Jason “The Athlete” MacDonald will look to continue his meteoric rise in the UFC on Saturday night when the Alberta-bred fighter takes on former world middleweight champion Rich “Ace” Franklin at UFC 68 – The Uprising.

Jason “The Athlete” MacDonald will look to continue his meteoric rise in the UFC on Saturday night when the Alberta-bred fighter takes on former world middleweight champion Rich “Ace” Franklin at UFC 68 – The Uprising.

The card, emanating from the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio, is on pay-per-view and features MacDonald in a semi-main event bout alongside a heavyweight showdown pitting champion Tim Sylvia against challenger Randy Couture.

MacDonald, who is represented by Pro Camp Sports Management Owner/President Mark Pavelich, has become an international sensation by bursting onto the UFC scene last October. In his UFC debut, he wasted no time in submitting the favoured Ed Herman with a triangle choke. MacDonald went into his second UFC bout again as a heavy underdog but showed up his doubters once again by choking out Chris Leben.

For MacDonald, the matchup against Franklin is the first of a new four-fight contract with the UFC but this one has an extra-special incentive. The winner of the MacDonald/Franklin bout will most likely get a shot at the UFC middleweight title currently held by Anderson Silva.

“I said from my first day in the UFC that I truly believed I could be champion. Beating Rich is the next step towards that goal,” said MacDonald. “By beating Rich, there would be no better way to make everyone believe that I’m ready for a title shot.

“Rich was a great champion and is still a great fighter. But I believe I’m at the top of my game right now. I’m on a roll and he’s coming off a really bad loss. There’s a fire burning inside me. Rich had that fire and it got extinguished. I’m going to make sure his fire doesn’t get re-lit and that my fire keeps burning hotter and hotter.”

MacDonald’s talents were groomed and ultimately blossomed in the Edmonton-based Maximum Fighting Championship where he grew to icon status. His legion of fans had always hoped he would find success in the UFC. Those loyal fans are now being joined by new supporters of MacDonald and they all believe in “The Athlete”.

“You could see after he beat Herman how many more fans Jason attracted,” noted Pavelich. “Then after he beat Leben, the number of people who wanted to meet him, get an autograph from him or get a picture with him, was absolutely staggering. Canadian fans, American fans, fans from all over the world have this love for Jason.

“Jason has very quickly become one of the UFC’s most popular figures. But there are still people out there who doubt him. That’s actually good, though, because I believe that inspires Jason to be better. And on Saturday, those remaining doubters and especially Rich Franklin are going to find out how much better Jason is.”