Canada … is in the United States, Yes?

Welcome everyone, to the first of Sherdog.com’s new weekly column devoted to the Canadian MMA scene. I bet you’re wondering what the heck the title of this article has to do with MMA, don’t you? Let me explain.

A few years ago during my first deployment to the Middle East, I was guarding a checkpoint with a civilian security guard who was from Pakistan. I had been with him for several hours; long enough to know that he wasn’t a simple rustic. He had been in the Pakistani Navy for 20 years, so I knew that he had some worldly experience.

So I found myself quite surprised when he asked me that question. To him, I was an American. In fact, when I tried explaining that Canada was an entirely different country to the north of the U.S., I could tell that he was very sceptical.

But it got me thinking.

Canada and the USA are as close as two countries get in nearly every way. I myself have family who are American, and I’m sure that many U.S. Sherdog readers have relatives who are Canadian. If we choose to, we can blend seamlessly into each other’s cultures.

In the grand scheme of things, those cultures have diverged only slightly from the time when we were British or French citizens. We look alike and we speak alike, except Americans incorrectly pronounce “aboot” as “about.”

With a few exceptions, we are one people divided by a line of latitude. We are not divided however, in our shared love of mixed martial arts. This is an exciting time for MMA in Canada. Fight promotions are springing up across the country. We have fighters making waves in the major organizations. We have a television network devoted solely to fighting for crying out loud!

This column will discuss it all.

Every week we’ll review the past weeks stories pertaining to Canadian fighters and events, and talk about what’s upcoming. We’ll have profiles of fighters, clubs, and events.

I’d like to have a mailbag also, so ask any questions you’d like. Want to know more about your favourite fighter? Ask.

Have a question about who trains with whom? Ask.

But I have a favour to ask you all. (Yes… favour, not favor). I’m just one man and I can’t do this on my own. I’m going to ask for everyone who reads this column to send suggestions my way. This will definitely be a work in progress.

The very first thing we’ll need is a name. I was thinking “Canadian Corner,” but it’s taken. Everyone send me your ideas, and in a few weeks I’ll pick the one I like the best.

Upcoming Events

This Saturday night is UFC 65, and if you’re a typical Canadian MMA fan, you’ve been anticipating the main event with a peculiar combination of excitement and fear that borders on hysteria.

Now unless you’ve been living under a rock in Tuktoyaktuk, you know that of course I’m referring to the Quebecois Extraordinaire, Georges St. Pierre (Pictures), as he makes his second attempt to take the welterweight belt from champion Matt Hughes (Pictures).

“Rush” St. Pierre, or “GSP” as he’s commonly known, is arguably the most popular mixed martial artist in the world. I say arguably only because the worlds of the UFC and PRIDE have yet to collide.

To UFC fans though, he’s somebody that everyone seems to love. Whether it’s because of his dominating victories over high calibre opponents, the way he admitted that Matt Hughes (Pictures) beat him “fairly and squarely,” or some intangible quality, MMA fans can’t seem to get enough of his “riddum” (GSP-speak for rhythm).

GSP was a 5-0 fighter who had fought only in Quebec when he received the call to fight Karo Parisyan (Pictures) at UFC 46. At that point Parisyan was 10-2 as a professional, and not many gave the unknown St. Pierre a chance.

He won that fight, followed by a quick TKO victory over Jay Hieron (Pictures), when he was given the opportunity to fight Hughes, the most dominant fighter in UFC history.

If you watched that fight, or have been watching the UFC’s promotional build-up to this weekend, you know that GSP submitted to an armbar with one second remaining in the first round.

There was something very poignant about seeing St. Pierre kneeling there in the Octagon, head hanging dejectedly, and Hughes approaching him as if to say in a kind-hearted way, “You’ll get the torch kid, but not yet.”

Since that time GSP has had five fights and Hughes four, neither being on the losing side of the equation.

In the two years since they fought, I’d often been impressed by how respectful and complimentary they’ve been to each other. They’ve both talked openly about how they saw themselves winning the eventual rematch, but only in terms of their respective strengths, never by downplaying the abilities of their opponent.

GSP would admit to everyone though, that his major downfall in their first meeting was that he looked at Hughes not as a potential victim, but as the fighter he had idolized for years.

“I gave him too much respect,” St. Pierre said.

That all changed inside the Octagon at UFC 63 right after Hughes beat B.J. Penn (Pictures). GSP entered the Octagon, and I assumed that based on the way they’d acted towards each other in the past, that he was there to congratulate Hughes.

I assumed incorrectly. He took the microphone and in front of a disbelieving crowd and addressed him by saying, “I’m not impressed by your performance.”

If you’re like me, you probably thought: Did he just say what I think he said? Was this the respectful young man that we’ve come to know and love?

At that moment my hopes for a truly great fight were multiplied by about a million.

It’s on baby!

So make sure you watch this fight and send me an email to let me know your thoughts. That should give us a ton to talk about next week.

In a tribute to the Sherdog Forums … ”WAR GSP!”

To Bruce Buffer … if this fight happens to go to a split decision, GSP’s last name is Saint Pierre, not Pierre. That would be like saying that judge x awarded the fight to (Matt) Ghes.

I hope that everyone is getting as excited as I am about this weekly Canadian column. I encourage everyone to send an e-mail my way (acotterill@sherdog.com) and let me know what you think.