It was a busy week last week in the world of sports, two major events, one here and one in the USA which ended over the weekend.
Georges St. Pierre essentially did what every athlete goes out to do, but he understandably wasn't as proud of his latest UFC victory as one might think.
The main event of UFC 129 was supposed to be the French superstar against the supposedly as-powerful American Jake Shields.
Shields arrived with not a lot of support from the crowd at Toronto's Rogers' Centre. When opponent St. Pierre made his way to the octagon, it was deafening.
The fight itself was not as good as many hoped it would be.
St. Pierre hasn't lost a fight in a long time but apparently it was close to happening on Saturday when the Ultimate Fighting Championships made their Ontario debut with UFC 129 held Saturday in Toronto. He is arguably the most well-rounded fighter in the entire organization and managed to stay up top Saturday. His competitor was American Jake Shields who put up quite the fight.
The fight was the main event of the card but was described as boring.
Even though St. Pierre won, it's the first time in a long time he left the ring with a badly swollen eye, after Shields cut him with numerous strikes to the face. There was a lot of bleeding throughout the fight
Apparently he didn't suffer any retina damage but is going to need more work done on his eye this week.
Some of the more hardcore fans will probably consider it a disappointment, it's not very often that St. Pierre takes a fight to the fifth round.
He got Shields with some decent strikes but didn't allow Shields to get him on the ground, which is supposedly one of Shields' strongest points
Maybe St. Pierre is just waiting for the opportunity that a lot of people are hoping that he gets, for a long time, fans of the UFC have wanted to see St. Pierre take on middleweight champion, Brazilian star Anderson Silva. Silva has been known for a long time as the best all around fighter in the world whose striking ability is just vicious.
Also over the weekend, the NFL held their annual entry draft in which college prospects from all over put their names in a hat to see who gets picked and where they could continue their football careers. One draft analyst interestingly quoted that the neat thing about the entry draft is that it's hard to evaluate who wins and who losses until the players picked get a chance to prove themselves.
The 2011 NFL draft has reached its conclusion, and this is the time of year when every coach and general manager feels great about their selections.
The AFC North is annually one of the toughest divisions in football, with two powerhouse teams in the Baltimore Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers. The Cleveland Browns and Cincinnati Bengals are trying to close the gap by acquiring good talent in this draft. Cleveland rarely has certainty at the quarterback position, while Cincinnati doesn't really have it either but at least now they have some choice. For the longest time, Cincinnati's top player had always been Carson Palmer. At the draft over the weekend, they got Andy Dalton out of Texas Christian University, who had a huge game during Bowl season over the winter when he helped beat heavily-favoured Wisconsin.
Dalton winded up being a pretty important pick in round two but he's also the ninth player at his position the team has drafter in 20 years. With most of the media in Ohio expecting Palmer to be dealt away or possibly retire, that leaves the door open for Dalton.
Since 1991, Cincinnati has had a long series of brutal misses including David Klingler, Akili Smith, and Donald Hollas.
The one hit was Palmer, who went number one in 2003
All the Colts had to do was sit and wait. Then with what happened in the first 21 picks of the first round, they found themselves in a scenario unlike any they'd played out in their draft preparations, one in which Boston College offensive tackle Anthony Castonzo was available.
Need met value, and the Colts added a player who's probably the biggest immediate impact player in the AFC South. It'll be a major upset if Castonzo isn't the starter at left tackle on opening day. If Indianapolis retains Charlie Johnson or if he doesn't become an unrestricted free agent, he could move inside to guard and the Colts could get better at two spots.
It will also mean more time for Manning to work and more room for the Colts' stable of backs to run. Expect years of review about how things came together so nicely at No. 22 for the Colts in 2011.
If there's anything you'd like to see covered by Game 7, please forward your suggestions to the Yorkton This Week sportsdesk by phone (306) 782-2465, fax (306) 786-1898 or email me at jeff@yorkton this week.com
