You stand a couple of 265-pound man mountains front and center, and a lot can get hidden in the background.

So maybe it shouldn't be such a surprise that, obscured in the beefy shadows cast by UFC 141 main event combatants Brock Lesnar and Alistair Overeem, there are some pretty good fighters on the Dec. 30 card who are nowhere near the sparkle of the spotlight.

It's true that every UFC event is built around its headliners. And when the fight organization's biggest pay-per-view draw is facing a guy who's nicknamed "Demolition Man" -- but might better be known as "Mystery Man," for all of the intrigue surrounding him -- it's going to be the top story. But the MMA world can use a reminder that the hulking heavies aren't the only ones fighting next weekend.

What about the rising stars in both the lightweight and light heavyweight divisions? Don't forget about the former featherweight championship contender trying to revive his career against a guy who, not long ago, just missed out on a title shot of his own. And then there's the best fighter on the card, one of the sport's pound-for-pound elites.

The best fighter? Pound-for-pound elite? Must be in the co-main event, right? Nope. But I'll get to him later.

First, let's talk about that second-billed bout I just brought up. It features Donald Cerrone, the card's lightweight on the rise, who has won his last six fights, a streak extending back into his days in the WEC. Four of those six fights have earned him either a Fight, Knockout or Submission of the Night bonus. When "The Cowboy" rides into town, he brings the excitement. On Dec. 30, he'd better bring his standup and ground skills, too, because Nate Diaz is a tough hombre to lasso. He was last seen submitting Takanori Gomi in the first round at the end of September. And he's ready for another fight.

The light heavyweight in ascent is Alexander Gustafsson, a 12-1 Swede who has KO'd (eight) or submitted (three) all but one of his conquests. In his most recent fight, in August, he battered Matt Hamill not just into a TKO but into retirement. Now he's stepping up in competition to face veteran Vladimir Matyushenko, whose only UFC loss over the last two years was against Jon Jones (so that shouldn't even count against him, right?). This is the Belarusian's second UFC run -- a decade ago, he challenged Tito Ortiz for the UFC belt. Even at age 40, he should be a test for Gustafsson.

UFC 141's reclamation featherweight is Manny Gamburyan. Just 15 months ago, he was challenging Jose Aldo for what was then the WEC title. Next weekend he'll be fighting way down on the non-televised preliminary card. Talk about a fall from grace. But when the onetime junior Olympian judoko lost the Aldo bout by KO -- no shame there, as Aldo has thunder in his fists -- that was only the first blow he suffered. In his next training camp, he injured his back and was unable to step into the cage until June, whereupon he lost a unanimous decision to Tyson Griffin. Then he went back to training ... and hurt his shoulder. Simply making it into the cage will feel like a victory for Gamburyan. But then he'll have to deal with Diego Nunes, who was on course for a shot at Aldo before being derailed by Kenny Florian in June. He, too, is coming off a training camp injury. Come Dec. 30, it'll be survival of the fittest.

All of these bouts are -- or should be -- prelims setting the stage for an appearance by the evening's best fighter. Jon Fitch might not be the most entertaining guy who's ever walked into the octagon, but you can't argue with his résumé. He's 23-3-1 (one NC) and hasn't been defeated in over three years. What's more, he hasn't lost to anyone other Georges St-Pierre in over nine years, a time period during which he's fought 24 times. In other words, he's the second-best welterweight in the world. Chew on that, Carlos Condit and Nick Diaz, who with GSP healing an injury will fight in February for a UFC interim title -- a designation that's bogus to begin with, but even more so when the "title" bout is being contested without Fitch in it.

That's not to say that neither Condit nor Diaz is equipped to stop Fitch's run. They're both top-of-the-heap welters. Condit has won his last four fights, and 12 of his last 13, and during that run has bettered a few stout contenders. Diaz has won 11 straight, mostly in Strikeforce, where he was champ until vacating the belt in order to challenge St-Pierre. That bout fell apart, so Nick instead faced B.J. Penn, and battered him. Penn, you might recall, tied Fitch in knots for the first half of their February fight, which was declared a draw.

Actually, neither of the interim belt contenders poses the biggest threat to Fitch. The most potent challenge he faces will be standing across the octagon from him on Dec. 30. Fitch, you see, controls fights with his smothering wrestling, a tactic I could imagine him using to neutralize either Condit or Diaz. But when he puts his hands on Johny Hendricks, he'll be grappling with a superior wrestler. At least that's how their respective résumés read. Fitch was a walk-on at Purdue who overachieved his way to become a four-year letter winner. Hendricks was a two-time NCAA Division 1 champion and three-time finalist at Oklahoma State. From a wrestling credentials standpoint, it's no contest. But résumés don't fight. Fighters do. And while Hendricks is 11-1 as a mixed martial artist, with six KOs, he's in for the toughest fight he's ever faced.

No one in the welterweight division other than GSP has shown himself to be the fighter that Jon Fitch is. And no one on the UFC 141 card has, either. That's something for Brock Lesnar and Alistair Overeem to chew on -- neither of them is in the top two in their division, not as long as Junior dos Santos and Cain Velasquez are in town. So next weekend's poster darlings might want to step aside for a moment and let the light shine on the evening's true elite competitor.