The UFC heavyweight division is the deepest it has ever been as almost all of the best heavyweights in the world are under the Zuffa umbrella now. Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva (16-4) has suffered back-to-back first round TKO losses at the hands of top five heavyweights Daniel Cormier and Cain Velasquez.

The Cormier loss came in the semifinals of the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix, and the loss to Velasquez came in his UFC debut at UFC 146 in May.

There’s no shame in losing against those two  heavyweights, but it’s simply the way he lost that has been the most damaging. Both fights ended in about three and a half minutes with Silva landing seven strikes total in two fights. These two losses came right after Silva defeated arguably the best heavyweight of all time in Fedor Emelianenko prior to the Cormier fight. He was the first fighter to legitimately defeat Emelianenko via TKO as he mounted him and pounded him into oblivion in the second round of their matchup.

Now Silva faces undefeated up and comer Travis Browne (13-0-1) in the main event of the UFC on FX 5 event on Friday night. Browne’s biggest win is probably his KO win over Stefan Struve in May 2011. Silva will arguably be the best opponent that Browne has fought thus far. If he isn’t the best, he certainly has fought and defeated better competition. This is what I call a measuring stick fight for both fighters. The UFC wants to see if Browne is the real deal and legitimate competition. The UFC also wants to see if Silva has anything left in the tank at this point in his career. We’ll get those answers on Friday night. If you are not familiar with Silva, the UFC has released a short video of him working out with his camp in preparation for the event on Friday. Check it out below: