Ontario, Canada presented its first ever UFC event with a remarkable turnout of 55,000 fans in attendance as native hero and UFC welterweight champion, Georges St-Pierre (22-2) successfully defended his crown via unanimous verdict in the main event against the highly regarded Jake Shields (26-5) over five contested rounds.
In a bout that was presumed to be a wrestling match between two upper echelon grapplers, the crowd witnessed a tactical boxing and sometimes kicking contest, mostly controlled and dominated by St-Pierre.
The opening round saw the champion execute superior timing of overhand rights, jabs, spinning back kicks, and a superman punch that actually found its mark.
St-Pierre, known for his relentless wrestling prowess, was able to secure two brief takedowns, but did not sustain any further to take the fight to the ground. Shields, more renown of his grappling repertoire than striking, made several single leg attempts, but to no avail.
After sweeping the first two, St-Pierre appeared to be distraught by an eye injury that seemed to be caused by a flickering Shields jab. Between rounds, St-Pierre informed his corner that he could not see out of his left eye. This turned out favorably for Shields, who gained confidence to increase his aggression in the fourth, connecting with solid straight punches to the face. However, the champion responded with a vicious head kick that hurt and dropped the challenger for a brief moment. The final round was competitive as Shields continued to raise his tempo, while St-Pierre kept his distance to time his clobbering overhand rights.
While there was a bit of a jeer from the crowd for what resulted in a safety first if not uninspiring performance by GSP, there was no doubt as to who came out victorious after 25 minutes of Octagon fighting. Official scores were 50-45, 48-47(twice). St-Pierre did not respond with a decisive answer when asked about a potential move to the middleweight division. As for Shields, this marks the first loss in nearly six years for the former Strikeforce Middleweight champion.
ALDO DEFEATS HOMINICK IN A CLASSIC
The Toronto held event also featured UFC’s inaugural featherweight title bout between Jose Aldo and Mark Hominick. Aldo (19-1), making his anticipated debut in the UFC, began the first round furiously landing vicious leg kicks and hard punches. Hominick (20-9) refused to wilt, as he switched tactics in rounds two and three, to seemingly outbox and outsmart Aldo in spurts.
In round four, a nasty elbow landed by the champion Aldo, caused a grotesque swelling on the forehead of Hominick, who was then further punished by relentless ground and pound attack. The cageside physician observed the swelling, but did allow Hominick to continue. In a true display of toughness and iron will, Hominick came out furiously in the fifth and final stanza to immediately take down the tiring champion and unleashed a series of unanswered punches from the top. Unable to fully break Aldo’s guard, Hominick tried his best to land as many as he could, but the Brazilian was able to hang tight and hear the final bell.
Judges’ scores were unanimous in favor of Aldo by a way of 50-43, 48-46, and 49-46. It wasn’t the most eye opening performance given Aldo’s reputation as one the top 3, 4 pound for pound fighters in the sport. However, the champion still demonstrated indomitable will and toughness in the fifth round to pull out the W.
MACHIDA DISMANTLES CAPTAIN AMERICA INTO RETIREMENT
Heading into tonight’s event, it was announced that Randy Couture (19-11) would fight his final fight in the Octagon. After what we saw tonight, he made a wise decision. In a heavily one-sided affair, Lyoto Machida (17-2) got back on the winning track, suddenly ending the fight and the career of UFC Hall of Famer Randy Couture, with a perfectly executed jumping front kick that landed on the jaw of the former Greco Roman wrestler.
The kick dropped and nearly rendered Couture unconscious as the referee immediately called a halt to the bout at 1:06 of the first round. Couture shortly announced his retirement and received a standing ovation from the crowd. With a win, Machida puts himself back in the light heavyweight contention, after suffering back-to-back losses to Maurcio Rua and Quinton Jackson.
In other bouts, Russian light heavyweight and long time cage veteran Vladimir Matyushenko (26-5), destroyed American former wrestler Jason Brilz (18-4-1) in the first round. A hard one-two punch combo dropped Brilz to the canvas which was then followed by a string of hammer fists which prompted the referee to stop the contest. Former WEC lightweight champion Benson Henderson won an exciting three round battle against Mark Bocek. Henderson dominated in striking and survived an anaconda choke and other submission attempts to receive the unanimous nod.
