Georges St Pierre

UFC 158 takes place Saturday night from Montreal, headlined by a UFC welterweight title bout pitting champion Georges St. Pierre and challenger Nick Diaz. The contest, expected to be one of the biggest pay-per-view attractions of the year, has featured a unique buildup and hype. The mercurial Diaz was controversially selected for the title shot despite losing his last bout and failing a post-fight drug test. St. Pierre and UFC president Dana White justified this decision by saying St. Pierre was angry at Diaz and thought the "disrespectful" Diaz "deserves a beatdown.

Benson Henderson aspires to one day soon fight Ultimate Fighting Championship welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre. The UFC  lightweight champion will need to know he can take a mighty punch and deal with a strong ground-and-pound fighter before then. So his Saturday title defense against Gilbert Meldendez on the seventh UFC on Fox card at San Jose's HP Pavilion should be a good test. Melendez (21-2) is the former Strikeforce lightweight champion from San Francisco who made six successful title defenses before the organization folded into the UFC last year.

Tuesday's Google+ Hangout (which takes place at 11:30 a.m.) will feature a discussion of MMA, focusing on this weekend's pay-per-view match between Georges St-Pierre and Carlos Condit for the UFC welterweight title. St-Pierre is coming off a 19-month layoff after surgery to repair a torn ACL in his right knee. As St-Pierre said in a Q&A with Times MMA writer Lance Pugmire last month , "I tried my best to just keep the focus on my rehab, whatever I was supposed to do that day. To tell you the truth, the UFC took really good care of me. I know not every fighter has this kind of opportunity.

Georges St. Pierre's next opponent will be his toughest one yet: Captain America. St. Pierre, the UFC welterweight champion who is considered by many to be the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world, has been cast as villain Batroc the Leaper in "Captain America: The Winter Soldier", the sequel to the 2011 hit "Captain America: The First Avenger. " Captain America fans will recognize Batroc as one of the iconic foes for Cap. He is a French mercenary who specializes in savate, a form of kickboxing.

Tuesday's Google+ Hangout featured a discussion of MMA with Times boxing/MMA writer Lance Pugmire, focusing on this weekend's pay-per-view match between Georges St-Pierre and Carlos Condit for the UFC welterweight title. The big question, who will win the fight? According to Pugmire, St-Pierre. You will have to watch the video to see why! Plus, who would win a grudge match between TJ Simers and Bill Plaschke? St-Pierre is coming off a 19-month layoff after surgery to repair a torn ACL in his right knee.

The Ultimate Fighting Championship on Saturday will finally stage the next fight of one of the organization's top three stars when welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre defends his belt against Dan Hardy before a sellout crowd in Newark, N.J. St-Pierre, along with popular heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar (severe intestinal infection) and middleweight champion Anderson Silva (elbow surgery), has been out since July after undergoing medical procedures to address a groin injury and bone chips in an elbow.

There's one nagging obstacle remaining, but it wasn't large enough to stop Ultimate Fighting Championship President Dana White from confirming that he is ready to make the dream fight of mixed martial arts: middleweight champion Anderson Silva versus welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre this year at a stadium in North America. St-Pierre (21-2) still has an April 30 title defense against Jake Shields (26-4-1), but Silva's schedule has been cleared by his amazing first-round kick and knockout of challenger Vitor Belfort on Saturday night in UFC 126 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center.

Ultimate Fighting Championship welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre has a knee injury that has knocked him out of his title defense versus Carlos Condit on Oct. 29, UFC officials said Tuesday. St-Pierre was hurt in training camp Saturday in Montreal, UFC Chairman Lorenzo Fertitta told The Times in a text message. Fertitta said St-Pierre has a sprained knee and will be out four to six weeks. Condit will wait to fight St-Pierre for the title during the first quarter of 2012, Fertitta said.

Lorenzo Fertitta walked through Toronto's Rogers Centre this week, scanning the 55,000 seats his Ultimate Fighting Championship company will fill Saturday for a welterweight title fight between Canada's beloved native son Georges St-Pierre and challenger Jake Shields. Fertitta, UFC's chairman, couldn't help but remember his start in the mixed martial arts business 10 years ago, when 2,500 people showed up and "everyone in boxing was laughing at us … saying we were stupid and losing oodles of money.

The Ultimate Fighting Championship has its most popular fighter back, and his return can set up an even more lucrative event. Welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre (22-2) returns Saturday night from a 19-month layoff prompted by a knee injury and surgery, taking on Carlos Condit (28-5) in a pay-per-view card in Montreal. Condit claimed the UFC's "interim" belt in St-Pierre's absence with a unanimous decision over Nick Diaz in February. Although Condit is a dangerous kicker and aggressor who could pose problems for St-Pierre, who has lost just once since 2006, mixed martial arts fans anticipate a victory by the Canadian whose return home has generated more than $3 million in ticket sales.

Georges St. Pierre continued his run of dominance with a decisive decision victory over Nick Diaz at UFC 158 and retains the top spot in the welterweight rankings of Todd Martin's MMA rankings for March.   Heavyweight 1. Cain Velasquez 2. Junior Dos Santos 3. Daniel Cormier 4. Fabricio Werdum 5. Antonio Silva 6. Alistair Overeem 7. Josh Barnett 8. Frank Mir 9. Travis Browne 10. Roy Nelson   Mark Hunt continued an improbable surge by upsetting Stefan Struve in Japan via third round TKO. Hunt, who had a losing record and was only brought into the UFC because of contractual obligations following the purchase of Pride, won his fourth fight in a row. Now, he will have the opportunity to move into title contention when he battles Junior Dos Santos at UFC 160.             Light Heavyweight   1. Jon Jones 2. Alexander Gustafsson 3. Lyoto Machida 4. Dan Henderson 5. Rashad Evans 6. Phil Davis 7. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira 8. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua 9. Glover Teixeira 10. Ryan Bader It wasn't pretty, but Lyoto Machida scored a close decision win over Dan Henderson in Anaheim to solidify his spot as one of the top contenders for Jon Jones' UFC light heavyweight title.

Pauley Pavilion's $136-million makeover seems to have won some admirers around the nation, with the UCLA arena earning a nomination as sports facility of the year in SportsBusiness Journal's annual awards. The NBBJ renovation, which opened to fans last fall, features bold colors and high-end finishes, improved concession stands and restrooms, and a bright concourse that wraps around the old building. Pauley faces some tough competition in the 2013 Sports Business Awards, going up against the strikingly modern Barclays Center in Brooklyn, Marlins Park in Miami, the Amon G. Carter Stadium at TCU in Fort Worth and JetBlue Park in Fort Myers, Fla. Among other local nominees is Mark Walter, of the Dodgers and Guggenheim Baseball Partners, who's up for sports executive of the year.

UFC 158 takes place Saturday night from Montreal, headlined by a UFC welterweight title bout pitting champion Georges St. Pierre and challenger Nick Diaz. The contest, expected to be one of the biggest pay-per-view attractions of the year, has featured a unique buildup and hype. The mercurial Diaz was controversially selected for the title shot despite losing his last bout and failing a post-fight drug test. St. Pierre and UFC president Dana White justified this decision by saying St. Pierre was angry at Diaz and thought the "disrespectful" Diaz "deserves a beatdown.

It's the company man against the bad boy. The fitness freak against the unapologetic pot smoker. Ultimate Fighting Championship welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre is as close to the face of the brand as any fighter in the organization. Stockton's Nick Diaz is the black sheep, someone who marches to his own beat, has blown off planned news conferences and tested positive for marijuana after his most recent fight. St-Pierre (23-2) has chafed at how "disrespectful" Diaz (27-8-1)

According to Georges St-Pierre, Frankie Edgar is the top pound-for-pound fighter in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. If veteran welterweight champion St-Pierre was basing that opinion merely on Edgar's unblinking acceptance to fight anyone in his weight range, he's got a case. Edgar (14-3-1) will participate in his seventh consecutive UFC title fight when he meets gifted Brazilian featherweight champion Jose Aldo (21-1) Feb. 2 at Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. The bout will be the first time Aldo headlines a U.S.-based pay-per-view.

UFC welterweight title: Georges St. Pierre vs. Carlos Condit Georges St. Pierre at only 31 is already one of the legends of the sport. With a sparkling 22-2 record, no unavenged losses, and wins over just about every elite fighter of his generation, few fighters can match the credentials of St. Pierre. But St. Pierre is coming off a serious ACL injury and hasn't fought in a year and a half. St. Pierre didn't look that impressive in his last fight against Jake Shields, either.

Without Georges St-Pierre, the Ultimate Fighting Championship has been missing something. The UFC's versatile welterweight champion hasn't fought since April 2011 because he tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee during training in December. He underwent an extensive rehabilitation under well-known sports medicine surgeon Neal S. ElAttrache of the Kerlan-Jobe Clinic in Los Angeles. The entertaining Canadian fighter's absence is about to end. On Nov. 17, he'll defend his belt against interim champion Carlos Condit in Montreal.

It's the company man against the bad boy. The fitness freak against the unapologetic pot smoker. Ultimate Fighting Championship welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre is as close to the face of the brand as any fighter in the organization. Stockton's Nick Diaz is the black sheep, someone who marches to his own beat, has blown off planned news conferences and tested positive for marijuana after his most recent fight. St-Pierre (23-2) has chafed at how "disrespectful" Diaz (27-8-1)

The Ultimate Fighting Championship has its most popular fighter back, and his return can set up an even more lucrative event. Welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre (22-2) returns Saturday night from a 19-month layoff prompted by a knee injury and surgery, taking on Carlos Condit (28-5) in a pay-per-view card in Montreal. Condit claimed the UFC's "interim" belt in St-Pierre's absence with a unanimous decision over Nick Diaz in February. Although Condit is a dangerous kicker and aggressor who could pose problems for St-Pierre, who has lost just once since 2006, mixed martial arts fans anticipate a victory by the Canadian whose return home has generated more than $3 million in ticket sales.