UFC 129 Results: Lacklustre GSP Defeats Jake Shields
Over 55,000 fans filled the Rogers Center in Toronto on Saturday night and watched Georges St-Pierre successfully defend his UFC welterweight title for the 6th time by out-pointing challenger Jake Shields. The paid gate for UFC 129 was the largest ever to attend a North American MMA event.
I’m not sure if the ticket price included an energy drink or two, but it would have been helpful to keep even the most ardent fans interested and focused during the main event.
GSP used his amazing take down defense to thwart a few seemingly uninspired attempts by Shields to get the fight to the ground. This kept the bout standing for the majority of the night where GSP effectively out kickboxed Shields. He even managed to land a couple of crunching head kicks that appeared to seriously hurt the challenger. GSP, however, never moved to capitalize on the advantage and was content to safely earn a points victory.
The lack of killer instinct by St-Pierre was not lost on the partisan crowd that booed loudly during the last couple of rounds at the absence of any desire by their champion to finish the fight.
In fairness to GSP, he was handicapped by a swollen left eye caused by a right hand from Shields landed in the second round. According to GSP’s comments between rounds and after the fight, he could not see clearly from the eye and was unable to press his advantage. He too was disappointed by his performance that he graded as an ‘F’.
The crowd was also possibly jaded by an undercard that provided fantastic finishes and near-heroic efforts from other Canadian fighters.
In the co-main event, Canadian Mark Hominick took a beating at the hands of UFC Featherweight Champion Jose Aldo. Aldo landed a variety of power kicks, punches and elbows during the bout that left Hominick’s head a swollen mask of horror. By the end of the 4th round a baseball size hematoma had formed on the right side of Hominick’s forehead and was twice examined by the cage side doctor. The doctor allowed the fight continue at the pleading of the driven Mark Hominick.
Hominick lost the fight via unanimous decision but managed to take Aldo to the ground in the final round. He then administered the most vicious ground and pound of the fight and managed to win the round despite his significantly lumped and bloodied face. The final round heroics prompted an ovation from appreciative fans.
In the evenings other marquee match-up, 47 year-old UFC Hall of Famer Randy Couture took on former 205 pound champion, Lyoto Machida. After a first round that saw both fighters safely feel each other out, Machida came out more aggressively in the second. Machida pushed Couture back with strikes and then landed a sudden jumping front kick that knocked Couture down and out. The kick, which Machida himself credited to Steven Seagal, was very similar to the kick used by Anderson Silva to stop Vitor Belfort. The kick also drew comparisons to the fictitious Crane Technique utilized in the movie “The Karate Kid”.
Welterweight Championship Bout: St-Pierre via UD over Jake Shields
Featherweight Championship Bout: Jose Aldo via UD over Mark Hominick
Light Heavyweight Bout: Lyoto Machida KO (flying front crane kick) over Randy Couture
Light Heavyweight Bout: Vladimir Matyushenko via KO (punch) over Jason Brilz
Lightweight Bout: Ben Henderson via UD over Mark Bocek
Welterweight Bout: Rory MacDonald via UD over Nate Diaz
Welterweight Bout: Jake Ellenberger via KO (punch) over Sean Pierson
Welterweight Bout: Claude Patrick via UD over Daniel Roberts
Bantamweight Bout: Ivan Menjivar via TKO (elbow) over Charlie Valencia
Middleweight Bout: Jason MacDonald via sub (triangle choke) over Ryan Jensen
Lightweight Bout: John Makdessi via KO (spinning back fist) over Kyle Watson
Featherweight Bout: Pablo Garza via sub (flying triangle) over Yves Jabouin
