A week from Saturday, the UFC will showcase two of the top three pound-for-pound fighters on the planet in front of the largest crowd in UFC history.

Finally, the UFC is putting on a fight card in front of the biggest Mixed Martial Arts market in Canada and, possibly, the world.  UFC president Dana White has been trying to get MMA legalized in Toronto for a while, and he finally broke through last year and made a stacked card for the UFC’s first event there.

Canada’s own Georges St-Pierre, who is regarded as the second best pound-for-pound fighter on the planet, will defend his title against Jake Shields, while the third best pound-for-pound fighter Jose Aldo will defend his belt against Mark Hominick.

Shields is riding on a 15-fight win streak, but I don’t think he has a chance in this fight.  Shields’ strengths are his wrestling and Jiu-Jitsu, and St-Pierre is the best wrestler in the division, if not in all of MMA.  Shields won’t be able to take this fight to the ground, so he’ll have to stand and trade punches with the champion.

While wrestling is St-Pierre’s bread-and-butter, he’s also a phenomenal striker.  Before winning the title against Matt Hughes back in 2006, St-Pierre won most of his fights by out-striking opponents with his karate.  With Shields’ stand-up as weak as it is, I expect St-Pierre to go back to his old fighting style and pick apart Shields on the feet.  I don’t expect this to be a close fight, but nothing is ever a sure thing when you’re talking about MMA.

I expect St-Pierre to roll past Shields, but I don’t expect Aldo to do the same against Hominick.  Hominick may be the best striker Aldo has ever faced in his MMA career.  Hominick has outstanding boxing skills and has out-struck his opponents all the way to earning himself a title shot.  I expect this to be a fun fight, but I don’t expect the title to change hands.  Hominick has great boxing, but Aldo has amazing Muay Thai.  Fighting with eight limbs is better than fighting with only two, and this has been proven in MMA time and time again.

Perhaps the most compelling fight of the night is between MMA legend Randy Couture and former Light Heavyweight Champion Lyoto Machida.  This is a fight that Couture has been wanting for a while, and the fight was finally made.  Every time Couture is announced to be on a card, the same questions start raining down.  How much longer can he continue? Is this his last fight?  Only Couture can answer those questions, but Couture’s recent performances prove that he is still at the top of his game and can still go out there and dominate opponents.

This fight is intriguing because it’s the classic striker vs. wrestler match-up, and Machida needs a win.  Ever since winning the title, Machida won a controversial decision against Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, was knocked out by Rua and recently lost a decision to Quintin “Rampage” Jackson.  All the action goes down April 29; rest assured that arena will be rocking.