Saturday night's UFC 83 is headlined by one of the most anticipated mixed martial arts fights in North American history, as UFC welterweight champion Matt Serra takes on Georges St-Pierre, the man he beat a year ago to take the title belt.
The fight is a big one not just for Serra and St-Pierre, but for UFC itself, which has a lot riding on its first ever show in Canada. Fighting in his home town of Montreal, St-Pierre will be the overwhelming fan favorite for what should be the biggest crowd in UFC history.
Here are the details:
What: UFC 83: Serra vs. St-Pierre 2
Who: In addition to the Serra vs. St-Pierre main event, the televised portion of the undercard features Rich Franklin vs. Travis Lutter, Michael Bisping vs. Charles McCarthy, Mark Bocek vs. Mac Danzig and Kalib Starnes vs. Nate Quarry.
When: Saturday, 10 p.m. ET
Where: Bell Centre, Montreal
How: Pay-per-view, $44.95 ($54.95 in HD), or just follow along with the FanHouse live blog.
Predictions after the jump.
Matt Serra vs. Georges St-Pierre
Serra hates it when people suggest that he was lucky when he beat St-Pierre last year, or that he's somehow not a legitimate champion. I agree with him there. But I also agree with those who say that if St-Pierre and Serra fought 10 times, St-Pierre would probably win seven or eight of them. St-Pierre is a more complete fighter than Serra and should avenge his loss.
Predicted winner: St-Pierre
Rich Franklin vs. Travis Lutter
Both fighters are coming off 2007 losses to Anderson Silva, although Lutter's layoff has been much longer. Lutter is under the impression that he's better than Silva, but I think Franklin beats him easily.
Predicted winner: Franklin
Michael Bisping vs. Charles McCarthy
The 14-1 Bisping is coming back from the first loss of his career, a close split decision to Rashad Evans at UFC 78. I expect him to win handily against McCarthy, who's fighting for the first time since the finale of The Ultimate Fighter 4.
Predicted winner: Bisping
Mark Bocek vs. Mac Danzig
Danzig was the winner of The Ultimate Fighter 6, and UFC wants Ultimate Fighter winners to do well professionally. So it's no surprise that they've matched him with Bocek, who's inexperienced and only on the card because he's Canadian.
Predicted winner: Danzig
Kalib Starnes vs. Nate Quarry
I like Quarry a lot and think he could have had a very good MMA career if he hadn't gotten into the fight game so late in life (he's 36 and has only 11 pro matches). He should beat Starnes, another Canadian who will have the crowd behind him.
Predicted winner: Quarry
More information:
Official web site
UFC 81 at Wikipedia
Betting odds
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