get your head swollen. I was just believing it, believing it, believing it."

Vera's progress was also delayed by a contract dispute with the UFC that turned into a battle with his own manager.

Now Vera says he is grounded, dedicated and motivated. He credits his father's Filipino roots for his determination.

Asked what his Filipino ties mean, he says: "A short answer is probably no matter what odds you're up against, no matter how bleak it looks, if you just keep pressing forward, it's bound to get better no matter what. You just keep pressing forward, you stay forward on the task at hand and you're going to come out on top.

"And that's from my dad. My dad came over with nothing and ended up owning seven restaurants. He made the American dream happen with nothing. That's what it means to me."

Vera has shown his determination in the past, returning from a 1999 elbow reconstruction after shredding his ligaments in an amateur bout with Olympic bronze medallist Garrett Lowney. A damaged nerve led to muscle atrophy in his arm so bad that Vera couldn't put a cap back on a soft drink bottle. He even had to get rid of his beloved 1986 Z28 five-speed Camaro (which he named Asia) because he couldn't shift gears.

Today, he says he has found his maturity and made peace with himself. Now he looks to Couture as a measuring stick of how far he can go in the sport.

"He's going to end up bringing the best out of me. ... I'm hoping I get to show that with Randy. I really do," Vera said. "If there's anybody you need to prepare for, it better be his ass. If not you're going to be looking at lights out after you get elbowed in your face 75 times."

As for Couture, Vera is another puzzle to solve.

"I'm just going with the flow. Its about interesting fights and interesting competition. ... certainly Brandon poses some interesting challenges."

The two men have another tie. Vera's wife Kerry and Couture's ex-wife Kim are slated to fight themselves at a Strikeforce event on Nov. 20.