Two weeks ago at UFC 58 in the Mandalay Bay Events Center the United States scored five victories to Canada’s three. So does that mean the U.S. is better or tougher than our friends north of the border? By any stretch of one’s imagination: hardly.

While the stratagem of USA vs. Canada sounded swell, not many people actually took to heart the idea of rival countries battling one another. I have watched and covered countless events with such clichéd titles as “USA vs. Canada” and I have yet to actually fall for the gimmick.

Mexico vs. Thailand … Korea vs. Japan … Puerto Rico vs. Mexico … Arctic Circle vs. Antarctica … the list of catchphrase shenanigans goes on and on and on.

But aside from the corny title UFC 58 was OK. Like with most recent UFCs, the Pay-Per-View wasn’t a blockbuster and it wasn’t a wet firecracker, either. It fell comfortably in the middle. Some of the fights were memorable. Some were not. Some weren’t shown. And at least one was overflowing with controversy (for some reason).

That said, the Mandalay Bay was a near sell-out and I’m confident the Pay-Per-View sold well.

Franklin Made Me Eat Crow

For starters, Rich Franklin (Pictures) proved once again that he is a complete, unadulterated monster inside the Octagon. Sure, I picked “Ace” to get his head caved in by “The Crow,” but ol’ David Loiseau (Pictures)’s dreadful performance made me eat my words, my shoe and last week’s salmon dinner.

While I am not totally shocked that Franklin scored the victory, my mouth was agape at how easy he made it look. And to a lesser degree, how terrified Loiseau appeared for the first three rounds.

Franklin stalked his timid foe from the start and peppered him with stinging left hooks and right crosses — deadly combinations that forced Loiseau into survival mode. It’s a good thing that Franklin didn’t allow the fight to devolve into the embarrassing track meet Loiseau tried to make it.

I don’t mind losing to that Savage cat during our debates, but when the horse I pick turns into a llama, it gives me the red ass.

But, like they say, it’s all water under the bridge and we press forward. Loiseau will rebound from the thrashing he received, but do you think he’ll be invited back into the Octagon anytime soon?

UFC president Dana White is in love with men who are fearless and come to fight, something Loiseau decided to do sometime late in the fourth round. I don’t know if “The Crow” was injured early on or if it was a terrible case of stage fright, but my man from Canada disappointed us all. He’s a terrific fighter and there was a reason why I picked him to dethrone Franklin. Oh well, we’ll get ‘em next time.

What fighter currently under contract with Zuffa will give Franklin even slight trouble? Looking down the list of UFC middleweights, I scoff at the notion that of any of them could snatch Franklin’s coveted belt. That’s not a jab at how weak the 185-pound weight class is within Zuffa, because in all actuality White has a solid division. It’s just that Franklin is head and shoulders above everybody else that would be pitted against him in the UFC.

Great match-ups for “Ace” would be Murilo Bustamante (Pictures) or PRIDE champion Dan Henderson (Pictures). But we all know those will never happen. What about Matt Lindland (Pictures)? According to White’s two public promises, “The Law” was supposed to have fought Franklin by now. But again, I won’t hold me breath.

It’s funny. Two of the three most deserving opponents for Franklin’s title have been UFC fighters at one time or another only to be booted out of the UFC. I guess we’ll just have to endure Franklin tearing up some more The Ultimate Fighter cast members until a truly suitable opponent is found (or re-signed).

I already know I’ll get a ton of e-mails regarding Nathan Marquardt (Pictures) and how deserving he is … et cetera, et cetera. But to me, when a fighter tests positive for an illegal substance he has to fight his way back up from the bottom, regardless if steroids accidentally infiltrated his urine.

Unless Franklin moves up to light heavyweight to fight champion Chuck Liddell (Pictures), there is nobody currently under contract with the UFC that truly deserves a shot right now at his title.

St. Pierre Deserved the Win

I don’t understand what all the fuss is about that has been rampaging throughout the message boards and my e-mail inbox. Let’s settle down for a second, take a few deep breaths and re-watch the fight. Naturally, as anybody who read the “Great Sherdog Debate” would know, I predicted that B.J. Penn (Pictures) would successfully defend his welterweight title by crushing Georges St. Pierre (Pictures).

Boy was I wrong … sort of.

Penn easily won the opening round by repeatedly popping St. Pierre’s head back. He busted up St. Pierre’s face, appeared to have broken his schnozzle and lacerated the skin just below his left eye.

Yes, that happened and, no, there was no eye gouge. There was no thumb in the eye. The cut came from a punch, the cut did. St. Pierre’s vision was blurred and Penn proceeded to dominate the rest of the round.

Just before the horn sounded to kick off the second stanza I felt that it was just a matter of time before “The Prodigy” either submitted his weakened and battered foe or simply knocked him out.

And then just like that Penn stopped fighting. Penn tried virtually nothing for the next 10 minutes and essentially hand-wrapped the fight in a lovely box with a pretty bow on it and handed it over to St. Pierre. The only thing missing from the friendly gift exchange was a kiss on the cheek and some eggnog.

“Rush” did little for the final two rounds, but it was certainly more than what Penn did. Sure St. Pierre scored a couple of nifty takedowns, but he didn’t do much else. But like I said, it was more than Penn did, tenfold.

Penn seemed to just not care out there and basically allowed St. Pierre to drearily drag the fight into his favor. Oh wait. Penn did try a gogoplata near the final horn, but where was the rest of his awesome repertoire in the nine-plus minutes leading up to that point?

It baffles me to see so many fans arguing about how Penn was robbed. How could that be? He wasn’t robbed. He was charitable and handed over his title to St. Pierre without putting up a fight.

It’s one thing to have an off night as a fighter, but this was no off night from Penn. And it certainly wasn’t some sort of dynamic, masterful performance from St. Pierre that slammed my jaw onto the carpet. But when Penn just gave up and literally tried nothing for two rounds, no matter how close the fight may have been, he didn’t deserve to win.

Penn lost hands down, folks. Suck it up and move on. He deserved to lose. He has nobody to blame but himself. I know Penn’s talents and I am not blowing smoke when I say he is the best on the planet. Sadly, Penn didn’t showcase his immense skill set and basically blew any chance of redeeming himself by winning back the belt that is — well, was — rightfully his.

Yves Gets Subbed

Another shocker was when Yves Edwards (Pictures) fell victim to a rather oops-I-got-you triangle choke. Of course, Yves is a slick fighter who hadn’t been submitted by anyone in almost six years. Mark Hominick (Pictures) scored the sub win, naturally, but what blows my mind is the sheer number of idiots who claim that either A) Yves took a dive, 2) Dana White rigged the fight or D) Yves is just a flat-out sucka.

If you answered E) None of the above, you are correct. Yves didn’t take a dive, White didn’t rig the contest and Yves is not some low-level chump. The reason why Yves got submitted without much of a struggle is simple: witness the crippling left hook to the liver he absorbed about 40 seconds before he tapped.

If anybody who has ever been blasted in the liver or solar plexus knows, there isn’t much you can do except try to survive. Hominick applied the triangle in just enough time while Yves was still reeling from the brutal Julio Cesar Chavez-esque liver shot. No dive. No fix. No reason to speculate.

The Rest of the Jive

Did anybody else catch Joe Rogan talk about how there is this other organization in Japan called PRIDE? Me neither. It’s painfully obvious that the Octagon-side commentary team of Mike Goldberg and Rogan are once again forbidden from even saying another fight organization’s name. It’s all “smaller shows” or “overseas” or “Japan.” What malarkey! Be real men and just say the damn organization’s name already. Let’s all hold hands and say it together: K-1, PRIDE, TKO, Euphoria and Rumble on the Rock. Yes, the UFC announce team did mention “Pancrase,” but that’s Marquardt’s claim to fame. It’s a shame, too, because Rogan such a diehard and true fan of the sport and even he can’t say the word “PRIDE” … UFC 59 is already sold-out. White and company are marketing geniuses. I’ll give ‘em that. The guy knows what he’s doing in terms of pumping up future UFC cards. That’s pretty much all I can say in regards to positive adjectives, but he does know how to sell his product. It’s just too bad he’s too thick-skulled to realize that competition is actually good for everyone, especially if you are the crème de le crème of MMA. Ever hear of working together with smaller shows or at least leave them be to help build young unknown fighters without doing anything before you sign them to contracts? Wake up, dude. Think long-term success for once … I was hoping to see more fights on the PPV telecast. I only got to see five. I demand to see at least six fights. Thankfully I didn’t pay for it.