The festivities are already well under way for the UFC's long-awaited debut in Ontario.
On a personal level, it's been a long time coming, but finally, the Ultimate Fighting Championship is officially in my own backyard, and the festivities have begun.
The fun started last Friday, as I, along with UFC welterweight Sean Pierson, as well as top featherweight contender, Mark (The Machine) Hominick, were invited to the Rogers Centre by Zuffa Canada and the Toronto Blue Jays.
Sean and Mark had the honour of throwing out the first pitch, while I was asked to hand out a pair of tickets to one lucky winner. I created a video blog to capture the experience, and if you missed it, you can view it here.
Today, courtesy of Gatorade Canada, we visited The Toronto Kickboxing Muay Thai Academy, where once again, I had the honour of hitting the mats with famed MMA coach Firas Zahabi.
Firas has worked with many world-class mixed martial artists, and has a handful of guys competing on Saturday's card. Other than his No. 1 pupil, Georges St-Pierre, the coach will likely oversee the likes of Pierson, Rory MacDonald, Ivan Menjivar, John Makdessi and Yves Jabouin.
Today's focus was recording a few segments for "Fight School," as well as some items that will air on Rogers Sportsnet this week.
We analyzed what GSP will need to do, should opponent Jake Shields achieve a dominant position on the ground, and worked a specific escape, sweep and finish.
We also did the same with what Pierson should do, should his opponent, Jake Ellenberger attempt a double leg takedown, and how to stuff it, while working to finish him off.
While I was the victim of a few punches and submissions, Zahabi's technical breakdown of each technique had everyone in attendance in awe.
His attention to detail was exceptional. He stressed the importance of hand positioning, balance, leverage and so much more. It's safe to say I am very excited to see what the producers at Sportsnet will create as a final piece that will air nationally. Stay tuned...
Tonight, and all week long, I'll be going live from the Rogers Centre around 6:30 p.m. ET to bring you up to speed on all the latest from UFC 129: St-Pierre vs. Shields. Mind you, we never knew if locations will change, so wherever we are, we will go live.
To stay updated, you can follow me on Twitter.
Here's a look at the full fight card for UFC 129:
Main card
Welterweight Championship bout: Georges St-Pierre (c) vs. Jake Shields
Featherweight Championship bout: José Aldo (c) vs. Mark Hominick
Light Heavyweight bout: Vladimir Matyushenko vs. Jason Brilz
Light Heavyweight bout: Randy Couture vs. Lyoto Machida
Lightweight bout: Mark Bocek vs. Ben Henderson
Preliminary card (Rogers Sportsnet)
Welterweight bout: Nate Diaz vs. Rory MacDonald
Welterweight bout: Sean Pierson vs. Jake Ellenberger
Preliminary card (Facebook)
Welterweight bout: Claude Patrick vs. Daniel Roberts
Bantamweight bout: Ivan Menjivar vs. Charlie Valencia
Middleweight bout: Jason MacDonald vs. Ryan Jensen
Lightweight bout: John Makdessi vs. Kyle Watson
Featherweight bout: Yves Jabouin vs. Pablo Garza
