(Photo courtesy of Mark J. Rebilas.)
 
For nearly two years, UFC 66 — which featured the light-heavyweight title bout between the organization’s two biggest stars, Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz — was the UFC’s best-selling pay-per-view card of all time, with an estimated 1,050,000 buys. Few UFC events even came close to the lofty record, until UFC 91 in November almost surpassed it on the strength of the Couture/Lesnar superfight, bringing in a reported 1,010,000 buys. A month later, the stacked-to-death "Ultimate 2008" card smashed the old record with 1,200,000 buys. And now, if Dana White is to be believed, last Saturday’s UFC 94 show has broken the record again, with an estimated 1,300,000+ pay-per-view buys. That figure even beats the 1,250,000 buys that the Oscar De La Hoya/Manny Pacquiao boxing match pulled down in December. 

Could the UFC be a recession-proof business, with a steadily growing base of consumers? Or are the killer numbers for St. Pierre vs. Penn 2 a direct result of the event’s marketing blitz, which included the flashy new documentary series UFC Primetime? And how long will this new record last? Though there are no bonafide superfights on the schedule right now, DW reminds us that we have Mir/Lesnar, Penn/Florian, Rashad Evans’s first title defense, and Randy Couture’s next fight coming up, so there’s no shortage of great matchups to be had. Meanwhile, the UFC’s competition is thrilled to get 150,000-200,000 buys, which just illustrates the gulf in success between the top MMA outfit in the world and everybody else.

Unfortunately, not all is rosy in the financial realm of Zuffa. Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta’s Station Casinos empire announced that it would be going through a "prepackaged bankruptcy" to avoid being crushed by the $2 billion in debts it accrued when the company went private in 2007. Station has been one of the hardest-hit casino groups during the current economic downturn, which has greatly affected Las Vegas’s tourism and real estate markets.

(Props: ‘Card’ on the UG)

Hey look, it’s another demo trailer for UFC Undisputed, which now has a 6/2/09 release date. I’m still not sold on the way faces look in this thing, particularly when Penn’s slapping himself in the mug or when Edith is blowing a kiss to the camera. But the gameplay looks solid, and we can only hope that the real action on Saturday night is as crazy as what we see here. Still, if this is all just a little too high-tech for you…

(Props: MMA Scraps)

…you may be interested in this remix of Georges St. Pierre‘s fight against Jay Hieron at UFC 48, done in the style of Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!! Hieron’s brief loss of consciousness at the 1:06 mark is even more entertaining with 8-bit sound effects.

After the jump: Nate Diaz explains why he stormed out of the press conference after UFC Fight Night 15 — like everything he says, it makes a lot of sense — and he and Clay Guida discuss pace and height difference for their matchup on Saturday. Also, complete footage of yesterday’s UFC press conference at the MGM’s Hollywood Theatre in Las Vegas, featuring Georges St. Pierre, BJ Penn, Lyoto Machida, and Thiago Silva.

(Even more badass than AVP. Props: TheGARV)

It’s good to see the UFC stepping up their poster-game. The above promo image for UFC 94 (January 31st, Las Vegas) is a massive improvement from their previous artistic works — and it’s also a sign of how seriously the UFC is taking the promotion of this match. The premiere of "UFC Primetime: St. Pierre vs. Penn" will go down tonight at 10 p.m. ET/PT on Spike, and from what we hear, it’ll be a truly first-class, must-see production. And if that doesn’t get you psyched, just listen to this killer jam from TheGARV. I smell megahit.

FYI, the full card for "St. Pierre vs. Penn 2" was finalized last Friday. To refresh you…

MAIN CARD
Georges St. Pierre vs. BJ Penn (for welterweight title)
Lyoto Machida vs. Thiago Silva (LHW)
Stephan Bonnar vs. Jon Jones (LHW)
Karo Parisyan vs. Dong Hyun Kim (WW)
Nate Diaz vs. Clay Guida (LW)

UNDERCARD
Jon Fitch vs. Akihiro Gono (WW)
Manny Gamburyan vs. Thiago Tavares (LW)
Chris Wilson vs. John Howard (WW)
Jake O’Brien vs. Christian Wellisch (HW)
Matt Arroyo vs. Dan Cramer (WW)

(Props: MMA Mania)

The UFC has confirmed the full lineup for UFC 94: St Pierre vs. Penn 2 (January 31st, Las Vegas), and you’ll be pleased to learn that it’s nearly as stacked as this Saturday’s "Ultimate 2008." So stacked, in fact, that Jon Fitch’s fight against Akihiro Gono is slated for the undercard, and may not be televised. Could this be the UFC’s passive-aggressive punishment for the video game licensing agreement drama that led to Fitch being fired for a day? Fitch/Gono does seem more main-card-worthy than Bonnar/Jones, after all. Anyway, check out the lineup below and draw your own conclusions…

Main Card
Georges St. Pierre vs. BJ Penn (for welterweight championship)
Lyoto Machida vs. Thiago Silva (LHW)
Stephan Bonnar vs. Jon Jones (LHW)
Karo Parisyan vs. Dong Hyun Kim (WW)
Nate Diaz vs. Clay Guida (LW)

Undercard
Jon Fitch vs. Akihiro Gono (WW)
Manny Gamburyan vs. Thiago Tavares (LW)
Chris Wilson vs. John Howard (WW)
Jake O’Brien vs. Christian Wellisch (HW)
Matt Arroyo vs. Daniel Cramer (WW)

Related: Georges St. Pierre has been named Sportsnet.ca’s 2008 Canadian Athlete of the Year, after taking in 89% of fans’ votes. GSP beat out wheelchair racer Chantal Petitclerc, Calgary Flames captain Jarome Iginla, Minnesota Twins first-baseman Justin Morneau, and tennis player Daniel Nestor. Said St. Pierre: “It’s an honor for me to have this award and being the first MMA guy to receive something like this…I want to be a good Canadian ambassador for the sport and represent MMA well."

(Props: MMA Mania)

As Georges St. Pierre explains in his latest blog post for Yardbarker:

Thursday a.m. I went to a radio show with BJ and they gave me a taste of Hawaiian cuisine. In the beginning when I took my bite — before I swallowed it they told me it was cat. So I right away spit it out because I thought it was true. And then after they told me it was a joke. It was pork — a piece of pork in pasta — it was pretty good.

Quite a good sport, that GSP. Some other highlights from his blog…

— "I was sitting right next to Brock Lesnar’s parents [at UFC 91]. They are very nice guys — I was expecting his parents to be very tall and very big, you know? But they’re normal size — I mean they’re tall, but not as tall as Brock. We had a good talk, and I really had a good time with them."

— "At night we went to the Maple Leafs game. It was very funny because they made me do an announcement on the screen in front of everybody in the Air Canada Center with a Maple Leafs jersey. I said ‘To the Count of Three, I want everybody to get very noisy’. Then the crowd went nuts, they applaud me. When the camera went off me, I sat down and took my jersey off. And when I was taking my jersey off, the camera came back on me and the crowd started booing me because they know I’m from Montreal and I’m a Montreal Canadiens fan. I thought it was very funny."

To read the rest, click here.

(Photo courtesy of gspmma.wordpress.com.)

From Georges St. Pierre‘s latest blog entry for Yardbarker.com:

Before going to Brazil, I had a call from one of my friends who told me that Denis Kang won his fight against Marvin Eastman by TKO in the first minute of the fight. It made me a feel good because it brings a good vibe to the team, and like Tseng Tsu says in the Art of War, battles are won by momentum. I’m also very happy because I also learned he’ll soon be fighting in the UFC, so for the first time since we started training together, we’ll be able to fight in the same organization.

I flew to Brazil Sunday night, and after a long flight I got into Rio de Janeiro. But after the flight I was very tired because I cannot sleep on the plane, so I had to take the morning off from training to take a nap of a couple of hours. I started my training Monday night after my nap, and I quickly found out that even though I just earned my black belt in BJJ, there are still a lot of guys better than me in this sport at Gracie Barra Academy. I got tapped so many times during my training there and I learned so many new tools that just for that alone, this trip was worth it. I met a bunch of new training partners and good friends as well in Brazil. My friend Cleo from Montreal went with me and was teaching a wrestling class during the day where were training a lot of takedowns and takedown defense, plus MMA sparring as well. At night I was also doing BJJ with the gi to improve my ground skill and knowledge.

During the week, one of the valets at the hotel was very nice with me it was nice to meet someone who spoke French very well. Every time a pretty woman was passing by him, he was making a comment in French about how beautiful and sexy she was…

I think there’s also a section in The Art of War about casually mentioning that you got “tapped so many times” in training in order to bait your enemy into going to the ground with you. Don’t fall for it, BJ! To read the rest of GSP’s post, click here. Unfortunately, Rush never mentions if the valet’s obscene French catcalls successfully got him laid.

(OMG, we have so much in common! Props to HardfortheYard.)

From Georges St. Pierre’s latest blog entry for our good buddies at Yardbarker.com:

I’m on my way to Brazil, but I stopped off in Chicago to see my training partner Patrick Cote fight for the world middleweight title against Anderson Silva. While I believe he was the first fighter to make it into the 3rd round against Anderson, it’s sad to see him lose the way that he did, because of a knee injury. Patrick has a loose ACL even before, and he had been able to fight 3 fights with it, but unfortunately this one was too much for his knee. I think he was doing pretty well against Anderson, and it was a smart strategy for him to bring the fight into the later rounds. I was very impressed by the performance of Thiago Alves — he showed everybody why he belongs in the top fighters in the welterweight division. Of course, it’s up to the UFC, but I think he will be one of my next opponents pretty soon.

So start getting psyched for St. Pierre/Alves. Pitbull definitely earned his shot with his three-round domination of Josh Koscheck on Saturday night, and he could easily turn out to be St. Pierre’s most challenging title defense yet. To read GSP’s thoughts on his new BJJ black belt (congrats!), his new condo in Ile-des-soeurs, and his recent photo shoot for the cover of Men’s Fitness, read the rest of his blog post here.

(Photo courtesy of NationalPost.)

From Georges St. Pierre‘s latest blog entry for Yardbarker.com:

First I want to thank everybody for their get well wishes — I feel way better right now than I felt when I came back from L.A. It took me 3 days to recuperate and get back 100%. I didn’t take any medication — I just slept better and trained to sweat it out. After I felt better, I went to New York to see my trainer Phil Nurse and train with 4 of his students who had an upcoming fight at The Wat — Brett, Sean, Nicholas & Stan. It seems to me that every time I go to New York, those guys get better & better all the time. I also saw my old friends Eric Owing & Andre Gusmao — we went to dinner and then out together for a great night.

Then I came back in Montreal with new tricks and more tools than I had before I went to New York. It’s very important for me to help my friends and training partners when they need it because they were there for me when I prepare for my fights. When I came back to Montreal, I kept training with Patrick Cote & Denis Kang, who are both fighting on October 25th. Kang is fighting in Calgary, and Patrick Cote is fighting Anderson Silva for the UFC World Middleweight Championship. Patrick looks better than I have ever seen — even though the odds are not in his favor, I would not be surprised to see him shock the world. It would be great to have world champions in Quebec!

Georges Laraque, one of my friends who also plays for the Montreal Canadiens hockey team, gave me two tickets to go see their game Saturday night. Even though it was an off-season game, it was very fun and then after I went to see EliteXC at a friend’s house.

Gina did a nice performance and I’m glad for her because she also represents the sport very well. The main event was obviously a tough situation because Ken had to pull out because of a cut…and I have a lot of respect for Seth & Kimbo to still go out and put on the fight for the fans.

To see what GSP has to say about his latest deal with CAA Sports, training at Team Jackson, and his mentor Krystoff Midoux, read the rest of this post here.

(“I see you can ‘andle my riddum.”)

In an interview with Kevin Iole of Yahoo! Sports, Dana White confirmed that BJ Penn and George St. Pierre would have their rematch at the UFC’s Super Bowl weekend event on January 31st, 2009, in Las Vegas. GSP’s welterweight belt will be on the line.

White also confirmed that UFC 91 will be held November 15th in Portland, Oregon, and will indeed feature a lightweight bout between Kenny Florian and Joe Stevenson. (We can safely infer now that BJ Penn won’t be fighting again at the end of the year.) When asked about Wanderlei Silva’s next Octagon appearance, White would only say that the Axe Murderer probably wouldn’t be part of their December 27th event in Las Vegas — which could mean they’re still pushing for him to headline the Portland card against Quinton Jackson, or that they’re extending his hiatus until early ’09.

“We have nothing but big fights left for the rest of the year, but this is so crazy because there are so many of them,” White said. “We’re going to have a retreat on Monday to figure this all out.” Here’s what’s on the dry-erase board at this point…

UFC 88 (September 6th, Atlanta): Liddell/Evans, Franklin/Hamill, Parisyan/Yoshida, Henderson/Palhares

UFC Fight Night 15 (September 17th, Omaha): Diaz/Neer, Danzig/Guida, Alexander/Schafer, Lauzon/Bradley

UFC 89 (October 18th; Birmingham, England): Bisping/Leben, Machida/T. Silva, Jardine/Vera, Sokoudjou/Cane, Carwin/Wain

UFC 90 (October 25th, Chicago): A. Silva/Cote, Sanchez/Alves, Sherk/Griffin, Franca/Tibau

UFC 91 (November 15th, Portland): Florian/Stevenson

The Ultimate Fighter 8 Finale (December 13th, Las Vegas): no fights announced yet

UFC 92 (December 27th, Las Vegas): Nogueira/Mir

UFC 93 (January 31st, Las Vegas): Penn/St. Pierre

Just as Kenny Florian won’t be sitting on the bench until BJ Penn decides to give him a title shot, Penn also wants to get another fight in by the year’s end, even though Georges St. Pierre has said he doesn’t plan on returning to the Octagon until 2009. According to a report by MMA News, BJ’s brother JD has confirmed that the UFC’s lightweight champ is back in the gym and training for a fight in December, and his fight against GSP will likely be pushed back until February 2009 when the UFC holds it’s Superbowl Weekend card.

So maybe a Penn/Florian title fight at the end of the year is still a possibility? Then again, JD’s claim that BJ will fight in both late December (against TBA) and early February (against GSP) is so unlikely it’s barely worth discussing.

The good news is, the UFC’s year-end card could wind up being so stacked that it doesn’t even need a high-profile BJ Penn fight in the lineup. Besides the heavyweight title match between Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Frank Mir, NBCSports has suggested that a superfight between Anderson Silva and Chuck Liddell as well as a light-heavyweight title match between Forrest Griffin and Wanderlei Silva are both outside possibilities. (It’s also been reported that the UFC is trying to set up a fight between Quinton Jackson and Wanderlei Silva for a November event, despite Silva’s preference to fight on the December card.)

Potentially related: If Tyson Griffin beats Sean Sherk, he wants Kenny Florian next.

(Photo courtesy of UFC.com)

Some fun facts coming out of Minneapolis…

According to Dana White, the Target Center hosted 15,082 spectators for UFC 87, and banked a live gate total of $2,252,000, breaking the venue’s former record gate ($2,062,000) set by a Billy Joel/Elton John concert in 2001. It was the first UFC event held in Minnesota, and White hinted that the UFC could return to the Land of 10,000 Lakes in the future.

As for medical suspensions, the fighters of “Seek and Destroy” got off easily, with just four participants picking up 30-day time-outs. They are: Georges St. Pierre (cuts), Jon Fitch (cuts), Ryan Thomas (cuts), and Dan Evensen (precautionary due to KO). Strangely, the also-knocked-out Manvel Gamburyan and the whaled-on Heath Herring managed to escape the suspensions. Minnesota seems to have a “rub some dirt on it” attitude when it comes to fighter injuries, and that’s cool with us. Unfortunately, they also have a “none of your goddamned business” attitude when it comes to fighter payouts — apparently, UFC salaries will not be released in Minnesota as part of the state’s freedom of information legislation.

(Props to Crazy Zimmerman and ZzFDKzZ on the UG)

(Photo courtesy of UFC.com.)

It’s time, baby. Jon Fitch attempts to steal Georges St. Pierre’s welterweight belt, Kenny Florian and Roger Huerta throw down in a lightweight #1 contender “definitely in the mix” match, and Brock Lesnar smash face. Hit that “more” link and refresh the page every few minutes to read all the latest from the Target Center in Minneapolis, MN. Low prices every day — caged death tonight.

(“Considering our fight is pretty much meaningless now, we’re just gonna bro out for a while, if that’s cool.”)

Partly because of BJ Penn’s restlessness and partly because of Roger Huerta’s stalled contract negotiations the UFC is no longer promising that the winner of Saturday’s match between El Matador and Kenny Florian will get an immediate title shot. During an appearance on TAGG Radio, Dana White edited previous statements about the fight’s #1 contender status:

“There’s no guarantees that Florian and Huerta are going to get a title shot after this fight,” White said of Saturday’s lightweight bout. “It definitely puts them in the mix … but definitely, if St. Pierre beats Fitch, it’s looking like it’ll be GSP (vs.) B.J. Penn.”

The thing is, that’s not exactly how Penn sees it. The Prodigy recently told MMA Weekly that he’s 170-bound no matter what happens in tomorrow night’s main event:

“I’d feel okay facing anyone for the welterweight title…It would be great to put on a big fight with me and St-Pierre, but then again, it’s about me fighting the best fighter and if Fitch goes down and proves he’s the best fighter, then he’s the man.”

…so said Silva’s manager Ed Soares, when asked by ProMMARadio about a potential Georges St. Pierre/Anderson Silva superfight:

“That sounds great, I think GSP is an incredible fighter. But I think GSP needs to prove himself. He still hasn’t had a successful title defense (at 170 lbs.). I don’t really feel that he deserves (a Silva fight) yet. Go defend your title a few times and then we’ll talk.”

The thing is, St. Pierre has proven himself many times over to be an elite-level fighter, and Soares is veering uncomfortably close to Juanito Ibarra territory, wild statement-wise. But what makes his dismissal of GSP particularly ironic is that Spider’s next fight is likely going to be against Patrick Cote, who doesn’t deserve to be in the same room as Silva or GSP. With Yushin Okami suffering a broken hand, Cote is really and truly next in line for a title shot; that little shitshow could happen at UFC 88 (September 6th, Atlanta).

A relatively one-dimensional striker, Cote doesn’t bring any more to the table than James Irvin did, and their bout will almost certainly be another brief exhibition for Silva. The silver lining is that with this belt-defense obligation out of the way quickly, Silva will be free to “test the waters” at light-heavyweight again — and he does plan on fighting at least one more time before the end of the year.

Sort of related: “UFC Silva vs. Irvin” was a ratings smash. The broadcast averaged 3.1 million viewers, peaked at 3.8 million viewers, and according to SpikeTV, beat all basic cable and broadcast networks in that timeslot for the “males 18-49″ and “males/females 18-34″ demographics.

Dana White has confirmed what BJ Penn has been talking about since last week — a rematch between Penn and Georges St. Pierre could happen by the end of the year:

“If St. Pierre buzzsaws through (Jon) Fitch then yes, we’ll do Penn vs. GSP,” said White.

Though by no means guaranteed, GSP buzzsawing through Fitch is a likely scenario, and Penn would be granted an opportunity to avenge his UFC 58 split decision loss against St. Pierre. Which means, theoretically, Penn could become the UFC’s first two-division champion well before Anderson Silva, who will be attempting the same feat. A lot of “if”s there, I know, but the possibility is compelling. Who ya got on GSP/BJ 2?

In other UFC news…

— Early speculation points to UFC 90 being held on October 25th in Chicago. This would depend on a SpikeTV deal being locked down for UFC 89: Bisping vs. Lebven, which would be held just a week earlier.

— Medical suspensions for UFC 86 have been released, and Quinton Jackson, Marcus Aurelio, Justin McCully, and Jorge Gurgel could potentially be out of commission until January.

— The UFC wants you to know that you can watch all of Anderson Silva’s UFC and PRIDE fights on UFC.com for $9.99. I guess this is for people who don’t have Google?

(Is GSP having the best year ever?)

Georges St. Pierre is going up against boxers Kelly Pavlik, Floyd Mayweather Jr., Joe Calzaghe, and Holly Holm in the “Best Fighter” category of ESPN’s 2008 ESPY Awards. The ceremony — hosted by Justin Timberlake, of all people — will be broadcast on ESPN July 20th at 9 p.m. ET. Last year, Money Mayweather took home the statue, beating out Randy Couture and Quinton Jackson (as well as boxers Miguel Cotto and Manny Pacquiao). This kind of snub must not happen again — head to the ESPY site, register and place your vote for the UFC’s welterweight champ. Obviously, Anderson Silva should be a nominee as well, but he already has that highly-prestigious SpikeTV Guys’ Choice Award, and ESPN probably figured it would simply be too much recognition for one man.

As we approach the big showdown on Saturday night, here’s some lesser-known Georges St. Pierre fights to get you in the mood. First, it’s St. Pierre’s second Octagon appearance at UFC 48, where he beats down current IFL welterweight champ Jay Hieron in under two minutes. Next, it’s GSP’s first pro fight, where Rush staves off the scrappy Ivan Menjivar to score a very questionable TKO via verbal tapout at the end of the first round. And finally, it’s the “GoldenPalace.com” TKO fight against Dave Strasser, which St. Pierre took after his first career loss (vs. Matt Hughes at UFC 50); lovely half-guard to side-control pass at 5:11 and the fight-ending kimura is just as slick.

(GSP vs. Jay Hieron, UFC 48, 6/19/04)

(GSP vs. Ivan Menjivar, UCC 7, 1/25/02; fight starts at the 4:06 mark)

(GSP vs. Dave Strasser, TKO 19, 1/29/05; fight starts at the 3:57 mark)

Props: MMAScraps

For us, it really comes down to which goofy accent you find less annoying:

(Scene from The Pink Panther)

Or…

(Scene from Casualties of Love: The Long Island Lolita Story)

We hope that helps. Let us know in the comments, or by taking our new poll. WAR hilarious regional dialects!

The UFC sent out an e-mail today reminding us all to watch Countdown to UFC 83, which premieres tonight at 11 p.m. ET/PT on SpikeTV, and will focus on the welterweight title match between GSP and Matt Serra, as well as the middleweight feature between Rich Franklin and Travis Lutter. Below is the show’s official preview clip.

We’re very curious to see the differences in the headliners’ training camps. Will days spent tossing around Luke Cummo and Pete Sell in Long Island really be adequate preparation for Serra to face GSP, who has been training with stars like Denis Kang, Nate Marqurdt, Keith Jardine, and Rashad Evans? Should GSP have been training against guys who are actually Serra’s size, rather than guys two weight classes above him? I mean, rolling with Jardine and Evans is impressive and all, but how much practical application does that have? I’m just saying, St. Pierre’s going to be way out of his element when Serra somersaults through his legs then leaps, chimp-like, on top of his shoulders. And then the crowd lets out that collective “Awwwwww!”, which totally throws you off your game? You can’t train for these things…

11. Rashad Evans vs. Sean Salmon (UFC Fight Night 8, 1/25/2007)

10. Chris “Red Bull” Willems vs. Akoni Nakila (ROTR: Beatdown IV, 7/14/07)

9. Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic vs. Aleksander Emelianenko (PRIDE: Final Conflict 2004, 8/15/2004)

(Captain Canada’s kryptonite?)

–Current UFC welterweight champ Matt “The Terror” Serra stokes the fires of his upcoming rematch with GSP at UFC 83. Serra recently chatted with MMA News during which he referred to GSP as “Captain Canada”:

“Well after what happen the first time with him tapping out, I mean they called it a TKO, but he tapped. I think now a lot of his attitude towards me has to do with his mental state. I think he needs me to be the bad guy. I mean whatever he’s got to do to get himself there is fine with me. I mean if he has to lie on the couch, and listen to his shrink to tell him to put Matt Hughes head on my body that’s cool. I definitely don’t hold him in the same light as Matt Hughes, but I think he’s got to put himself in the mindset that he doesn’t like me, and that’s cool. I got a lot of friends and family, so if he wants to be enemies it’s not the end of the world.”

Serra talked about his April 19th date with “Capt. Canada”, his prep, and insisted he’s 100% ready to go.

–The Fight Network reports that Brad Blackburn is pulling out of his welterweight fight with Ray Perales for “Strikeforce at the Dome”, slated for February 23rd at the Tacoma Dome. A shoulder injury is being blamed for the withdrawal. Blackburn was a member of the Seattle Tiger Sharks for a couple of years in the IFL where he was 3-2. Perales was set to face Blackburn for a second time – he won their first battle in 2005 via decision. No word on a replacement.

–And for some more changes, this Friday’s Cage Fighting Championships show in Australia has picked up Tristan Yunker to face headliner Hector Lombard. Ex-UFCer Jordan Radev was supposed to fight Judo-expert Lombard, but was denied a visa and couldn’t enter Australia. Yunker’s visa was ready to go. Coincidentally, Lombard had his own visa problems last November when he was to face Karo Parisyan, but couldn’t enter the country to do so. Kids, keep your papers up-to-date. Oh, and don’t do drugs.

He wouldn’t be the first one to be a champion in more than one division. But three? That would put Georges St. Pierre, the UFC’s interim welterweight champ, into a completely different sphere. And he wants to do so after completely dominating the welterweight division, according to an article over at Sherdog. GSP has been around the sport since 2002 and has been more than impressive against the dudes he’s beaten.

The piece references GSP’s win over Pete Spratt in 2003 as the beginning of the welterweight’s climb. This got him into the UFC, where – after two wins – he lost his first fight, a submission to Matt Hughes. We’ve since heard Georges explain – several times – that he had already lost in his mind before the fight even started. Maybe he should have listened to his opponent’s advice. Regardless, St. Pierre won their second (and third) meeting, only to immediately lose the belt to Matt Serra – who he will meet again in April.

GSP is in the Centennial State right now working with Nathan Marquardt to help the fighter train for his fight with Jeremy Horn at UFC 81. After kicking the shit out of Matt Hughes, St. Pierre remains a little too humble:

“Hughes is an amazing fighter,” he said. “I just had a good night that night, and he had a bad night.”

“If we fight again, I don’t think he’s going to beat me, but he will probably come closer. Maybe he had a bad day — it’s a matter of circumstances as well.”

Oh please. Just admit you kicked his ass and would do it again and again.

Many of you have weighed in on who BJ Penn might have been talking about when he said he has already found the Frazier to his Ali. Here’s a bit from The Sun that might shed some more light:

“Fighting GSP is all I think about every day. A rematch would be very good and I’ll make sure that I will 100 per cent guarantee victory if we fight again.” Penn also claimed he would be happy to face former welterweight champion Matt Hughes in a rubber match, but fears the veteran could walk away from mixed martial arts.

He added: “I’d love to fight Matt Hughes again but I think he could walk away after his loss to St Pierre. If he does walk away from the sport, I wouldn’t be surprised after what happened the other night. Before his fight with Georges, I was really hoping I’d get another shot at Matt Hughes but after that fight, that was so embarrassing for him I don’t know how he’s going to rebound from that. I’d love to fight him again. If we can put the fight together somehow I’d love it but he’s also getting older so I don’t know what’s going to happen.”

Is is GSP, then? Or maybe it’s Matt Hughes and he’s just hoping to fight him again. Matt Hughes claims he’s not done, so it could happen if BJ moves up. We’ll keep our eyes and ears open for ya’.

And for what it’s worth, BJ has also said he thought Matt Hughes fought like a pussy against GSP. We just think Hughes got his ass kicked.

NBCSports’ Mike Chiappetta reports that Matt Serra and Georges St. Pierre will meet again in April. The welterweight match-up will be about a year after GSP lost to the now inflated Serra. As you may recall, Serra was to defend his belt against Matt Hughes at the recent UFC 79, but had to drop out due to injury. GSP promptly jumped at the chance to take on Hughes for a third time, beating him easily for the interim (aka, bullshit) welterweight title. Serra said his back is getting better and he’ll be ready in April.

The April event – possibly to be on the 19th – will be in Montreal, the first UFC event to be held in Canada.