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.

The biggest news of late in the MMA world is the fact that Brock Lesnar is healthy and will be able to return to action.

It’s funny the way it went down. Well, funny isn't the best word, since his illness is no laughing matter. But the fact that he was as sick as he was to the point where we wondered if he'll ever fight again, but then suddenly all his health trouble appeared to just go away, was odd.

One has to wonder, in the back of your mind, is he going to come back? He was very ill. And then as fast as he got sick, he was cured.

As far as his comment about the health care system in Canada, I don’t think it’s any different than any foreigner trying to get health care in another country. If we were in the United States, it could be just as challenging.

Lesnar was coming from a country where if you're wealthy, you can pretty much buy whatever care you need. It's not like that in Canada; we're not completely privatized yet. If I or any Canadian was admitted into a hospital in America with a mysterious disease, I'm sure it wouldn't be that simple.

Having said that, I'm glad he's healthy, and especially that we'll get to see him fight again. He's the guy we love to hate, and the possibility he wouldn't be able to compete again was taking some excitement away from the heavyweight division, at least for me. But now I'm looking forward to a bunch of potential matchups.

I'd love to see him against Carwin, or Mir again, since Dana White said the winner of that bout will face him for the title.

The other thing is the Montreal card has been pushed back a week due to a possible conflict with a boxing match. It goes to show you as willing as White is to go head-to-head against Strikeforce or Affliction, he’s not willing to go up against a super-fight such as Floyd Mayweather vs. Shane Mosley. He must feel there's a big number of boxing fans out there who are also MMA fans, who when push comes to shove, may choose boxing over UFC.

I think from a business standpoint it's a smart decision. Why risk going head-to-head against a big event when you can push it back and then there will be clear sailing?

Now if I’m able to get a fight in the meantime, maybe there will be a good possibility of me fighting in Montreal. Or if I could squeeze two in, hopefully I could get on the Western card in Vancouver.

There isn't much going on with me right now.

I'm back training and trying to in the swing of things. Unfortunately (although at the same time fortunately) I'm going to Mexico for a vacation in a couple of weeks. I'll be there for 10 days. I'll just get back feeling good in training and then I'll leave and get chubby again.

But the last week of February I'll be back in full swing and getting myself back in shape for any possible fights that come up in March in April.

Apart from that, I've also started to put together the card for my fourth show, Pure Fighting Championship 4. It’s going to be on March 12. I want to give the guys lots of time to prepare, a good seven weeks.

That's about it right now.

Next week, I'll talk about the Strikeforce card.