What a time to be an MMA fan. The sport is coming to prime time on CBS, Bud Light is now a sponsor, and Saturday’s UFC 82 event is generating quite the buzz. Even the preliminary bouts for UFC 82 are stacked. But let’s stick to predicting the main card for now:

Middleweight: Anderson Silva (-145) vs. Dan Henderson (+115)
I fully expect Silva to beat Henderson; this is not Hendu’s preferred weight division.

Heavyweight: Heath Herring (+145) vs. Cheick Kongo (-175)
Kongo still has the shine from beating Cro Cop, and should be able to beat the unimpressive Herring. But at these odds, Herring’s sambo skills have betting value.

Middleweight: Evan Tanner (+170) vs. Yushin Okami (-220)
If Herring’s sambo is a potential trap for Kongo supporters, then Tanner’s wrestling is an even better value in what could turn into a yawner versus the slow and steady Okami.

Middleweight: Chris Leben (-165) vs. Alessio Sakara (+135)
“Legionarius” Sakara is making the same transition as Henderson from the light heavyweights. He’s won just two of his last five fights. Leben is also 2-3, but has been through the Ultimate Fighter proving ground.

Welterweight: Jon Fitch (-550) vs. Chris Wilson (+350)
Fitch has been bet down from –625. He’s the likely winner, but Wilson still has value at these odds as an untested fighter at this level.

Marion Hossa will go to the team with the most dough.

What the…? Penguins’ captain Sidney Crosby is being traded to the Detroit Red Wings for Pavel Datsyuk? Stars’ forward Jussi Jokinen is headed to the Vancouver Canucks for goaltender Roberto Luongo? Uh…no. Not even close. But for a lot of hardcore (mostly Canadian) hockey fans the NHL Trade Deadline is right up there with…well, Canada Day.

Between now and 3 p.m. ET Tuesday, Feb. 26th the NHL’s GMs will be plenty busy trying to wheel and deal players across the league, with the hopes of making a serious run for the playoffs and the rights to hoist the Stanley Cup. Some of the names being thrown around include Mats Sundin, Marian Hossa, Brian Campbell, Brad Richards, Dan Boyle, Vinny Prospal, Ollie Jokinen, Alex Tanguay, and Michael Ryder.

Exciting stuff, right? It is if your name is Bob Gainey, Glen Sather or Brian Burke, who are all expected to make some deep-pocket moves before next Tuesday; but not so much if you’re the GM of some broke-ass, small-market team like the Edmonton Oilers or the Phoenix Coyotes.

At any rate, the NHL Trade Deadline signals the near-end of the regular season. Only four more months of hockey to go…

Since the UFC won’t be resurrecting the PRIDE label anytime soon, it only makes sense to get some value out of the name while they can. The fine folks at Zuffa bring you  UFC 82: Pride of a Champion, on Saturday, Mar. 1 from the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio.

If you’ve never gone down to the bar or hit the shiny red button on your remote to see a UFC pay-per-view, this particular show may interest you. The middleweight fight between Anderson “The Spider” Silva and Dan “Hollywood” Henderson has a very good chance of being an instant classic – and not because of the “title unification” hype.

This is Henderson’s second chance to lose a PRIDE belt; he was also that promotion’s last 205-pound champion, following last September’s loss to Quinton Jackson at UFC 75: Champion vs. Champion. Many top PRIDE fighters have struggled to make the transition to the octagon, and Henderson has already proved no different.

Where do you stand in comparison with your favorite female celebrities?
Here’s our list of the 5 best female celebrity golfers, their occupations, estimated handicaps and favorite courses:

1. Anne Murray, 62
Grammy-winning singer
Handicap: 11
Home Course: Northumberland Links, Pugwash, Nova Scotia

2. Tea Leoni, 41
Actress, Producer
Handicap: 12
Home Course: Malibu CC, Four Seasons Resort Hualalai, Kona-Kohala Coast, HI

3. Celine Dion, 39
Singer
Handicap: 17
Home Course: Lake Las Vegas Resort; Club de Golf le Mirage, Quebec

4. Jodie Kidd, 29
British model, actress
Handicap: 18
Home Course: Sunningdale GC, Berkshire, England

5. Ines Sastre, 34
Actress
Handicap: 20
Home Course: Real Club de Golf Sotogrande, Cádiz, Spain

Super Bowl XLII was a bit anticlimactic on the Strip. Betting at the Nevada books failed to reach nine figures as projected, coming in at $92.1 million. But don’t think for a second that means the NFL is losing its touch. According to a Harris Interactive poll taken last month, pro football is still the No. 1 choice of the American sports fan.

Not only that, pro football has gained in stature over the past 20 years, becoming twice as popular as the fading sport of baseball. College football, auto racing and hockey were next on the list.

What about basketball? Bad news for fans of the hardcourt: According to the poll, the NBA has slipped dramatically from the Michael Jordan years, when the league was more popular than college football. Now it ranks equally with golf, as does college hoops. Try taking that poll in March instead of January and see what happens.

It’ll be hard to top what happened along the 2007 Triple Crown trail, but we’ll get to see several of the prime Kentucky Derby candidates Saturday in New Orleans at the Grade III Risen Star Stakes.

The biggest name in the 11-horse field is Pyro, who finished second to War Pass at the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and is a co-favorite at 10-1 on the 2008 Derby futures market. El Gato Malo, who is not part of this race, is also 10-1. But there is a growing interest in the fortunes of Z Fortune (100-1). This son of Siphon won the LeComte Stakes by 2-1/4 lengths last month and is undefeated in three career starts.

Other Kentucky Derby contenders of note in New Orleans this Saturday are Blackberry Road (35-1), Visionaire (70-1), and Signature Move (50-1). Check It Twice (35-1) was supposed to race from post 1, but did not ship in from Florida and was scratched.

The 2008 F1 season will kick off in Melbourne, Australia on March 16. Being its still a far ways away people are still talking about things like Lewis Hamilton will win the 2008 title or Kimi Raikkonen will win the title for the second straight season.

According to Max Mosley, President of the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile, he’s stated his belief that Lewis Hamilton will dominate. He’s even said that the British driver will be even better than Michael Schumacher once Hamilton’s career is over.

“If you are thinking about drivers dispassionately, it was Raikkonen’s turn more than Hamilton’s,” Mosley said when speaking about last season’s championship when Raikkonen caught the 2007 title away from both Alonso and Hamilton.

“But Hamilton will get plenty of turns. Unless something goes dramatically wrong, he will win several Championships. If he races for as long as Schumacher did then he may very well beat his record, but there are some very good, young drivers about, so he’s not going to have an easy time.”

Elsewhere on this blog, I said Tom Brady is a better quarterback than Eli Manning, therefore the New England Patriots will beat the New York Giants. But that’s based on past performance. What about good, old-fashioned conjecture?

Let’s not forget that Peyton Manning was putting up better numbers (but fewer Super Bowls) than Brady until this season, when the Patriots’ front office turned their receiving corps from lead into gold. That was Peyton. Now look at Eli as he appears today following his exceptional performance over the past month. You can sense the greatness in him, ready to come out.

Judging by the season finale, a 38-35 Patriots triumph, Manning would only have to dig a little bit deeper to come up with a Super Bowl-winning performance. Everything else is in place; the team is relatively healthy, including center Shaun O’Hara, arguably the second most important player on the Giants. He will protect Manning, and Manning shall prevail.