The anticipation finally reached its peak last Saturday night from the Rogers Center as the UFC took over Toronto, Canada as UFC 129 set a North American attendance record; with over 55,000 there to cheer on hometown fighter and Welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre (22-2) as he fought the newest face to the UFC, jiu-jitsu specialist Jake Shields. The round started off with St. Pierre capitalizing on the fact that Shields came out stiff as a board. St. Pierre knocked Shields back frequently with his patented superman jab as Shields was on the defensive the whole time. After round 2, St. Pierre told Greg Jackson that he couldn’t see out of his left eye, the result of Shields landing two big shots to the champion. Round 3, Shields came out and pressed St. Pierre not giving him much room and ended up taking Shields down late in the round. Visibly cut up at the beginning of Round 4, St. Pierre came out and scored a take down while also landing a kick to the head of Shields as the fight went into the fifth and final round. St. Pierre and Shields touched gloves and with no one really committing to anything big, the fight came to a close with St. Pierre getting the unanimous decision victory. When asked about his hints at going up to 185 for the super fight versus Anderson Silva, St. Pierre said that he would have to have a sit down talk about it.
It was a bittersweet night for UFC Hall of Famer Randy Couture as he announced before the fight that it would be his last. “The Dragon” Lyoto Machida sent him home toothless from a devastating jumping crane kick early in the second round. Machida showed the utmost respect to Couture as he confirmed it would be the last time fans would see him fight. Randy Couture would leave the UFC with a 19-11 record and more importantly one of the original pioneers of mixed martial arts.
The UFC will be back in Las Vegas at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on May 28th, as Frankie Edgar and Grey Maynard lock horns for the third time to decisively crown the lightweight champion. The co-main event will feature Rampage Jackson versus Matt Hamill as the heavyweight bout features Frank Mir and TUF winner Roy Nelson.