[bigboydan]

heres a nice write up i stumbled across for you UFC fans.

The United States has always been allies with our neighbors to the north, that is unless you believe UFC 58: USA vs. Canada or various Hollywood comedies over the years. The March 4th card from the Ultimate Fighting Championship pits fighters from the United States against Canada’s best.


The fight of the year is also expected to be on this card, and its not even the headline fight. The highly anticipated welterweight showdown between Georges ‘Rush’ St. Pierre (11-1) and BJ ‘The Prodigy’ Penn (10-2-1) proves how stacked this division really is. The winner will get a shot at champion Matt Hughes down the road in another mega fight.

Sportbet.com currently has St. Pierre as a $1.50 ‘chalk’ (bet $150 to win $100), while Penn will enter the Octagon as a $1.20 underdog (bet $100 to win $120). St. Pierre is one of the most well-rounded mixed martial artists, and has strung together four impressive victories since falling to Hughes in UFC 50: The War of ‘04.

St. Pierre rebounded from his lone professional setback to pummel Dave Strasser, Jason Miller, Frank Trigg and Sean Sherk. The French Canadian is a dangerous fighter when he establishes his rhythm, and has been focusing on his ground game in New York City with Renzo Gracie for this matchup.

Penn has been away from the Octagon for two years due to a legal dispute with the organization, but has been active since winning the welterweight title from Hughes in UFC 46: Supernatural. The Hawaii native prevailed at 4:39 of the first round compliments of a rare naked choke.

Penn was stripped of that title after fighting in other organizations, and the two sides battled in court. The 27-year-old proceeded with K-1 victories over Duane Ludwig and Renzo Gracie along with a Rumble on the Rock triumph over Rodrigo Gracie. However, Penn did fall to Ryoto Machida via an unanimous decision while fighting at a huge size disadvantage.

Penn is a Brazilian jiu-jitsu specialist, and has competed everywhere from lightweight to heavyweight. He might be battling some ring rust along with St. Pierre since his last fight was that July setback to Machida in a heavyweight matchup.

The main event of the night pits middleweight champion Rich ‘Ace’ Franklin (21-1) against Canadian David ‘The Crow’ Loiseau (15-4). Franklin has been tabbed as a decided $3.25 favorite over the challenger, a $2.45 underdog. The Ohio native has 11 knockout victories to his credit, and 10 submissions.

Franklin is making his second title defense since claiming the belt with a fourth-round technical knockout victory over Evan Tanner in UFC 53: Heavy Hitters. Franklin throttled Nathan Quarry with a first-round knockout in November’s UFC 56: Full Force.

Loiseau has nine knockout victories to his name, and enters this matchup winning his last five fights. The 26-year-old battered Tanner in October’s UFC: Ultimate Fight Night 2 with a technical knockout due to cuts. The French Canadian is widely credited with some of the most lethal elbows in the business, a factor that can stop a fight quickly.

The other fight of interest on Saturday’s card involves Nate Marquardt (25-6-1) against Joe Doerksen (27-7). Sportbet lists Marquardt as the $2.20 ‘chalk,’ while Doerksen entertains a $1.70 underdog status. The winner of this contest continues to move up the middleweight ladder, while the loser will have to pick up the pieces.