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Mid-Afternoon Muesli: GSP, WEC, TNA, Roy…

March 25, 2008

It’s been a while since we had some muesli so let’s get back in the mix…

* I attended the Montreal Canadiens-Ottawa Senators hockey game last night at the Bell Centre and amongst the 21,000+ in attendance was none other than Monsieur Georges St.Pierre. Someone interviewed him during the second period and, boy, do the Montreal faithful love GSP. The moment he was shown on the big screen everyone began cheering and when he talked about bringing the title back to Montreal he received an even bigger applause. I’ll say it again: MMA fans have never heard anything like the ovation GSP will receive before the Serra fight. Montreal fans are famous for their extra-long standing O’s and I expect nothing else come 4/19. One would think that Jarry Park would be representing at UFC 83 but someone had the audacity to schedule the event on the first night of a fairly important Jewish holiday so, alas, I will have to watch from home. When I found out about the scheduling snafu I fell into a deep depression and seeing GSP at the Bell Centre last night conjured up some sad emotions but, regardless, April 19th can’t come soon enough. I will be shocked if Serra makes it past the first round.

* Tomorrow kicks off a pretty amazing week in the world of mixed martial arts. First, there’s WEC on Versus and while this card isn’t as stacked as some of the more recent WEC cards these telecasts never seem to disappoint. Of all the WEC champions, Doug Marshall strikes me as the most inexperienced of the bunch but, luckily for him, he’s facing a fighter in Brian Stann who only has four fights under his belt. However, the televised fight I am most looking forward to is Ed Ratcliff vs. Marcus Hicks as the winner will probably earn a shot at Lightweight champ Jamie Varner. Finally, it will be interesting to see how all the “will Paulo Filho fight or not” drama will affect Chael Sonnen in his bout against the undefeated Bryan Barker. If Sonnen loses this bout does he also lose his shot at Filho’s title? That would seem like a huge injustice but it would be strange to have him fight for the title after a loss.

* Following the WEC event, it’s Shamrock vs. Le on Saturday night and I’m very much looking forward to this one. I also agree with Sam Caplan in thinking that Cung Le has a much better chance than others have been giving him against Frank. Throw in Jake Shields, Gilbert Melendez, Nick Diaz and an always hot San Jose card and this should be just as good as Shamrock-Baroni last June. Update: I am considerably less excited for this card. No Jake Shields? What a bummer.

* Then next Wednesday marks another edition of Ultimate Fight Night headlined by Kenny Florian and Joe Lauzon. Die hard MMA fans have been waiting for this three-hour telecast for what seems like forever and I’m guessing it will deliver. UFN 13 will be followed by the season premiere of The Ultimate Fighter 7 with coaches Forrest Griffin and Quinton Jackson. 32 fighters and a couple of quote-machines and I’m thinking that this will be another solid season. We did hear about some “major changes” to the format of the show and I am hoping for a few more surprises than simply doubling the cast.

* Oh yeah, I hear there is some sort of wrestling event going down in Orlando this weekend too. Actually, there are several wrestling events in Orlando. TNA will be shooting it’s first-ever live telecast and Ring of Honor will also be putting on a couple of shows. Is it me or does TNA’s first live show feel like it’s lacking a little excitement? I have always been a huge supporter of live wrestling but I feel like we are going to get the same old product on Thursday. Sorry, an “interactive vote” to determine Awesome Kong’s opponent just doesn’t do it for me. Here’s hoping I’m wrong.

* As I mentioned earlier, I’m back home in Montreal for the next few days and, surprisingly enough, fighting is on everyone’s mind here. That’s because Jonathan Roy, the son of former Habs goalie Patrick, was involved in a pretty brutal hockey fight over the weekend. So brutal that the local authorities have gotten involved! As far as hockey fights go this one is pretty intense but I have to admit hat even I – lover of all things combat – get a weird feeling watching it. When a guy moves into the fetal/turtle position and you continue to land an extra 20 punches to the back of his head I think you deserve to have the police come looking for you. I mean, who does Roy think he is – Babalu?