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.

Randy Couture.

I want to start off by touching on some of the feedback in my last blog.

I did post something there but I'd like to reiterate, in response to the comment that I'm a negative guy, anyone who knows me knows I'm one of the most positive guys there is, so either you read too much into what I write or you just don't know me.

And I want to address the fact that we talk about the UFC a lot. It has nothing to do with sucking up to the UFC. It's the biggest organization in the world, with the most fighters, most shows, and most news to talk about. If Strikeforce were putting on shows every three weeks, we'd have more to talk about. It's just the reality.

I also think we try to talk about all the little shows we can, at least the ones that relevant to us.

That being said, there's a big UFC this weekend!

But before we discuss that, Friday night is the Aggression MMA card in Edmonton. I assume everything went smooth at the weigh-ins.

Jason Day is in the main event against Jesse Taylor and it's a good opportunity for him to fight a named guy. His only fight since getting let go from the UFC was against a guy nobody heard of and certainly he was much better. I think Taylor is still predominantly a wrestler and I think Jay has the tools to submit him or take him out standing. So I'll pick JayDay by submission.

The co-main event has Claude Patrick against Matt MacGrath. I haven't seen any of Patrick's fights, but everything I hear is he's a very good fighter. MacGrath is from Titans MMA in Halifax; actually, he grew up close to my home in Nova Scotia. Like kilometers, in fact. He was younger so I never really knew him. I think he's skilled but undersized for 170. I think he'd be much better off at 155. He's good at judo and I think it will be a good fight but I'll pick Patrick.

Robin Black is also fighting. He's a bit of a celebrity but I know he takes MMA very seriously. Although he's very early in his career, he seems to be getting better and better and has decent skills. Just because he takes the sport and his training so seriously, I'll pick him.

I didn't have a chance to see the Strikeforce fights last Saturday, but I hear Nick Diaz was impressive. Like I said in my last blog, I think he's skilled. It's a shame we may never get to see him fight GSP based on his antics outside the ring, because he's probably deserving.

I also saw he got paid $100K which is good and what he deserves. I was unaware Herschel Walker was donating all his money from the fight to charity, which is a great thing, especially since he probably doesn't need the money

I was surprised to see Robbie Lawler also getting paid $100K considering he is no longer the champion. But I think it's great, especially for guys like that been who have around for so long and fought at that high level of competition.

Lastly, to be clear, I was joking about Cyborg being half man!

Okay, now on to UFC 109 picks:

Mark Coleman vs. Randy Couture

Here we have two guys who are very late in their careers. I think Randy has taken much better care of himself than Coleman, and I think he's better in every area. Coleman may be very focused and determined, but Randy's just better. Even thought he's 46, he fights like a 36-year-old, while Coleman will look every bit his age. I'm picking Randy of course.

Chael Sonnen vs. Nate Marquardt

I'm very interested in this fight. I'm a big fan of Marquardt and Dana announced the winner will next fight the winner of Anderson Silva vs. Vitor Belfort for the title. That makes it that much more interesting. Sonnen is a better wrestler but Marquardt is better all around and I think he'll win. Though I don't think the result will be any different if Marquardt ends up fighting Silva again.

Mike Swick vs. Paulo Thiago

I think Thiago doesn't get enough credit. He's a great fighter and I didn't realize he was on a Brazilian swat team. I think he's going to give Swick all he can handle. I don't think his KO over Josh Koscheck was a fluke. He practised that combo thousands of times and he was able to make it land. I've said that Swick is a great fighter, but I'm not sure if he's at the same level to be considered a contender. But we'll see. If he wins convincingly, he proves me wrong. But I'm picking Thiago.

Demian Maia vs. Dan Miller

I think it's a great fight. I still think Maia has a long way to go with his standup, as evidenced by the Marquardt fight, but can Miller keep it away from the ground? I don't think Miller will be able to go out there and KO him in short fashion. I think he'll get taken down and being a black belt he'll do hold up alright, but I think Maia will eventually submit him.

Matt Serra vs. Frank Trigg

I'm going to go with Matt Serra. Even though he lost his last fight to Matt Hughes, he had Hughes in a lot of trouble in the first round and the rest was pretty anti-climactic. I think Serra brings more tools to this fight. His jiu-jitsu, his wild but dangerous standup. I'm going to pick Serra.

Tim Hague vs. Chris Tuchsherer

Lastly, on the undercard my fellow Canadian and we're all rooting for him, especially after his tough, quick loss last time out. We're probably going to see here something we don't normally see out of heavyweights: a ground fight. I'll pick Hague by submission on the ground.