Joe Ferraro

Robbie Lawler.

Strikeforce: Los Angeles leads off a busy week of MMA events.

There was a time when I wished I could watch any form of MMA on television. Thankfully, times have changed, as shown by this week’s broadcast schedule of MMA events.

First off is Strikeforce: Los Angeles Wednesday night, featuring a 195-pound catchweight main event bout between “Ruthless” Robbie Lawler and Renato “Babalu” Sobral. The co-main event is a welterweight tilt between Dream champion Mariuz Zaromskis and Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos.

The rest of the main card will see Tim Kennedy vs. Trevor Prangley, and K.J. Noons vs. Conner Huen. My quick picks are Lawler, Zaromskis, Prangley and Noons.

Thursday night (but airing Friday in Canada) is Bellator XXII, which features the final of the welterweight tournament between Dan Hornbuckle and Ben Askren. The rest of the bouts include Jose Vega vs. Jared Card, and a female bout at 115 pounds between Stephanie Frausto and Lisa Ward.

I'm going against the grain in the main event and will pick Ben Askren to win, while Card and Ward will be my safe selections.

On Saturday night, on Rogers Sportsnet, The Ultimate Fighter 11 season finale will see the newest winner of the six-figure contract decided between middleweights Court McGee and Kris McCray. The co-main event will see Matt Hamill take on Keith Jardine, while the rest of the card has Chris Leben vs. Aaron Simpson, Spencer Fisher vs. Denis Siver and Jamie Yager vs. Rich Antonitto.

Predicting the outcomes for these bouts is difficult, but I’ll go with McGee, Hamill, Simpson, Fisher and Antonitto.

On Sunday night, WEC 49 hits Rexall Place in Edmonton with a main event featuring former lightweight champion Jamie Varner taking on rising phenom Kamal Shalorus. It's two Canadians in the co-main event as Mark Hominick takes on Yves Jabouin (don’t blink in this fight) while Hominick’s teammate, Chris Horodecki, will face off against Dan Downes (who steps in for the injured Ed Ratcliff). Also on the card will be Josh Grispi vs. L.C. Davis while Eddie Wineland takes on Will Campuzano.

I should note that the undercard is seriously stacked, but in the meantime, here are my quick picks: Shalorus, Hominick, Horodecki, Grispi and Wineland.

Misc. MMA news and notes

-- Due to legal issues from a previous real estate court case, UFC middleweight Chael Sonnen has been forced to withdraw from the political race for the Oregon State Senate.

-- Forrest Griffin’s sequel to the best-selling Got Fight? has been released and it's called Be Ready When the Sh*t Goes Down: A Survival Guide to the Apocalypse. If it’s anything like his first book, I highly recommend it; Griffin has the ability to make you laugh out loud while reading his thoughts, exploits and hilarious sense of what is and what is not manly.

-- UFC Live 2 (also available on Rogers Sportsnet) has been forced to relocate from Salt Lake City to San Diego. The reason given was poor ticket sales, perhaps due to the fact that Sunday events are frowned upon in Utah, and the local populace rarely attends anything (other than the odd Jazz game) on the one day it holds sacred.

-- Mirko Cro Cop did not have a fun time with Canadian immigration officials who questioned the former military man to see if he had any involvement or info on former officers who may have committed war crimes and human rights violations. Cro Cop did not give up any info and the UFC’s lawyers were brought in to help with the situation. Mirko also claimed he would have had no issues walking away from his fight with Pat Barry and taking the next flight home to Croatia. I’ve said on many occasions that what these athletes go through mentally before a fight is sometimes mind-boggling (no pun intended) and to be able to put that all aside, step into the competition area and compete is a true feat.

-- As for Pat Barry, the heavyweight broke his hand and foot in the first round vs. Cro Cop, which definitely explains his performance taking a downward turn as the fight progressed. The pic of his swollen right foot can be seen here.

-- There's a new feature on sportsnet.ca which highlights events and fighter bios -- have a scroll through when you have a chance.