Since he won the World Welterweight title back at UFC 83 in Montreal, Georges St. Pierre has always been accused by fans and critics for "fighting safe", that is not taking necessary risks and simply fighting to out point his opponents, whether it be Jon Fitch, Thiago Alves, Dan Hardy or Josh Koshcheck...
The truth is however, that while he doesn't take risks, he plays to his opponents weaknesses and has more intelligence when the cage closes to know how when the dust clears he'll still have his title. Saturday night was another example of that.
In front of a North American record crowd in excess of 55,000 at Toronto's Rogers Centre, St. Pierre faced American Jake Shields. And it was a thorough, 25 minute one sided beating, as The French Canadian champion used his jab and peppered Shields with shots while cruising to a unanimous decision victory. All the while, he did it with one eye, as a poke by Shields in the second left St. Pierre with blurry vision. St. Pierre also told Joe Rogan that he was "disappointed" in not being able to finish the Cesar Gracie product Shields.
Next for St. Pierre : Undoubtedly a move to 185 is in the cards against Anderson Silva. But since it can't happen until after Rio, I'd like to see him fight Nick Diaz in a "Champ vs Champ" contest.
Next for Shields : Losing for the first time in 6 years must be a bitter pill to swallow. If Jason "Mayhem" Miller wins his debut, give Miller his "rematch, buddy".
The co-main event saw Brazilian prospect and UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo take on Canadian and Ontario resident Mark Hominick. The early going saw Hominick circle outside of Aldo's leg kicks and power, while counter punching very effectively. Takedowns by Aldo were nullified by Hominicks defense off of his back, and while "The Machine" was never really in trouble, he had clearly lost the first 3 rounds. The fourth round saw Hominick get rocked and not being able to stand after that, though Aldo again was nullified by the Canadians defense. After being rocked, Hominick suffered a massive bump on his head, and while referee "Big" John McCarthy and ringside doctors checked on it, Hominick decided to labour on. The last round saw Hominick get a visibly tired Aldo with a takedown, and landing several shots, though not being able to put Aldo away. Time expired in the last round however, and Hominick would lose this title fight by unanimous decision, scores being 48-45, 48-46 and 49-46,
Next for Aldo : Dana White says Chad Mendes at UFC 133. Hope he works on his cardio in the meantime.
Next for Hominick : I think he could have finished if not for the massive bump on his head. I'd say throw him in with Josh Grispi to see if he can avenge his only WEC loss.
Former UFC light heavyweight champions Lyoto Machida and Randy Couture squared off, with "The Dragon" trying to rebound from back to back losses and "The Natural" just hoping to hang around with the Brazilian, as he said repeatedly this fight would be his last. The first round saw Couture trying to maintain the pace with Machida, shadowing him though being hit with heavy shots and not being able to land his own. The second round was more of the same, with Machida not being able to put a visibly slowed Couture with some blows. At just after the 1 minute mark of the middle stanza, Machida connected on a front kick reminiscent of both the Crane Kick from the film "The Karate Kid" and Anderson Silva's front kick on Vitor Belfort. Couture dropped faster than a sack of potatoes, losing a tooth and ultimately being sent into retirement.
Next for Machida : Either the winner of Rampage-Hammil or Rashad-Davis.
Next for Couture : Yeah yeah, he's done. Dana White said he was finished. But I don't buy it. I still think he'll be back. If not, I guess I'll watch Fedor-Couture if I ever get to heaven.
The first fight on the main card featured Canadian Mark Bocek taking on WEC graduate (and former lightweight champion) Ben Henderson. Bocek was not able to use his bread and butter on "Bend it like" Ben, that being Jiu-Jitsu. Although the Woodbridge product had the American in several compromising positions (including a leg lock late in the second that bent Henderson's leg into an angle you couldn't measure in Geometry class) Henderson earned a unanimous victory, winning on all scorecards by a margin of 30-27.
Honorable Mention : Hominick's refusal to quit even after doing his best Hasim Rahman impression is not something to be taken lightly. It showed you grit, heart and determination it takes to be a world champion. Though with his wife expecting to deliver their first child any day now, it can be argued that he was going to be the father of 2 kids : the one his wife is giving birth to, and the one that grew on his head.
Also, quit ragging on GSP. To fight for 15 minutes of a 25 minute fight with essentially one eye is miraculous. And he still made a guy with horrible standup (Shields) look even worse with one eye. MMAjunkie reported that his eye is fine and he should be ok. I'm not sure if Shields intended or not to fight dirty, but an eye poke is an eye poke. The fact he even resorted to trash talking while soundly losing a fight showed you he didn't belong in there.
Rory McDonald giving Nick Diaz a pounding. He deserved to beat Carlos Condit, sadly it didn't happen because of a mistake Rory made. But he learned from it and I'm sure it wouldn't happen again.
Also, there might be something to Steven Seagal's talk about "inventing" the front kick. First Anderson Silva throws it against Belfort. Now Machida uses the same kick to send Couture into retirement. Though the "inventing" story is pure nonsense, it shows he might know a thing or two about proper striking placement.
On a side note, I actually went perfect on my picks for the first time (on the year's biggest card so far, no less), which brings my record to an impressive 19-13-2 for the year.
Questions? Comments? email me at mmarmaggeddon@gmail.com
Until next time, fight fans!
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