With a pair of title bouts atop the marquee at American Airlines Center in Dallas on Saturday, UFC 228 has all the makings to be an exciting card of action. 

Welterweight Tyron Woodley returns from a 13-month layoff in search of his fourth title defense when he faces brash newcomer Darren Till and Nicco Montano brings her perviously unheralded women's flyweight title against former bantamweight contender Valentina Shevchenko. 

Let's take a closer look at the biggest storylines heading into this weekend's card.

1. UFC just might have a welterweight slugfest on its hands in Woodley-Till. Not only has Woodley, a former All-American wrestler at Missouri, evolved into one of UFC's most dangerous punchers in recent years, his opponent presents him with one of the most physically daunting challenges available at 170 pounds. Till, a native of Liverpool, England, who calls himself "The Gorilla," has sort of infamously proven that the cut to welterweight is no easy task for him. But the 6-foot-1 slugger, when he does make weight, is huge for the division with a reputation of walking his opponents down and landing big shots from the southpaw stance. While Woodley appears to have the advantage in most categories, one big shot -- similar to the one Woodley landed on Robbie Lawler to win the title in 2016 -- can turn this bout into a fight-or-flight scenario for the champion. The fact that Till is so hungry and confident could mean he'll flirt with the danger of being knocked cold himself in order to bait Woodley into a war. Score one for the fans, if so. 

2. Wait a second, are we sure Till is even deserving of a title opportunity? If we're being honest here, the real answer is no. It's obvious the marketing potential that UFC sees in the 25-year-old, who bares many resemblances to Conor McGregor from the standpoint of fighting style, confidence and an ability to talk. It's because of that, of course, that Till was fast-tracked into a title shot in the same way Francis Ngannou was against Stipe Miocic in January, just one month after he obliterated Alistair Overeem and had UFC president Dana White believing he had found MMA's version of Mike Tyson. Although Till is 5-0-1 since his 2015 UFC debut, the marks against him are glaring. Till failed to make weight by a staggering four pounds in his highest-profile bout to date when he scored a unanimous decision over top contender Stephen Thompson in May. The fact that Till, who was fighting in front of a rabid crowd in Liverpool, took home what many called a favorable hometown decision didn't help matters. Till also leapfrogged interim champion Colby Covington in a rightfully derided decision by UFC to strip Covington of his title simply for saying he wouldn't be physically read to unify against Woodley until October. 

3. Montano's pursuit to become anything more than a historical footnote. When Montano, 29, made her UFC debut in the inaugural title bout of the promotion's newest division last December, she was just 3-2 as a professional and fresh off a defeat when she rallied from the No. 14 seed to win "The Ultimate Fighter: A New World Champion" season. While Montano deserves credit for going 3-0 in exhibition bouts on the show against quality competition, her flyweight title win over late-replacement Roxanne Modafferi (a 35-year-old female pioneer whose 22-14 record makes her the literal definition of a journeyman fighter among UFC women) carried with it as little fanfare as a modern UFC title bout has seen. Now she faces Shevchenko, one of the top female fighters in the world, who one could argue the 125-pound division was essentially created for. Fresh off a dominant flyweight debut and a bantamweight run that was only spoiled by a pair of close decision defeats to champion Amanda Nunes, Shevchenko enters as the largest betting favorite for a title challenger in UFC history. Montano is not only a long shot to retain her title, like inaugural featherweight champion Germaine de Randamie, she'll need to work hard to become anything more than a trivia question answer. 

4. Will the next women's strawweight title challenger please stand up? As far as main card pay-per-view bouts that promise action go, UFC could do a lot worse than Jessica Andrade-Karolina Kowalkiewicz. Both fighters are volume strikers who previously came up short against then-champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk over the past two years. Both have also rebounded nicely to win two straight and find themselves likely on the doorstep of a shot at new champion Rose Namajunas with a victory. 

5. Enjoy at least once more whatever Diego Sanchez and Jim Miller have left. It's always difficult to see fun fighters from a previous era hang on too long as hard-fought losses pile up in the twilight of their careers. Longtime welterweight veteran Jake Ellenberger announced his retirement inside the cage, for example, two weeks ago when a knockout loss to Bryan Barberena signaled his fourth straight and sixth in his last seven fights after a 21-fight run in UFC. Both Sanchez, a former TUF winner and celebrated brawler, and the dependably rugged Miller could be in the same boat with a loss of any kind on Saturday. No, they aren't fighting each other (that happened at UFC 196 in 2016 with Sanchez winning a decision). But Sanchez brings a mark of just 4-7 since 2012 and two straight knockout defeats to his welterweight bout against Craig White in the preliminary card main event. One fight earlier, Miller faces fellow lightweight Alex White in hopes of snapping a four-fight losing streak including eight losses in his last 12 bouts. Both fighters made their UFC debuts during the George W. Bush administration and both have built a legacy based on toughness and honesty inside the Octagon.