Jason MacDonald

Jason 'The Athlete' MacDonald is a Canadian mixed martial artist. He lives in Red Deer, Alta., with his wife Kelly and four children, boys Tristin and Keel, and girls Jett and True. He blogs regularly for Sportsnet.ca.

I felt that B.J. Penn would beat Diego Sanchez, but I never thought he would destroy him like he did. For four rounds, he just beat him senseless, in my opinion.

From the aspects of fighting that they put on display in that fight (because there was no ground fighting at all) it was definitely the best B.J. Penn we’d seen in a while. It was comparable to the Sean Sherk fight when he annihilated him. When his heart’s in it, B.J. is unstoppable. If it isn’t, it’s a roll of the dice. He could win simply based on raw talent, or he might not win.

We’ve seen in his fights against Sean Sherk, Kenny Florian and now Diego Sanchez, he was in it and completely dedicated to his training. Against Sanchez, he beat a guy who everyone agreed was a legitimate No. 1 contender. Not like, Dan Hardy, who has been fast tracked into the No. 1 contender position against Georges St. Pierre. Sanchez earned it by beating a lot of the top guys.

I think B.J. should now be considered as one of the best pound for pound in the world. Although I think Frankie Edgar is deserving of a title shot, I’m not sure he’ll have much success against a motivated Penn. He’ll clean up that division and move on.

I think they’ll set up a Penn vs. St. Pierre 3 and I’d be interested in that as long as he’s motivated. I really think he wasn’t completely into it the last time they fought. He wasn’t 100 per cent. From the UFC special, it didn’t look like he was as dedicated. But down the road, if he’s motivated, I’d love to see it again.

The Frank Mir-Cheick Kongo fight I thought went exactly as I expected. You had one of the best heavyweights on the ground in Mir against one of the worst on the ground in Kongo, so if anybody expected anything different than a quick submission on the ground, they were mistaken.

As for Kenny Florian vs. Clay Guida, Clay is always a tough fight for anyone, but Kenny came out and really put it on him. My hat’s off to Kenny. Obviously switching teams was a positive thing for him. I could definitely see a Florian-Edgar or Florian vs. Gray Maynard fight to determine a No. 1 contender.

Last but not least, I want to give a shout out to Canadian boy T.J. Grant. I didn’t see his fight against Kevin Burns, but he got Knockout of the night, so I give him props for going in there and winning another big one. And a fellow Nova Scotian at that.

Vancouver has now sanctioned MMA, which obviously it’s great to have more UFCs in Canada. It’s good because a lot of diehard fans in Western Canada have been forced to travel to the U.S. or across the country to watch fights live, so they won’t have to for this one.

I do think it’s a bit of a farce that MMA was banned in Vancouver until the Olympic bid went through, and now that that’s signed, sealed and delivered, and the Games are just a couple months away, they’re lifting the ban to let the UFC come in and do their show. I think the government banned MMA before because it was trying to clean up its image

It’s just like when I was there they cleaned up Hastings street, where all the crackheads and drug addicts are there, and there’s needles everywhere, and it’s disgusting. I went there when they were bidding for the Olympics and the alleys were boarded up, the street were completely cleaned up and everything there looked nice. As soon as they got the Games, I went back four or five months later, and it was back to the way it was before, with the crackheads there and everything.

Same with MMA. Now that the Olympics are good to go, they lift the ban and MMA is back and it just so happens it’s because the UFC is coming to town. It’s the power of politicians to manipulate the system, because it’s going to generate millions and millions of dollars. It’s funny how the political machine can change things like that. That’s just my little political rant.

Having said all that, I’m certainly going to do everything in my power to win fights between now and then to get back in the UFC and get a chance to be a part of that.

Now, for some picks for this Saturday. First, the WEC:

Donald Cerrone vs. Ed Ratcliff

I’m picking Cerrone. He’s been in those big fights, against tougher competition. We saw that against Jamie Varner, he really hung in. He’s tough a guy, so I like him in this one.

Chris Horodecki vs. Anthony Njokuani

Obviously I’m going to pick the Canadian Chris Horodecki. I don’t know anything about the other guy, but the fight’s obviously been well marketed, because a lot of people I know are excited about it. He’s a buddy of mine and I’m always a big supporter of the Team Tompkins fighters. He’s a banger, so I like his chances.

Joseph Benavidez vs. Rany Yahya

I’ll go with Yahya, he’s got great submission. He’s had some great finishes.

Finally, I’m super hyped about…

Takeya Mizaguki vs. Scott Jorgensen

We’ve seen Mizaguki go the distance and he’s a good fighter. But I really like Scott and his straight-forward, hard-nosed style. I enjoy watching him fight, so I’m going with him.

Strikeforce fights:

Cung Le vs. Scott Smith

Even though Cung Le has been away from the ring, and might have some rust, I just think he’s such a great striker. If he was able to pick Frank Shamrock apart, he should be able to pick apart Scott Smith, who’s tough and throws heavy punches but is not very technical. Le should pick Smith apart.

Josh Thomson vs. Gilbert Melendez

This has been a long time coming. It was a great fight the first time around, and I expect it will be a great fight again. I’m a big fan of Josh, and the way he fights. I’ve been looking forward to this fight before, unfortunately Thomson has been battling a lot of injuries. Hopefullly he’s 100 per cent and not just taking it because it’s been postponed so many times. I think he’ll grind one out, just like the first one.

Matt Lindland vs. Jacare Souza

I see Jacare winning this one. If I had to pick one weakness of the Team Quest guys in Portalnd, it would be their susceptibility to being submitted. For example, Chael Sonnen by Demian Maia. Ed Herman and Chris Leben by me. Herman by me. And Leben just got submitted by Rosholt. So I’m picking Jacare by submission.