UFC heads to Northern Ireland today for UFC 72, a pay-per-view event that comes in the middle of a two-week stretch that features three UFC events.  As far as pay-per-view events are concerned, this one is a notch or two below UFC 71 and the upcoming stacked UFC 73 card.  There are no title matches on the card and no main event matches to truly capture the imagination of the public. 

In addition, with so much UFC action on cable TV (for example, BJ Penn vs. Jens Pulver next Saturday on Spike TV), many fans may choose not to fork over the $40+ to their cable provider for a less-than-eye-catching card.  Viewership in the U.S. may also suffer because of the time difference -- the event is being televised live on the East Coast at 3 p.m. and many fans may not want to spend a nice spring day indoors.

Regardless, there are a couple of local establishments in the Baltimore area showing UFC 72. Huckas on Boston Street in Canton is one of them and the cover charge is $10 per person.  In addition, area Hooters restaurants are also showing the card.  A call to the Towson Hooters confirmed that there is no cover charge to watch at Hooters.

I will be making my way to one of these establishments to watch UFC 72, so here are some of my thoughts on the card.

Balanced card: UFC 72 features eight fights, with each weight class represented at least once.  Most of the fights -- five of them -- are in the middleweight and welterweight divisions.

Best fight on paper: The main event fight features former middleweight champ Rich Franklin against rising contender Yushin Okami.  Franklin stopped Canadian Jason MacDonald in two rounds at UFC 68, while Okami defeated Mike Swick by unanimous decision at UFC 69.  Does a title shot await the winner of this fight?

Forrest Griffin: Griffin -- the TUF 1 fan favorite -- returns to action for the first time since his loss to Keith Jardine last December at UFC 66.  Griffin needs this win badly to even be considered a legitimate contender in the UFC light heavyweight division.  Griffin's opponent is Hector Ramirez.  Though Ramirez is 0-1 in the UFC and only recently became a full-time fighter, he shouldn't be taken lightly.  Ramirez has joined up with new trainer Juanito Ibarra, the same man who trains current UFC light heavyweight champ Quinton Jackson.  In addition, Ramirez helped Jackson train for his title fight with Chuck Liddell, an experience that can only help him in today's fight against Griffin.

Other fighters I'll be watching closely: I'll be interested to see how middleweight Jason MacDonald does in his first fight since losing to Franklin.  MacDonald is the self-proclaimed "TUF killer" after having beaten TUF alums Chris Leben and Ed Herman last year.  Today, MacDonald faces another TUF alum -- TUF 3 fighter Rory Singer.

Heavyweight Eddie Sanchez -- better known as Mirko Cro Cop's welcome mat to the UFC --- also returns to action for the first time since his loss to the Croatian and former PRIDE star.  Sanchez is no slouch (he boasts an 8-1 MMA record) and today faces Colin Robinson, a fighter making his UFC debut.

And finally, I'll be watching middleweight Ed Herman to see if he can continue his winning ways.  Herman is a TUF 3 alum and his UFC career got off to a rough start with two straight losses.  But, he righted the ship with a first-round submission victory over Chris Price in January.  Today, Herman faces Scott Smith, who is 1-2 in UFC.

For information on the entire card, you can visit ufc.com.

Click here for photos of the fighters involved.