Business is beginning to pick up for UFC after a slow start to 2018, and nothing better illustrates that than just how deep Saturday's UFC 225 card from Chicago is slated (knock on wood) to be. 

With two title bouts atop the marquee, the marketable return of former WWE superstar Phil "CM Punk" Brooks and a gluttony of big names on the undercard, UFC 225 isn't short on storylines entering this weekend's tussle at the United Center.

Let's take a closer look at the biggest ones.

1. The UFC middleweight division's circuitous path to clarity. For a division as deep as 185 pounds truly is for UFC, it's refreshing to finally see a fight being contested for the full championship between the two best fighters left standing. Sure, it took running back a rematch from last year's interim title bout between Robert Whittaker and Yoel Romero for us to get there, not to mention a number of other twists and turns along the way. But here we are, and the UFC 225 main event of Whittaker-Romero II has all the makings to be magic as Whittaker looks to make the first defense of the full title he was awarded after Georges St-Pierre quickly vacated the crown he wrestled away from Michael Bisping last November.

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The biggert story here, however, is simply seeing the division move on from Bisping's hijacking of the title and the two-year hold it essentially put on things entering Saturday. Whittaker, 27, has all the makings to be a star and pound-for-pound performer in his first bout back since injuring his leg in an impressive (and exciting) decision over Romero last July. Despite the close loss, and the fact that he missed weight before his next fight, the 41-year-old Romero's destructive knockout of Luke Rockhold in February was so spectacular that it warranted him a second shot at UFC gold. 

2. Ready or not: The CM Punk show returns for as sequel. Outside of the Randy Couture-James Toney carnival from 2010, UFC has typically made it their business in the contemporary era to avoid promoting the kind of circus fights -- meant to spike ratings and spark curiosity -- that Bellator MMA owes much of its success to. That's what makes the second appearance for CM Punk on his two-fight deal (originally signed in 2014, mind you) so peculiar. Although Punk's disastrous 2016 debut at UFC 203 succeeded in attracting pay-per-view viewers, his one-sided loss to Mickey Gall proved one thing above all else: that Punk is, not even remotely, a UFC caliber fighter. At 39, Punk will enter his hometown in an even softer test against videographer and MMA journalist Mike Jackson, whose only other pro fight was set up to showcase Gall as Punk's first opponent. Jackson, by the way, lasted only 45 seconds, which means despite his kickboxing background, that he might be an evenly matched opponent for Punk. That doesn't mean UFC is doing itself any favors by promoting this kind of guilty pleasure fight, on the main card no less. Of course, we will all be watching with car-crash curiosity. That doesn't mean UFC shouldn't be better than this.

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Punk is hoping to make a better second impression at home in Chicago. USATSI

3. Can Colby Covington back up every tasteless word and stunt? Even in a sport where trash talk and self promotion is the currency that opens doors and makes stars, Covington's pro wrestling-inspired shtick comes off forced and artificial. If you have ever been annoyed by his crass attempts at seeking attention, that means he has succeeded. Yet the 30-year-old welterweight contender has a true chance in his interim title bout to prove he's more than just a cut-and-paste Conor McGregor clone and instead a future star on the rise. The test will be a stiff one, however, as lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos is the wrong kind of opponent should Covington's bark end up much more fearless than his bite. RDA has been dominant since moving up to 170 pounds in 2017 and is dead set on securing a unification bout against injured champion Tyron Woodley. 

4. The search for a credible 'Cyborg' foe continues. Finding opponents for UFC women's featherweight champion Cris "Cyborg" Justino in a division that barely exists has been far from an easy task. UFC's website still doesn't list rankings for 145 pounds even though the division has been in existence for close to two years. Former Invicta FC featherweight champion Meghan Anderson, who captured the title after Justino vacated it, was originally scheduled to face "Cyborg" last July but pulled out due to "personal issues." Since then, Justino has destroyed a pair of last-minute replacements (Tonya Evinger and Yana Kunitskaya) by knockout and outpointed a game Holly Holm. UFC will have a chance to use Holm's name once more to shine up an opponent should Anderson defeat her in her promotional debut, which was recently bumped up to the PPV portion of the card. Holm, who intends to move back down to bantamweight win or lose, is hoping a victory gets her closer to a shot at regaining her 135-pound title against Amanda Nunes. 

5. Title implications aplenty on stacked undercard. While rising Australian heavyweight Tai Tuivasa's bout against former champion Andrei Arlovski should tell us more about whether the shoe-drinking wild man is for real, Curtis Blaydes' test against Alistair Overeem could land him a title shot considering how thin the division is. A loaded women's strawweight division could also find itself a future title challenger when former champion Carla Esparza faces former title challenger Claudia Gadelha with much at stake in the hunt for Rose Namajunas' belt. Maybe the most interesting undercard bout, however, will somehow air on UFC Fight Pass during the preliminary card when top-rated flyweight Joseph Benavidez continues his quest toward a third shot at champion Demetrious Johnson when he faces Sergio Pettis.