UFC 83 thoughts

- Georges St-Pierre's dominant performance against Matt Serra proved that the first fight between the two was a massive upset. I wouldn't go so far as to say it was a fluke, but if they fought 100 times, "Rush" would win 99. The Canadian was focused and ready, and never gave Serra a chance to settle into the fight. It was a display that silenced the critics who said St-Pierre would crumble under the pressure of fighting in front of his hometown crowd.

- Michael Bisping looked impressive on his middleweight debut. Though Charles McCarthy posed almost no threat, Bisping was sharp, strong and fast on the feet, throwing clean combinations and powerful knees that ultimately ended the fight. "The Count" still has a lot to prove, but he has the ability to be a contender at 185lbs.

- Kalib Starnes should be released from his UFC contract. His running antics during the fight with Nate Quarry were embarrassing and not what you expect to see from a supposed top-level MMA fighter. As I said previously, this fight should have never made it onto the PPV broadcast.

- Mac Danzig vs. Mark Bocek was fight of the fight, in my opinion. Danzig bounced back from a slow start to impressively submit his BJJ black belt opponent, but Bocek showed tons of heart in fighting through a nasty cut and the fatigue that comes with getting beat up for over 10 minutes.

Anyone interested in Quarry vs. Starnes?

Thought not. Quite how this nothing fight made tonight's UFC 83 PPV broadcast while fights between Sam Stout and Rich Clementi and Ed Herman and Demian Maia are buried on the undercard is baffling. The Herman/Maia bout is particularly interesting, as a win for either man puts them in contention in the thin middleweight division.

Herman is coming off a knock-out of Joe Doerksen while Maia is one of the top grapplers in the world who has made a smooth transition to MMA. It's an attractive fight that has a lot of significance at 185lbs.

Yet we're treated to between Starnes - fresh off a decisive loss to Alan Belcher (who is also on tonight's undercard) - and Quarry whose only fight since 2005 was a win over Pete Sell who has lost four of his last five fights.

UFC 83 betting lines

BetUS.com

No surprise that Georges St-Pierre is a huge favourite against Matt Serra. If you fancy Serra to upset the odds once again, the +350 line is good value.

Also good value is Rich Clementi who looked great in his last fight against Melvin Guillard, while his opponent on Saturday, Sam Stout, was lackluster in decisioning Per Eklund at UFC 80. Stout has clean, technical striking, but has shown shortcomings once the fight hits the ground. Clementi has decent stand-up of his own, is tough and has a clear BJJ advantage. If he can get the fight to the floor there's a good chance he could submit Stout.

Can Serra shock the world again?

Matt Serra says the only thing better than shocking the world once, is shocking it for a second time. So can Serra shock the world again by beating Georges St-Pierre on Saturday night to retain the UFC welterweight title?

Many observers have written off Serra's chances. They obviously haven't learned their lesson because 'The Terra' is more than capable of knocking out 'Rush' for the second time in 12 months.

St-Pierre is rightly considered the clear favourite and his past two performances have been impressive to say the least. But if there is one flaw the Canadian has displayed during his 15-2 career, it's his mental game. St-Pierre has admitted he's had problems getting his head in the right place before fights and attributed the loss to Serra to poor mental preparation. So just how will he react to facing the man who brutally knocked him out the last time they fought?

If he's tentative on the feet, Serra has the ability to punish him and the power to end the fight decisively. St-Pierre will have that in the back of his mind and it could affect the way he approaches the fight.

St-Pierre sounds confident in the build-up, however, and if his mental game matches his physical game on Saturday, expect a new champion to be crowned.

If you thought Yamma was bad before...

Josh Gross revealed on his Gross Point Blank show that Yamma promoter Bob Meyrowitz planned to have Gary Goodridge and Butterbean fight in a New York restaurant to drum up publicity for Friday's show.

Two points:

1) Thank God it didn't happen.

2) Yamma needs to die and Meyrowitz should stay as far away from MMA as possible.