The On Deck Circle

This article has been submitted by Paul-choker Kyle Norton.

The Ultimate Fighting Championships have been eyeing a move north of the border for over a year and a half now but have been unable to do so, as UFC President Dana White remarked, because, “You guys have got too much frigging hockey up there.” The UFC had a great deal of trouble securing a date at the Bell Centre that was not in conflict with other events (read: hockey). The original date for their Canadian debut was in April of 2007 but conflicts with Montreal Canadians games led to the cancellation of the event. Almost a year later, the UFC has confirmed that it will host its first event on Canadian soil on April 19th. Tickets officially went on sale Saturday at 12:00PM EST and the event was sold out before 12:01PM EST. UFC 83 has already set two records for mixed martial arts: It was the fastest sell-out in MMA history and it will also be the largest event in North American MMA history with an expected attendance of over 21,000.

The success of UFC 83’s ticket sales couldn’t be better news for Zuffa, the UFC’s parent company. Their recent expansion efforts in Europe have been more challenging than expected, to say the least. For some reason, the UFC in Europe is less popular than my tee-ball coach during jock-strap sizing day. Zuffa has lost money on every European event thus far but they are insistent on spreading their brand internationally. It would seem to make more sense (to me at least) to expand into Mexico and Canada first before shipping the promotion across the Atlantic but Zuffa has always marched to the beat of their own drum. In the wake of UFC 83’s lightning fast sellout, Dana White has also stated that, “it’s safe to say we definitely will be back in Canada after this inaugural event.” I wouldn’t exactly say White is the world’s most trustworthy individual but he would have to be thicker than my little black book to not come back to Canada.

April 19th’s card is headlined by the Welterweight Championship rematch between Matt “The Terror” Serra and George “Rush” St. Pierre. Serra goes into this match looking to prove that his first round knockout of St. Pierre in April of 2007 was no fluke. On the other hand, St. Pierre wants to redeem himself and assert that he is without question the best 170-pound fighter in the world. St. Pierre’s record reads like a who’s who list of top welterweights and his loss to Serra is certainly an aberration. Matt Serra is a good

fighter and a great coach but his 9-4 record is not exactly sterling, especially with losses to Din Thomas and Shonie Carter, who are journeymen at best. Serra has a lot to prove considering he won his title shot by winning a reality show, in which he beat Chris Lytle by a controversial decision.

Disclaimer: George St. Pierre is my favorite fighter and I think he is pound for pound one of the best fighters in the world, SO: In my ever so biased opinion, I think St. Pierre is going to come out and lay a hurting on “The Terror.” His last win was indeed a complete fluke and I think there are a number of welterweights in the UFC that would beat Serra. He is a good fighter but not a great fighter and I just don’t think he has one tool that can threaten St. Pierre. That being said, a fight is a fight and anything can happen (like it did last time). Serra has a puncher’s chance and that’s about it.

Oh ya, and St. Pierre is from Montreal, so he’ll have the crowd behind him, as well.

In other action on April 19th, Rich “Ace” Franklin will take on the other Ultimate Fighter 4: The Comeback winner, Travis Lutter. Lutter failed to make weight for his title shot against Anderson Silva last February and was then submitted by triangle choke/elbows from hell in the second round. In the other corner, Franklin is trying to work his way back to yet another title shot with “the Spider. “Ace” got his face rearranged in his first meeting with Silva and was again demolished a year later when they faced off for a second time. The rest of UFC 83’s card is full of Canadian content; Franklin vs. Lutter is one of only two matches without a Canadian.

Nate “the Rock” Quarry continues his remarkable comeback after career threatening back surgery against Revolution Fight Team member Kalib Starnes (Surrey, BC). Quarry knocked out all of his opponents in his first three fights in the UFC and earned a title shot in which he was given a taste of his own medicine, a first round KO at the hands of Rich Franklin. In his first fight in almost two years, Quarry looked gun-shy against Pete Sell until well into the second round. In the third, however, Quarry looked comfortable in the pocket, scoring an impressive KO. Starnes will be hungry for a win coming into this fight because he knows he can’t afford to let his record slip to 2-3 inside the Octagon.

Michael “The Count” Bisping will make his debut at 185 pounds and personally, I believe he could be very dangerous at middleweight. He won’t come into the fight much lighter than when he was fighting at 205 pounds but will no longer be giving up size to all of his opponents. He will get a relatively soft landing into the middleweight division with a match-up against Charles “Chainsaw” McCarthy, who is most well known for his highlight reel knock out loss to David Loiseau.

In a lightweight match up, The Ultimate Fighter 6 winner, Mac Danzig, will face-off against Canadian grappling phenom Mark Bocek (Woodbridge, ON). This is Bocek’s first opportunity on the main card of a UFC event and could take a big step in his career with a win over the TV star Danzig. Defeating Mac “My name is so cool that I don’t even need a nickname” Danzig will be no easy task. Danzig is very well rounded, has a ton of experience and since 2004 has only lost to some of the world’s best (#2 Lightweight Hyato Sakurai and the very underrated Clay French by split decision).

In non-televised action, a refocused Sam “Hands of Stone” Stout (London, Ontario) will take on Rich “Little man’s syndrom is why I have no friends” Clementi. Stout has a ton of potential to be a top lightweight and now that he is training with Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas he should start to impress a lot of people. He will be putting a beating on journeyman Rich “No Love” Clementi, who is an annoying little man.

In an all-Canadian bout, Jason “the Athlete” McDonald (Edmonton, Alta) takes on Joe “El Dirte” Doerksen (Winnipeg, Man) in a rematch of their 2005 bout, which ended in a Doerksen rear naked choke victory. Doerksen is always dangerous, especially on the ground and McDonald is looking to bounce back from his very disappointing (and boring) decision loss to Yushin Okami, in which “the Athlete” was very cautious to engage, which is the nicest way I could describe that showing.

The last announced fight of the card features Jonathan “the Road Warrior” Goulet (Victoriaville, Que) taking on Kuniyoshi Hironaka. Goulet has had a rocky tenure in the UFC going 3-3 against marginal opponents with the exception of his first round KO loss to Josh Koscheck. The 11-4 Hironaka has three losses to very tough opponents (Jon Fitch, Thiago Alves, and Shinya Aoki) but is a very talented fighter with wins over Nick Diaz, Renato Verissimo and Ryan Shultz. This match could be a “loser leaves town” fight so the intensity should be high.

Overall, this is a very exciting card for Canadian mixed martial arts fans and should be a great event. The UFC is currently arranging for alternative ways for fans who were fast enough with their computer mice to partake in the festivities. The success of UFC 83 says a lot about the popularity of MMA in Canada and could go a long way in helping Canadian based promotions secure more lucrative sponsorship and aid in lobbying the Ontario government to sanction mixed martial arts. Check back for updates and fight-by-fight breakdowns closer to April 19.

This article has been submitted by Paul-choker Kyle Norton.