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By The Numbers: Collier vs Miranda

By Brett Auten | Knuckle Junkies

With much anticipation, middleweight Jake Collier will make his UFC debut on Saturday at UFC Fight Night 58: Machida vs. Dollaway.

Collier (8-1) will face Vitor Miranda (10-4) in the first fight of the final UFC event of the year. UFC Fight Night 58 will go down live from Barueri, Brazil. The bulk of the card will air on Fox Sports 1.

Collier, out of Cuba, MO along with his longtime coach Patrick Smith have slowly built toward this moment that is upon them. We caught up with Collier and Smith just last month to talk about the sudden giddy-up in Collier's career.

Before the fight, here are some crunched numbers, fast facts, and a few quotables to chew on before Collier's big debut.

Age: Collier 26 / Miranda 35

Height: Collier 6-3 / Miranda 6-1

Nickname: Collier "The Prototype" / Miranda "Lex Luthor"

Fights at 185-pounds: Collier 9, Miranda 0

Finishers: Collier 4 first-round finishes in last 5 fights / Miranda stopped eight, including six by KO/TKO.

Weigh-ins: Noon, Friday, on Fox Sports 2

Odds: Collier has opened as a slight favorite, -185 to Miranda +145

Pro Debuts: Collier on 11/19/10/Miranda on 11/27/03

First Five: Of their combined 22 fights, Collier and Miranda have been out of the first round eight times.

Numero Tres: Collier becomes the third fighter with St. Louis ties making their UFC debut in 2014, joining Alex White and Chris Heatherly

STL UFC fighters 2014 record: 4-9

STL UFC fighters 2014 record (not named Tyron Woodley): 2-8

TUF Brazil 3: As a heavyweight on Team Sonnen, Miranda lost in the finals in May.

Miranda Bio: Started training Muay Thai when he was 21 years old ...won the K-1 Fighting Network Turkey GP Tournament...lost by decision to Antonio Carlos Jr. in his UFC debut....Seven wins by knockout, two by submission...Has 23-8-1 (18 KOs) pro kickboxing record.

Dirty corner: Working Collier's corner along with Smith will be RFA middleweight contender Andrew "El Dirte" Sanchez, a steady and constant training partner of Collier's as of late.

Feeling Fresh: Collier won the RFA middleweight strap when he submitted Gracie brown belt Gabriel Checo in the first round on Oct. 10. He signed with the UFC less than a week later.

Miranda speaks (via Combete): "Collier is a guy who does everything well. He has knockout, submission, so I have to be prepared for all areas. He may try to avoid striking, but I think he will want to exchange some. I think the fact that this his first fight in the UFC can help me.... he has never felt the crowd and he'll be in my country, with the crowd against him...I'm training hard, improving a lot, evolving every workout and in this fight my performance will be much better. This time I'm not afraid of losing and the result, a finish."

Coach speak with Pat Smith: "You can't prepare for something you have never done. We're getting there early so we will have plenty of time to acclimate...I think the guy is tough and it can be an exciting fight but I think Jake is going to be too much power for him and just overwhelm him, I'm hoping...Jake is a totally different fighter than what people saw (in November). Hopefully he evolves every fight..Jake's problem is that he gets too excited. He wants to fight. We have to keep him calm in the locker room so he doesn't burn out too quick. His problem is never nervousness his problem is that he wants to go. He's ready when he get the venue...This guy is a strong kickboxer. We haven't seen much of his ground but he's from Nogueira's camp so we're not going to write him off... We're going to fight our game, we're not going to fight his. We're going to force him into our fight."

UFC Fight Night 58

MAIN CARD (FOX Sports 1, 10 p.m. ET)
C.B. Dollaway vs. Lyoto Machida
Renan Barao vs. Mitch Gagnon
Antonio Carlos Junior vs. Patrick Cummins
Rashid Magomedov vs. Elias Silverio
Mike Rhodes vs. Erick Silva
Renato Carneiro vs. Tom Niinimaki

PRELIMINARY CARD (FOX Sports 1, 8 p.m. ET)
Marcos Rogerio de Lima vs. Igor Pokrajac
Antonio dos Santos Jr. vs. Daniel Sarafian
Hacran Dias vs. Darren Elkins
Leandro Issa vs. Yuta Sasaki

PRELIMINARY CARD (UFC Fight Pass, 7 p.m. ET)
Tim Means vs. Marcio Alexandre Jr.
Jake Collier vs. Vitor Miranda

Photo courtesy of Facebook - Patsy Brooks