UFC 293 takes place Saturday night in Sydney, Australia. Although it's not the strongest card when it comes to regular pay-per-view events, it should still be a fun night of fights given the contingent of Oceanic fighters.

In the headliner, we have Israel Adesanya and Sean Strickland colliding for the middleweight title. The co-main event, meanwhile, features a heavyweight clash between Tai Tuivasa and Alexander Volkov. Exciting flyweight contender Manel Kape is also on the card as he takes on the debuting Felipe dos Santos on short notice.

So with all that said, here are five of the biggest questions leading up to the UFC 293 pay-per-view event.

1. Will Israel Adesanya look for the finish?

Barring the Alex Pereira fights, Adesanya's recent middleweight title fights haven't really been exciting for the most part. They're usually decision wins with Adesanya either looking to counter or pepper his opponents with leg kicks. It makes plenty of sense as he's the champion who doesn't need to take a risk. He isn't to fully blame either as it's down on the contender to take the initiative. However, Adesanya's contenders usually end up fighting safe in fear of his counter striking which can lead to a drab fight overall.

That said, Adesanya usually turns things up especially when it's a fighter he doesn't like — see Paulo Costa. Strickland's trash talking of “The Last Stylebender” has gone into overdrive with fight week finally here and it's safe to say Adesanya wants to shut him up bad. And so, will Adesanya look to get a straight forward win by simply outclassing Strickland or will he look to make a statement and deliver a brutal knockout? That's one thing to look out for on Saturday night.

2. Will Sean Strickland utilize his grappling?

Strickland primarily chooses to box with his unique upward stance and highly-effective jabbing game. That likely won't work against someone as high level a striker as Adesanya and given that Strickland doesn't have pure knockout power, standing with the champion doesn't seem like the best idea.

And so, will he look to grapple? Strickland certainly can grapple, but taking his opponents down is not something he proactively looks to do.

“We’ve been grappling our f*****g asses off,” Strickland told MMA Junkie. “We’ve been doing all the work. But when I get in there, sometimes the retard takes over. Sometimes the CTE takes over. I’m like, ‘We’ll be f****g kickboxing.’ So we’ll find out.”

3. Would an Israel Adesanya defeat be the biggest upset of all time?

Given that most expect Adesanya to emerge victorious in straight forward fashion, would an upset be the biggest in UFC history? As far as odds go, that's certainly not the case. It's hard to beat Georges St-Pierre vs. Matt Serra or Amanda Nunes vs. Julianna Pena in that regard. But in terms of a stylistic matchup, it would certainly be up there, especially if Strickland were to somehow win by knockout.

Crazier things have happened.

4. Can Tai Tuivasa avoid another three-fight losing streak?

Tai Tuivasa finds himself in familiar territory ahead of his fight with Volkov. He's currently on a two-fight losing streak and it was only back in 2019 where a three-fight skid saw him get cut from the UFC. While Tuivasa has more than likely generated enough stock to avoid that happening again, it wouldn't be ideal for him to lose three in a row again especially as he was so close to entering title contention just a year ago.

Volkov is a tricky opponent as well but Tuivasa has the advantage of fighting at home in Sydney as well as youth on his side. The question therefore is, can he use these advantages to snap his losing streak in a big way?

5. Will this be Manel Kape's only fight of 2023?

Manel Kape is on a three-fight winning streak and is one of the most exciting flyweights in the UFC. However, he's had some rotten luck ever since arriving in the UFC from RIZIN. For starters, his first two booked fights in the UFC collapsed before he ended up losing his first two UFC fights by decision. He would return to winning ways by finishing Ode Osbourne and Zhalgas Zhumagulov, but would receive more rotten luck — five of his last scheduled six fights have all been called off.

That includes his original fight at UFC 293 which was to be against one of the top contenders in Kai Kara-France. But with Kara-France pulling out due to injury, Kape will now face promotional newcomer Felipe dos Santos on short notice. Remarkably, it'll be his first fight of the year and it's one where he has little to gain and lots to lose.

But should he win as expected, could he opt for one more fight in 2023? Given his inactivity, that may very well be the case.