Jae Young Kim will be making his middleweight debut on Saturday vs. Brazil's Daniel Acacio.

A total of 15 fights are scheduled for the next installment of the “M-1 Challenge Present by Affliction,” slated to emanate from the Olympic Hall in Seoul, South Korea on Saturday.

The event will be televised live in South Korea on SBS starting at 17:00 local time while non-Korean and American viewers will be able to watch the event live on Internet PPV on M-1Global.com.

In order to prepare you for Saturday’s action, let’s take a team challenge-by-challenge look at what to expect.

Finland (1-1 in team challenges and 6-4 individual) vs..Bulgaria (1-1/5-5) – With only one team win and just five team wins, Bulgaria’s post-season hopes are over. However, a 5-0 victory by Finland on Saturday coupled by a crushing defeat of USA East on Aug. 15 in Amsterdam could allow the Fins to overtake first place in Group C and sneak into the playoffs.

A 5-0 shutout appeared to be a strong possibility until middleweight Lucio Linhares, possibly the best pound-for-pound fighter in the M-1 Challenge right now, was taken off the roster in order to prepare for his fight vs. Mikhail Zayats to take place Aug. 1 at “Trilogy.”

Mikko Suvanto (7-3-1) steps in at middleweight for Linhares, and while not the same caliber fighter, comes highly regarded by his teams. His road to victory was made a little after Jordan Radev’s name was omitted from Bulgaria’s roster. The former UFC fighter is out for unknown reasons and has been replaced by Rosen Dmitriov (5-1).

Even without Linhares, Finland still rates as a formidable team with Nikko Puhaka at lightweight, Janne Tulirinta at welterweight, Marcus Vanttinen at light heavyweight, and Toni Valtonen at heavyweight.

Finland’s strength is at its lighter weights and Yanko Yanev (8-1) and Ivan Ivanov (5-2) will need to pull off upsets against Puhaka and Tulirinta, respectively. Yanev beating Puhaka would not count as a huge surprise, but at 11-3 with three consecutive wins, it’s debatable whether there is a better welterweight in this year’s competition than Tulirinta.

With Vanttinen and Valtonen finishing the best-of-five series out, Finland also has the ability to dominate at the heavyweights. While Yanev and Ivanov have the ability to make things interesting, the best Bulgaria can hope for is a 3-2 upset.

USA West (2-0/8-2) vs. Russia Imperial (0-2/2-8) – At the start of the season, this matchup had the makings as the most-anticipated challenge matchup of the season. However, the defending champions Russia Imperial have fallen on hard times. Despite bringing their entire championship roster back, the team has struggled.

Now, they face the deepest team in this competition in USA West without a single fighter that appeared in the championships last year. Mikhail Malyutin and Alexey Oleinik disappeared from the roster back in May during the Brazil event but now Erik Oganov, Dmitry Samoilov, and Mikhail Zayats will be sitting out this challenge as well.

Imperial is using Saturday’s challenge as a way to get more experience for the next generation of its stars. Lightweight Amirkhan Mazikhov (2-1) and heavyweight Maksim Grishin (2-2) return from Brazil but next to the team are welterweight Matar Ilaev(2-1), middleweight Radmir Gabdullin (4-1) and light heavyweight Viktor Nemkov (4-0).

Gabdullin and Nemkov are especially strong prospects and while USA West have to be viewed as the heavyweight favorites, anything is possible in the M-1 Challenge during a season in which we have seen numerous upsets.

USA West heads into Saturday’s competition without one of its best fighters, light heavyweight Raphael Davis. The accomplished submission grappler is taking some time off in order to get married. He will return for the playoffs but will be replaced in South Korea by Tony Lopez, who is 12-2 and also the King of the Cage light heavyweight champion.

Lopez vs. Nemkov could be an exceptional fight and one that could go either way. Gabdullin’s sambo ability could also neutralize Gina Santana’s (12-1) world class submission ability and if the fight stays standing, things will get interesting.

Santana, who trains under Colin Oyama, has 11 wins via submission with 10 of them coming by way of armbar. Official records on the matter are not kept, but good luck finding a higher armbar-to-win ration than that.

In order for Imperial to pull off the upset, they will need to clinch the best-of-five series before it gets to the heavyweight bout between Grishin and Shane Del Rosario (6-0). Linhares should be viewed as the best pound-for-pound fighter in the M-1 Challenge, but Del Rosario isn’t far behind. Grishin is a tremendous prospect but will be giving up a lot of experience vs. Del Rosario.

While USA West hopes to finish its regular season with an undefeated 3-0 record, Saturday’s series will be an excellent opportunity to evaluate whether Imperial will be able to rebound strong in 2010.

South Korea (1-1/3-7) vs. Brazil Naja (1-1/7-3) – After a fast start during the ’09 opener this past February in Tacoma which saw South Korea upset the defending M-1 Challenge champions Team Imperial, the Koreans suffered a setback this past April in Japan losing to USA West. Now 1-1, South Korea will look to finish the regular season with a 2-1 record as it headlines on its home turf.

With the event being televised live on SBS TV in South Korea and a host of celebrities scheduled to attend the event, the pressure will be felt by the five-man squad. They will not have an easy time at home facing a Brazil team that swept Imperial this past May.

South Korea vs. Brazil will also feature the most anticipated fight of the night, as Brazil’s Eduardo Pamplona is set to square off in a welterweight matchup against South Korea’s Do Hyung Kim. Kim, who competed at lightweight in the opener, is an extremely talented and charismatic fighter. He will have a shot at an upset if he can keep the fight standing and avoid Pamplona’s world class jiu-jitsu skills while also trying to expose his unorthodox striking style.

Another bout to watch is Jae Young Kim vs. Daniel Acacio. Kim once competed at heavyweight and will be making his debut at middleweight after most recently competing at light heavyweight. He is easily the most recognizable fighter on the South Korea team following his massive upset over Mikhail Zayats during the ’09 opener in Tacoma. Acacio will be filling in for Leandro Silva and is more experienced against top level competition than Kim having fought the likes of Mamed Khalidov, Eduardo Pamplona, and Rousimar Palhares.

The main event matchup vs. the Koreans and Brazilians looks very tight on paper and could end in a 3-2 score with the deciding fight coming at heavyweight between South Korea’s Hae Joon Yang and Brazil’s Joaquim “Mamute” Ferreira.