By Brad McCray MMA Editor

VANCOUVER, British Coulmbia -- "Georges St. Pierre is adorable," she said. "He has a bald head and talks like a baby."

This Canadian beauty did not need to mention that St. Pierre also drew her physical attraction, because the point was clear in her eyes. In addition to conquering Canada on Saturday, UFC 83 also crowned mixed martial arts' first bona-fide chick magnet.

I was in Vancouver to watch the event with Canadian fans. While they cheered St. Pierre’s beatdown of Matt Serra for nationalistic passion, women all over the world rejoiced for a different reason entirely. Possibly the best looking fighter in MMA, the new welterweight champion has incredible marketing potential in previously untapped markets.

After GSP's post-fight interview, a thrill of excitement rushed through the women at an adjacent table. And it became clear that St. Pierre will soon have rock star status. Get your autographs while you can.

I decided to bait the girls at the next table.

"What’s so special about GSP? Matt Serra is bald too. And he has a baby quality about him."

I could swear one of the girls gave me a "talk-to-the-hand," but my maple sweety -- who asked I not use her name because she and her friends had ditched their men to see the fights (how's THAT for devotion?) -- didn’t leave me hanging.

"Serra has a bald head too," she said. "But he is one of those babies that cusses and chews cigars."

FIGHT FEVER

It seemed everyone above the 49th parallel was gripped with fight fever, which is hardly surprising.

The U.S. may have its fight towns, but Canada is a fight country. It is a place where all boys learn to play hockey right after they learn to skate and they learn to skate not long after they can walk. They learn to fight sometime after bumping into each other on the ice and the love of fisticuffs follows from there. Heck, Canada even has The Fight Network, dedicated to boxing and MMA.

On the Pacific Ocean, Vancouver is 2,300 miles west of Montreal, but Canadians there felt connected to their countrymen. A national countdown show ran on Canadian television, making Saturday de facto "GSP Day" in the Great White North.

About two hours before the event went live on pay-per-view Vancouver began buzzing with Affliction and UFC shirts and groups of young men began treks to their favorite sports bars. Some venues charged $12 just to sit down. No less than six venues within a four-block stretch of Granville St. were showing the event. An hour before the UFC intro music, there were lines out the doors. Forty-five minutes before showtime, bars were turning people away.

THE BORDER WAR THAT WASN'T

The UFC continued its trend of booking local talent instead of simply creating the best bouts. The moves may have hurt in England, where cards heavy with European fighters lost money. In no danger of losing money in Canada, matchmaker Joe Silva still favored pitting Canadians versus foreigners.

While the Canadian fans did cheer their countrymen, they rarely booed the Americans. Other than GSP, the Vancouver fans loudest cheers were reserved for Kalib Starnes of nearby Surrey. But they – like the fans at the Bell Centre – turned against the local after he ran his way to a 30-24 loss to Nate Quarry, one of the most embarrassing performances in UFC history.

Notably, the third loudest cheers were for Michael Bisping (Canada technically acknowledges England’s Queen as head of state).

For those keeping score at home: Canadian fighters went 4-4.

JABS

• A facetious chant of "U-S-A, U-S-A" broke out in Vancouver during Serra’s cagewalk. His t-shirt advertising a website that buys and sells guns first drew guffaws from Canadian fans, then laughter. By the time Serra reached the Octagon, the fans began to mock the mantra of some U.S. fans by chanting. A man behind me stood up and did his best Don King, proclaiming: "Only in America!"
  
• Rich Franklin-Anderson Silva III? Even Franklin doubts fans would want to see it. But, after his slick jiu-jitsu against Travis Lutter, he is still unquestionably the UFC's No. 2 middleweight.
  
• Franklin-Quarry II? Another fight not many would want to see, but Quarry has improved immensely since his devastating KO loss to Franklin in 2005.
  
• It was a crime that Demian Maia’s fight with Ed Herman wasn’t on the televised card, but his win over "Short Fuse" puts him on the short list of middleweight contenders.
  
• While the UFC text vote favored St. Pierre by less than 60 percent, an all-Canadian poll during the countdown show favored GSP by 94 percent.