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Well guys it’s finally here. UFC 158′s main card will kick off shortly, and we’ll finally see the feud between Georges St. Pierre and Nick Diaz come to a head. Georges looks to defend his long-held welterweight title against brash Nick Diaz in the main event.

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The fighters took to the scale for UFC 158 earlier today, and we now are officially a go for Saturday evening from Montreal.

In the main event, UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre and Nick Diaz will finally settle their long-running feud.

Other key bouts include Carlos Condit-Johny Hendricks to determine the next contender in the welterweight division, and Jake Ellenberger vs. a returning Nate Marquardt.

Complete results from the weigh-ins can be found below:

MAIN CARD (PPV)

UFC Welterweight Championship
Georges St-Pierre (170 lbs.) vs. Nick Diaz (169 lbs.)

Carlos Condit (169 lbs.) vs. Johny Hendricks (171 lbs.)

Jake Ellenberger (170 lbs.) vs. Nate Marquardt (171 lbs.)

Chris Camozzi (185 lbs.) vs. Nick Ring (183 lbs.)

Mike Ricci (156 lbs.) vs. Colin Fletcher (155 lbs.)

PRELIMINARY CARD (FX)

Patrick Cote (169 lbs.) vs. Bobby Voelker (169 lbs.)

Antonio Carvalho (145 lbs.) vs. Darren Elkins (145 lbs.)

Dan Miller (171 lbs.) vs. Jordan Mein (170 lbs.)

John Makdessi (155 lbs.) vs. Daron Cruickshank (155 lbs.)

PRELIMINARY CARD (FACEBOOK)

Rick Story (169 lbs.) vs. Quinn Mulhern (168 lbs.)

T.J. Dillashaw (135 lbs.) vs. Issei Tamura (135 lbs.)

George Roop (135 lbs.) vs. Reuben Duran (135 lbs.)

Jake Ellenberger looked poised to take on Georges St. Pierre. All he had to do was put Martin Kampmann away after dominating him for the first round of their fight. It looked as if Ellenberger was ready to steamroll Kampmann at the beginning of round two. Instead, he got over aggressive and allowed the always dangerous  Kampmann to land a few choice knees that put his lights out. After getting so close to a title shot, it was back to the drawing board for Ellenberger.

On March 16^th, Ellenberger is set to take on Nate Marquardt at UFC 158. Ellenberger looks to get back in the title picture before the road to contention is clogged with contenders. Already, the winner of Johny Hendricks and Carlos Condit looks to get a title shot. What if Nick Diaz becomes champion? I would guess St. Pierre would be first in line for another shot.

The point is, if Ellenberger wants to get a shot at the title, he can’t afford to lose again and be knocked back down to the bottom of the totem pole. Marquardt provides a tough, well-rounded test for Ellenberger. If nothing else, Marquardt has shown solid cardio, which has been the Achilles heel for Ellenberger. It certainly seemed that he slowed down considerably in the Martin Kampmann fight.

Ellenberger may be a guy who just never has the greatest cardio. It’s easy to tell fighters they have to improve but there are fighters like Dan Henderson who have gone their entire careers without improving that area. It’s not because they don’t care, it’s because that is simply the way their bodies are built. It doesn’t mean that Ellenberger can’t be an effective fighter. He just needs to learn to fight in a way that minimizes those issues. Ellenberger should be able to take down Marquardt and is a legitimate threat to dethrone Georges St. Pierre, if he should get a shot at the title.

What do you think fight fans? Get at me @samgenovese on Twitter.

Nate Marquardt talks about his upcoming fight with Jake Ellenberger at UFC 158. This will be Marquardt’s first fight back in the UFC since his initial release.

While Jake Ellenberger likes and respects Nate Marquardt, he still plans on laying the smack down when the pair faces off later this month at UFC 158.

Jake Ellenberger is ready to welcome Nate Marquardt back to The Octagon at UFC 158. Ellenberger says he may not be the best welterweight in the world, but he does know he has he tools to beat anybody he faces.

After a long and tumultuous road, the former Middleweight title challenger is back in the UFC, albeit this time at Welterweight. Nate Marquardt is scheduled to take on Jake Ellenberger on March 16^th at UFC 158. Marquardt’s entire career has been a series of peaks and valleys; his worst moments occurred both in the cage and outside of it.

UFC 73: After taking Dean Lister to a decision in January of 2007, Marquardt was awarded a title shot against the ever-dangerous Anderson Silva. After fighting his way through Pancrase and returning from a positive test for Nandrolone in his first UFC fight, Marquardt had come a long way. “The Spider” had technically never defended his belt because his bout with Travis Lutter was deemed a non-title fight. We weren’t sure what to expect and Marquardt looked like a legitimate, well-rounded fighter who could threaten Silva. We were wrong; Silva toyed with Marquardt for four minutes before finally swarming on Marquardt. Silva viciously finished the fight in the first round and Marquardt would never get another chance to challenge for the title.

UFC 109: Marquardt had recovered from a controversial lost to Thales Leites to work his way back into the Middleweight title picture. On February 6, 2010, all Marquardt had to do was battle the one-dimensional Chael Sonnen to win another shot at Anderson Silva’s belt. He simply had to fight off Sonnen’s takedowns, which everyone knew were coming. Not only did Marquardt fail to stop the takedowns, he was thoroughly dominated throughout the bout. His submission attempts were slow and he failed to finish the submission-prone Sonnen when he caught him in a triangle choke. Once again, Marquardt failed to perform when the stage was the biggest. It was back to the drawing board for the Middleweight contender.

UFC on Versus 4: Marquardt was scheduled to take on Rick Story, but on the day of the weigh-ins, the Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission announced that Marquardt was not medically cleared to fight. There was a lot of confusion around the circumstances of Marquardt’s removal from the bout. Dana White was incensed and fans knew that something serious had happened. A few days later, it was discovered that Marquardt failed to follow the procedures to qualify for a Therapeutic Use Exemption for Testosterone Replacement Therapy. As a result, he was cut from the UFC and his career was left in limbo. It was almost a year and a half before he was able to fight again after his blunder. Again Marquardt was tied to performance enhancing drug use and it became clear accusations of cheating would haunt his entire career.

UFC president Dana White has switched stances on the use of testosterone replacement therapy among his fighters in the UFC.

Does that mean he is getting rid of TRT completely? Of course not, as White really has no way of doing that unless he wanted to fire each fighter who requests the use.

Instead, the UFC boss made a promise recently: every fighter using an exemption for TRT will be tested, and tested frequently.

If you asked me three months ago, it’s legal. It’s sports science, but everybody figures out a way to take a great thing and cheat and make it bad. What guys are doing, I believe guys are doing, is jacking up this stuff through the roof through their entire training camp then getting back down to normal levels right before the fight, which is cheating.

I hate it. I don’t like it. I’m going to fight it. And if you are using TRT in the UFC, we’re going to start testing the [expletive] out of you through your entire camp. I truly believe guys are cheating on it, and I don’t like to see a natural gifted athlete go in and fight against a guy who has been jacked up on TRT for three months.

As White himself stated, he was previously for the use. Fighters such as Vitor Belfort, Chael Sonnen, Frank Mir and Dan Henderson have all been granted exemptions for it and competed. In fact, Belfort, Sonnen and Mir all fought for UFC gold, and Henderson was scheduled to until he was injured.

Belfort’s case has caused a stir because “The Phenom” previously tested positive for steroids in his career.

Fighters much be within the legal limit set before them by the commission for testosterone in their system when they are tested. Nate Marquardt, another UFC fighter who used TRT, failed to do so and was not allowed to compete. The UFC released him, he went on to fight for Strikeforce, and is expected to compete later this year inside the Octagon again.

We’re regulated by the government. Testosterone replacement therapy is legal. “Well, I think we should test guys all the way up until their fight to make sure that the entire training camp their limits are where they’re supposed to be, they’re at the legal limits their whole camp. When you sit down and you start talking about it, it’s not fair. It’s not fair. And if your testosterone level isn’t high enough, maybe you’re too old to fight.

I personally feel that the use of TRT is such a fine-line that fighters are likely taking advantage of it. If White holds up to his word, and makes the fighters test more frequently, it might work.

It might, but that’s doubtful, especially considering how long pro athletes have been getting away with using illegal drugs and performance enhancers.

Former Strikeforce welterweight champion Nate Marquardt appears to be the man tabbed to face Jake Ellenberger this March at UFC 158.

MMAjunkie.com confirmed with sources that Marquardt will replace Johny Hendricks, who took a bout with Carlos Condit the same evening after Rory MacDonald went down with an injury.

Marquardt (32-11-2) took to his Twitter account late Monday and confirmed that he could be ready to face Ellenberger if the UFC wanted him to. He also pushed to face Condit before Hendricks took the fight.

The former UFC middleweight contender lost to Tarec Saffiedine on the final Strikeforce card last month. He was released by the UFC two years ago after a failed medical report caused him to miss a main event fight.

Photo credit: Sherdog

The direction that the UFC takes with new Strikeforce welterweight champion Tarec Saffiedine will be an interesting one.

Saffiedine, who stunned the MMA world when he picked Nate Marquardt apart in the main event of the final Strikeforce event, will likely enter the Octagon sometime in the early stages of 2013. Who the Zuffa brass present to the “Sponge” will show exactly what they think of Strikeforce champions.

Will Saffiedine be placed in an immediate title vs. title match with either Georges St-Pierre or Nick Diaz? That is highly, highly unlikely.

For the 26-year-old from Belgium, his road to becoming the UFC welterweight champion will likely be a grind. The 170-pound division is at its deepest right now, with the likes of Carlos Condit, Rory MacDonald, Johny Hendricks, Jake Ellenberger and others all jockeying for position. Add in the elite welterweights from Strikeforce, and you have a jumbled mess to sort out.

Still, it’s always fun to play the role of Joe Silva and Sean Shelby as matchmaker, so let’s take a look at some potential opponents for Saffiedine inside the Octagon:

Carlos Condit/Rory MacDonald winner

This would be the best-case scenario for Saffiedine, as he would be thrust into the UFC’s spotlight in a likely main or co-main event billing match.

Condit, who is coming off a loss to Georges St-Pierre in a bout to unify the UFC welterweight titles, will be facing MacDonald in a rematch later this year. “The Natural Born Killer” topped MacDonald in their first meeting via TKO with just seconds left in the bout.

Saffiedine would be taking a major leap into the UFC with either Condit or MacDonald – who are both far ahead of the skill set that Marquardt presented. Still, if he considers himself a world champion, these are the kind of fights the Belgian will have to compete in.

Tyron Woodley

The last man to defeat Saffiedine – Tyron Woodley – will make his UFC debut next month against Jay Hieron. With a win, Woodley will have rebounded from a loss to Marquardt and be one-up in terms of Octagon victories over Saffiedine.

Would it make much sense from a booking standpoint to pair Woodley with Saffiedine? Of course, seeing as their first encounter went the distance.

Saffiedine would likely be motivated to avenge the loss, and Woodley would want nothing more than to beat the man who was the last one to wear a title he chased for a couple of years.

Photo credit: Dave Mandel/Sherdog

Nate Marquardt

This would be a hard sell for anyone who watched Saffiedine systematically pick Marquardt apart recently.

Marquardt, who will likely join Saffiedine in the UFC despite the loss, is a veteran fighter. You would have expected him to check those kicks that Saffiedine continued to throw, and you would have to think a second meeting would not go the same way.

Still, rematches that are so one-sided in the eyes of the audience don’t make for great sells on pay-per-view, or even on free television, so it could take a while before we see Saffiedine-Marquardt II.

Siyar Bahadurzada

Depending on if he gets past Dong Hyun Kim in March, Bahadurzada would make for an intriguing opponent for Saffiedine.

Bahadurzada has won seven straight fights – and would make it eight with a win over Kim – entering the fight, and has quickly made an impact in the UFC after knocking out Paulo Thiago in just 42 seconds. Bahadurzada has power and skill, holding 11 knockout victories and six submission wins to his credit.

While he isn’t the biggest name in the welterweight division, Bahadurzada has a sparkling resume and would give Saffiedine plenty to think about.

Matt Brown

The past year was one of the best for Brown, as he put together four consecutive victories, including a stunning KO of Mike Swick to close out 2012.

After a rough patch that saw him go 1-4 inside the Octagon, Brown’s status skyrocketed upon finishing Swick, a perennial top-ten fighter.

Brown may still need to prove himself by taking another fight before receiving a match with a champion like Saffiedine, but if he were to approach the UFC and call out Saffiedine, there could be something to build upon.