Title shots and pink slips

With the Ultimate Fighting Championship developing an attitude encouraging fighters to prioritise the entertainment factor over victory, competitors who perform conservatively can wake up with black eyes and the dreaded pink slip.

April's four events feature a raft of debutant fighters who have clogged the roster meaning anyone strapping on a pair of gloves is under pressure to swing for their livelihood.

Amongst the battles where careers may be on the line, there are also several title bouts in April, as the month's action culminates with two of the company's biggest stars.
Controversy

Jon Jones' light-heavyweight championship duel with self-proclaimed bad-guy Chael Sonnen on at UFC 159 will usher in a new era of big-money fights taking precedence and this battle comes with a backlog of controversy.

Back in September, the UFC suffered a PR disaster when Jones refused to defend his belt against Sonnen on short-notice after his original opponent Dan Henderson dropped out.

UFC 151 was cancelled, a feud was ignited and the baby-faced assassin Jones had his back against the wall for the first time in his short, explosive career.

The pair were subsequently booked to coach the recent Ultimate Fighter season 17, concluding in their own title fight at the end of April.

It will be Sonnen's first outing in the 205-pound division after two defeats to middleweight champion Anderson Silva made him a crowd favourite based on his pre-fight hype.

Jones, meanwhile, has taken the UFC by storm, winning five consecutive title matches and is heavy favourite to make it six against the "American Gangster".

The winner of Jones v Sonnen could well face the victor in next week's UFC on Fuel 9 main-event in the near future.
Contention

Alexander Gustafsson welcomes newcomer Gegard Mousasi to his native Sweden knowing that a seventh straight win could propel him into light-heavyweight title contention.

The lanky Swede has never lost in his home country and will be expected to dispatch the Dutchman Mousasi, who is undefeated in six, but lacks any big-name victories.

In the current climate where only the elite few are guaranteed employment, Mousasi will need to prove he belongs in the big leagues, and even if he comes up short, he must go down swinging.

An upset win for the debutant would not only insert him into conversations regarding challenging for the gold, but severely halt Gustafsson's meteoric rise.

In the middleweight division, outspoken Brit Michael Bisping returns to the cage in April's fourth event, UFC 159, to fight long-time adversary Alan Belcher.

The two have traded insults for months and after both lost their last outing, they have been granted a chance to lock horns as a result.

A win for either wouldn't necessarily guarantee a crack at the middleweight title, but regardless of the outcome, both men could be rewarded by their employers if they put on an exciting war with their personal animosity at the forefront.
Champions

Elsewhere, Gilbert Melendez's long-awaited debut arrives at April 20th's UFC on Fox when he is pitted in a champion v champion match with lightweight ace Benson Henderson. Melendez, touted as a future Octagon great, has skipped the queue to fight UFC lightweight champion Henderson on account of holding the 155-pound belt at rival organisation Strikeforce.

Should Henderson record his third title defence then he will arguably have nobody left to beat and could switch divisions in search of new challenges.

However, for Melendez, there are countless mouth-watering fights available in the company's most competitive division regardless of victory or defeat.
Pink slip

Life isn't as rosy for everyone, as Urijah Faber and Scott Jorgensen will attest as they headline the TUF Finale on April 13.

Both have lost to bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz and interim champ Renan Barao, so their relevance in the title picture will diminish totally with a loss in two weeks.

It is the type of position that the UFC hierarchy could do without - Faber and Jorgensen could literally be fighting to stay in a job.
Debuts

The newfound competition for employment is emphasised further on April 27. Daniel Cormier debuts against Frank Mir and Josh Thomson's first fight is with Nate Diaz.

Victories for mainstays Mir and Diaz elevates them closer to title shots whereas if Cormier and Thomson shoot up the rankings with wins, it spells trouble for anybody nervously awaiting a phone call from their boss.

Cormier, who trains with UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez, has made no secret of his intentions to drop down a division and challenge for the light-heavyweight gold.

In this respect, Cormier represents the most highly-anticipated debut in terms of the threat he poses to the dominant Jones.

The colossal Jones v Sonnen fight rightly looms over this month's action while also serving as a reminder of how the UFC does business in 2013 - a lesson that all fighters must heed before they suffer the ultimate knock-out blow.