Much of the support up north is due to its number one MMA son, Georges St-Pierre, being scheduled to fight in the main event, with UFC Welterweight Champion Matt Serra putting his belt on the line against UFC Interim Welterweight Champion GSP. And six other Canadians will also be on the card: Mark Bocek, Jason Day, Joe Doerksen, Jonathan Goulet, Jason MacDonald, Kalib Starnes and Sam Stout.

Then there’s the tough USA vs. USA bout between Rich Franklin and Travis Lutter that is expected to be a trial-by-fire showdown for both men, and could provide the winner with another shot at UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva. With both Lutter and Franklin believing they now have the right formula to rattle Silva, given another opportunity, there is a lot at stake for the pair in Montreal.

It appears the outcome of this match could depend on which competitor gets to impose his game plan for the contest: If the action remains standing, the pendulum is expected to go with Rich, but if the fight goes to the ground, the swing is predicted to go with Travis. However, some very weird upsets have occurred in this sport.

As for the main event, 5’10” St-Pierre has a four-inch height advantage over Serra, so Matt will probably need to close the gap and smother Georges, as he did at UFC 69, to prevent GSP from maintaining a fence and picking off his opponent before he can slip under the radar.

St-Pierre is also known for his slow starts, but strong finishes. Serra didn’t waste time slinging bombs at Georges during their previous meeting, and he took the Canadian out at just 3.25 into round one. Usually, the longer a fight lasts the better the outcome for GSP, who always runs on a full tank of gas. But Matt likes to deliver big body shots, and those strikes do accumulate in a fight. So a longer battle may also suit Serra if he can stay in close. And on the ground, Matt has his BJJ background – courtesy of Renzo Gracie. But then, Georges has great takedown defenses and has taken on some big grapplers in the past, and proven his horizontal skills aren’t too shabby either.

For MMA, the outcome of UFC 83 will be a HUGE win. Even the opening bout should be a corker, with the exciting Jonathan Goulet facing off against Kuniyoshi Hironaka. This is definitely a loaded card. Sadly, p-p-v fans in Australia will have to wait till the Monday morning after the show to watch a delayed broadcast.

(Due to this conference being conducted on an international link-up of many phones, the below passages are quoted as accurately as possible. Unfortunately, Travis Lutter was not online for the opening questions.)

Rich Franklin: I don’t let that kind of stuff interfere with my training. Usually, after a fight, I take a couple of weeks off to get away, and fortunately the timing for me… the film that I was involved with kinda overlaid that time when I was taking some time off. And I’m the kind of person that needs a little down time after a fight, anyway – not just physically to let my body heal, but mentally to kinda give myself a break – so I don’t think that has interfered with my training at all. And I never let my business with American Fighter interfere with my training…

Alistair Kite: Georges, you’ve said you’ve had problems in the past getting mentally ready for big fights, so obviously this is going to be the biggest fight of your career: How do you prepare to kinda get yourself to the point where you know you’re going to come out and not worry about things, and just do your job and win this fight?

Georges St-Pierre: Well, I’ve trained very hard for this fight, and I’ve trained to fight an army – not just one person. I’ve been sparring every week with very high-caliber fighters, and with a fresh guy every round fighting me. If an army can’t break me, no man will ever do it, so I’m very well prepared, I’ve never been so sharp in my life, and I can’t wait.

Brad Young: Matt, you won the first fight by knockout, and you’re known for your incredible jiu jitsu, and you’re a veteran: What do you consider your biggest strength going into this fight with Georges?

Matt Serra: I think it’s going to be just my mental focus… I have to be prepared and dangerous on all fronts. Georges is very well rounded and he’s got very good wrestling besides the striking, so standing up and on my back, I have to bring my ‘A’ game, so to speak.

Brad Young: And how is your back?

Matt Serra: One hundred and ten percent, buddy, thank you. I would never have taken this fight if I thought that I couldn’t be at the level that I should be, so I feel great.

Knucklepit.com: Georges, you’ve always been able to spot a weakness in your opponent’s style before a fight: Do you believe you have found any weaknesses in Matt’s game?

Georges St-Pierre: Well, weakness… First of all he’s a world champion: He doesn’t have much of a weakness; he has some parts of his game that are not as good as other parts, so of course I want to explore those parts of the game. And I do have a strategy coming into the fight: I’m going to fight my fight – not his fight, and I’m going to make him play my game, not his game. The person who can impose his game will win the fight.

Knucklepit.com: Matt, you’ve said you believe fighting in front of Georges’s hometown crowd will put more pressure on him; as the outsider in Montreal, can you turn the negative response towards you, from the crowd, into a positive motivator for you?

Matt Serra: Yeah… I don’t expect to get cheered walking out, so it’s not a problem, man. I think I’m finally going to feel what Tim Sylvia feels when he fights anywhere. But it’s alright, man, I have my trainers and sparring partners doing me on a regular basis, so I’m getting ready, mentally, for it.

Knucklepit.com: Rich, you’ve now been working with Matt Hume in Seattle for this fight, as you did for a little bit whilst preparing for Anderson. Are you happy with the work you’ve been able to do with Matt for this fight?

Rich Franklin: Yeah, I am. I was happy with the work that I’d done with Matt for the Silva fight, but unfortunately Matt and I just didn’t have enough time to work together for that fight. I was so happy with the work that we’d done together that I decided to come up to Seattle to train at his place. I’ve been up here for nearly a month now, and my plan is to continue working with him for fights in the future.

Todd Mertin: Matt, with the layoff between fights, does that concern you at all?

Matt Serra: No … People are going to say I haven’t fought in a year, but how I fight in the gym and the academy, that’s how I perform. And I’m just basing that on my past performances: I do what I do in the academy, and I don’t make a big difference between that and the fight, man. To me, it’s just another day of hard-core sparring and people are going to say I haven’t fought in a year, but I’ve been fighting three and four times a week with multiple partners: bigger, stronger… And I’m really happy with how everything’s going, man. I feel great and my all-round game is just… I’ve got some great stuff, man. The way I look at it, what I pull off in sparring, and what I pull off in rolling, I should be able to pull off in the fight. And that’s where my confidence comes from, so I’m really excited. That’s not going to effect me at all: I feel good.

Todd Mertin: Georges, is there an aspect of Matt’s game that you are more concerned about?

Georges St-Pierre: Well, I do have a specific strategy; I’ve been studying him a lot; and I know how to fight him. I’m going to fight him in a way no one has ever fought him before, and people might be surprised. I’m going to do some stuff people have never seen before and it’s going to be a different story.

Nick Meyer: Travis, can you talk about how you were able to fight Anderson Silva about as close as anybody, and what type of confidence that gives you, considering how well he’s done?

Travis Lutter: Yeah, going out there and doing as well as I did with Anderson definitely helps, but Rich is a different opponent, and he brings a different set of problems, and I’m really excited to fight him.

James Briden: Travis, how do you prepare mentally after a long layoff?

Travis Lutter: Man, this isn’t the first time that I’ve had a long layoff: I took off a couple of years… I had a fight in ’98 and I didn’t fight again till 2003, so that part doesn’t bother me at all – having a longer layoff.