10 Thoughts On…UFC 129: Georges St-Pierre vs. Jake Shields

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1. My appreciation of the UFC and MMA goes back, literally, to UFC 1. Since then my interest has ebbed and flowed until a few years back when I became a full blown fanatic. That said this was my first live show and truly an experience to remember, it is one of those shows that we will point to as a milestone years from now and even if parts of it (um…the main event) failed to thrill the card as a whole was fully satisfying and included some insane high points that will certainly around come end of year awards time.

2. Speaking of the main event I have no interest in disrespecting Georges St-Pierre or Jake Shields. Yes, the fight was probably dull to most of the audience. However, most of the audience probably wasn’t able to grasp the nuances that caused it to be that slow. GSP is as smart of fighter as we have in this era and in reality the only way Shields could defeat him is if they hit the mat and he was able to sneak a submission past him. As we saw all too well tonight Shields’ standup game is something of a joke and GSP exploited that fact by forcing him to fight there. 24 out of the 25 minutes were standing and Shields was unable to work GSP down to the ground. I had Shields winning rounds 3 and 4 which meant that entering that final round things were all tied up. Making matters worse that final round was probably a 10-10 round if only such things existed. So by the time Bruce Buffer sauntered into the Octagon to read the results my heart was racing and thus I have no ill will whatsoever towards the fight itself.

3. Perhaps lost in the craziness of the Toronto show is the fact that Jake Shields did do something really rather extraordinary in winning two rounds on two judges’ scoreards. Nobody has taken a round from GSP since Josh Koscheck did it in their original fight back in August of 2007. Granted he squeaked by in those rounds and he never had GSP in any sort of danger. But he did bust him open and he did come within sniffing distance of stealing the title. I don’t know where he goes from here but in reality his stock was barely affected at all.

4. But really who needed the main event to be anything after Jose Aldo and Mark Hominick brought the house down in the fight directly before it. Great fights tell great stories and that is exactly what this fight did. Hominick, a massive underdog and massive fan favorite, entered the cage against pound for pound stud Aldo. He gets pummeled for four rounds. He grows one of the most grotesque welts on his forehead that I have ever seen. I avoided looking at the big screen for the entire 5th round in case that thing opened up. But in that fifth round Hominick staged an incredible comeback, keeping Aldo flattened for the duration and nearly knocking him out a number of times. Aldo would eventually hold on an thus order was maintained in the featherweight division but I think most of us would like to see a rematch at some point down the road.

5. Despite what I may have to say next about a certain bonus award that was given to the wrong person the UFC got it very much right in their decision to give Pablo Garza Submission of the Night award. And this even after GArza openly called Dana WHite out demanding his money. By attempting a leaping triangle Garza could have very well shot himself in the foot but instead it worked to perection and now he racks up another big win and scores a heaping pile of extra cash in the process. 

6. Then we have the one that really did cost somebody something. For unknown reasons the UFC decided to award Knockout of the Night to Lyoto Machida instead of John Makdessi. Let’s ignore the obvious that Machida is a very rich man at this point who has main evented PPVs and won a UFC title while Makdessi was making his 2nd ever UFC showing, both of which were prelim bouts. His KO of Kyle Watson was just about the most beautifully stunning display of violence I have ever seen. A flying front kick is cool, I agree, but Makdessi’s was a spinning back fist that caught Watson flush and knocked him cold for a good long while. This was a no contest and if Dana White can call out the fans for blowing the Match of the Night at UFC 124 (I agree with him for the record) then I can call him out for blowing this one.

7. As sad as it may have been to see Randy Couture go out like that it really was what we all knew was going to happen and it will help the division run more smoothly going forward. Machida is a star who lost fair and square to Shogun but maybe, possibly got robbed against Rampage Jackson. Getting him a win here probably positions him to move back up into main event status and probably puts him 2 fights away from another title shot. I, for one, think him vs. Jon Jones is the best possible fight at the division so I was happy to see the wheels start moving in that direction tonight.

8. I think that the loudest the fans got all night was after Rory MacDonald hit that series of slams on Nate Diaz. It was impressive but still surprising to see MacDonald get that kind of reception. Of course we all love to hate the Diaz brothers, especially when they are fighting in hostile territory. The real question, however, is where does MacDonald go from here. The welterweight division does seem very stacked right now and there are certainly people in his way. But when you consider the success the UFC has had pushing Jon Jones to the top of the heap then I might say that they might smell another opportunity here to create another superstar. If the reaction of his hometown fans were any indication then they might be well advised to think that way.

9. We all thought that the Matyushenko/Brilz fight was going to be an utter snorefest that dragged down the entire card. Instead we ended up with a best case scenario as Matyushenko proved that all his tough talk about his striking was no joke and he knocked out Jason Brilz in only 20 seconds. I would have rather seen Brilz get he victory here to avenge his decision loss to Little Nog that was a miscarriage of justice but it was simply not in the cards. Do we now see Matyushenko moved up and out of his depth so that he can catch another solid beating and then retire?

10. Overall the Canadians went 6-4 tonight. Not bad but they could have done better.