UFC 83 is this Saturday and is headlined by Matt Serra vs Georges St. Pierre II. Eight of the fights on this card features a native Canadian fighter. This event sold out in less then 48 hours and will be the most attended UFC PPV to date. The card also features two TUF winners dropping weight classes. Mac Danzig will drop to lightweight and Michael Bisping will drop to middleweight.

Here are my predictions for the fight card:

Mac Danzig vs. Mark Bocek
Mark Bocek is a Canadian born fighter who has a professional record of 5-1. He is 1-1 in the UFC, and his only loss has come against a very game opponent in Frankie Edgar. That being said, his experience level isn’t anywhere near the caliber of a guy like TUF 6 winner, Mac Danzig. Danzig is 17-4 and has been competing in mixed martial arts since 2001. I don’t see Bocek pulling off a win, and I believe he will be overwhelmed by Danzig’s octagon cage/ring experience. Danzig will be dropping to 155lbs for this match, so hopefully the weight cut won’t be a factor in the fight.

Prediction: Danzig – Choke – Round 2

Michael Bisping vs. Charles McCarthy
Bisping will be dropping from light heavyweight to middleweight for this bout. After two lackluster performances at light heavyweight, Bisping may have felt that he was being overpowered by guys like Matt Hamill and Rashad Evans. Bisping is another TUF winner, and is looking to rebound after suffering his first career loss to Rashad Evans. Charles McCarthy has a 10-4 MMA record and is 1-1 in the UFC. McCarthy has not fought since November of 2006 when he submitted Gideon Ray with an arm bar. He looked sharp then, but some time has passed and I expect that Michael Bisping is going to give him a lot of trouble. Bisping has good hands and good wrestling, so as long as his weight cut goes smooth, I expect a TKO of Charles McCarthy.

Prediction: Bisping – TKO – Round 2

Nate Quarry vs Kalib Starnes
After suffering a vicious knockout loss to Rich Franklin in 2005, Nate Quarry took almost two years off to have back surgery. When he got back into the cage and fought Pete Sell last September, there was some definite signs of ring rust early on. Soon enough, though, Quarry settled in and ended up knocking out Pete Sell and proved to the world that he still has something left to give to the world of MMA. Quarry will be fighting Kalib Starnes, a good submission fighter from Canada. He is coming off of a loss against Alan Belcher and has problems when pitted against strong fighters. Quarry is strong and has pretty good hands. I don’t think he will have much trouble handling Starnes and will deliver another TKO victory.

Prediction – Quarry – TKO – Round 1

Rich Franklin vs Travis Lutter
There was a time when you watched Rich Franklin fight and you thought he was unstoppable. He was mowing down opponents left and right and retained his middleweight championship several times before running into a roadblock known as Anderson Silva. Rich Franklin has only 3 losses, and two of those losses are owned by Anderson Silva. He is 22-3 in his MMA career, and is one of the most well rounded middleweights in the world. When he takes on Travis Lutter, he will have to be careful to not get caught in any submissions. Franklin’s take down defense is good and strikes his opponents at unorthodox angles. Travis Lutter’s stand up game isn’t anything to brag about so he will probably go for take down after take down. Franklin has won 9 of his fights by submission, so he knows a thing or two when it comes to the ground game. Unless he makes a major positional mistake, Rich Franklin should own Travis Lutter.

Rich Franklin has spent the bulk of the last two years training for Anderson Silva. After getting destroyed the first time, there was some question as to whether he would come back the same fighter. Franklin rebounded and eventually earned himself another title shot. I am a bit worried that his mental game might be off because he knows that Anderson Silva still owns his belt, and he just can’t find a way to beat Silva. That might give Lutter a slight advantage going into this fight. I am still going with Rich, though.

Prediction – Franklin – UD Round 3

Matt Serra vs Georges St. Pierre – welterweight championship of the world
When Matt Serra knocked out GSP and completed his road to a comeback, the whole world was shocked. He caught GSP right on the chin , stunned him, and followed up with a barrage of strikes. GSP has admitted that he didn’t come into that fight mentally prepared , and it showed when he was lying flat on the octagon canvas. GSP is coming off of a complete dismantling of former UFC welterweight champion Matt Hughes and earned a rematch with Serra. A focused GSP is a scary GSP. We have seen him in this position before in his second bout with Matt Hughes, and GSP controlled every second of that fight.

Still, Matt Serra is no pushover. He is a Renzo Gracie black belt and, as we have seen, he has some pretty heavy hands. Like the rest of the world, I want to see whether this victory was a fluke or if Matt Serra is a name that is going to be around MMA for a long time to come.

It’s hard to call this one, but I think a refreshed, invigorated GSP is going to pull off a victory. For some reason I am thinking head kick. Maybe I still have visions of a Matt Hughes kick to the face in my head.

Prediction – GSP – TKO – Round 3