The 55,000 strong that packed Toronto’s Rogers Centre came ready to welcome the sport of mixed martial arts into the province of Ontario and to cheer on their ten countrymen who were participating tonight. The card was stacked to accommodate the magnitude of the event and included two title fights and the final in cage appearance of Randy Couture. Most importantly though they came to see national hero Georges St-Pierre as he defended his UFC welterweight title against Jake Shields who brought a fifteen fight win streak into the Octagon with him.
That contest, the main event of the evening, defied expectations and was contested nearly exclusively on their feet. In fact, over 24 of the 25 were in the standing position, something very odd for two men who have had very successful careers by mastering the ground game. In the end St-Pierre was able to jab his way past his very game opponent to a unanimous decision victory. To Jake Shields’ credit, however, he did take two rounds on two of the judges’ scorecards making him the first person do so against GSP since Josh Koscheck the first time they fought way back in August of 2007. The fight was largely an uneventful affair with neither one of them shining in the striking department and Shields especially looking lost as he tried to work his suspect offense. The loyal Canadian fan base even got a little restless near the end as there were a smattering of boos that could be heard throughout the arena. After the fight Joe Rogan asked St-Pierre about a possible move up in weight to fight Anderson Silva, but St-Pierre simply said that it was something he would think about and discuss in the future.
The co-main event of the evening between Jose Aldo and Mark Hominick for the UFC featherweight title was the true star of the show. After the first four rounds were dominated by the champion Aldo the fight was nearly stopped due to a grotesque welt on the forehead of Hominick. The doctors looked at it twice and allowed him to continue which was very good news because it allowed for the thrilling final round that nearly saw Hominick pull off a miracle and knockout Jose Aldo. He dominated the entire round, and kept Aldo flat on his back where he was able to brutalize him with ground and pound tactics. Eventually Aldo was able to survive the round and the fight and score a unanimous decision victory.
Randy Couture’s swan song ended the way most expected which was not good news for the Hall of Famer. The former UFC Heavyweight and Light Heavyweight champion stood tall through the opening round. In the second round though his opponent, Lyoto Machida, hit a flying front kick that conjured up memories of both Anderson Silva and The Karate Kid. After the fight Couture confirmed that he will indeed be retiring and thanked the fans for their warm embrace of him.
The opening two fights of the main card saw former WEC Lightweight chap Ben Henderson make a successful UFC debut as he defeated Canadian Mark Bocek by unanimous decision. A day earlier Henderson had missed weight and needed the extra two hours allowed to shed a final half pound. He was on his game tonight though as he pitched a shut-out against Bocek who was coming off a Submission of the Night victory over Dustin Hazelett at UFC 124. From there Vladimir Matyushenko stunned many by knocking out Jason Brilz a mere 20 second into their fight.
Overall Canada went 6-4 in front of their home crowd, a respectable record to be sure though some may have hoped for more. John Makdessi probably made the biggest statement tonight though as he hit a wicked spinning back fist on Kyle Watson that knocked him cold and most likely won him the Knockout of the Night award.
