UFC 129: GSP vs. Shields

[Troy]

UFC 129​

Main Card
Welterweight Championship bout: Georges St-Pierre (c) vs. Jake Shields
Featherweight Championship bout: José Aldo (c) vs. Mark Hominick
Light Heavyweight bout: Randy Couture vs. Lyoto Machida
Lightweight bout: Mark Bocek vs. Ben Henderson
Light Heavyweight bout: Vladimir Matyushenko vs. Jason Brilz​

Preliminary Card (Spike TV)
Welterweight bout: Nate Diaz vs. Rory MacDonald
Welterweight bout: Sean Pierson vs. Brian Foster

Preliminary Card
Featherweight bout: Yves Jabouin vs. Pablo Garza
Welterweight bout: Claude Patrick vs. Daniel Roberts
Bantamweight bout: Ivan Menjivar vs. Charlie Valencia
Middleweight bout: Jason MacDonald vs. Ryan Jensen
Lightweight bout: John Makdessi vs. Kyle Watson​

This is UFC's debut in Toronto and there will be something like 55,000 fans in the arena. By far the biggest attendance for UFC and it will be one of the biggest sporting gates in history.​

GSP in the mainevent defending against Shields who just got past Kampmann in his UFC debut. If GSP wins here he will move up a division and face Silva in a dream fight. I can't see GSP losing here.​

For the first time ever the Featherweight Championship will be defended on a UFC show. Jose Aldo I don't know much about but from what I have read he is meant to be like GSP or Silva as in completely dominates the division.​

Surprised that Couture is fighting again. Sure Machida is coming off two loses, of which the last one was a joke, but I can't see him losing to Couture unless it goes to the judges.​

Very strong card for a historic event.​

 

[Deezy]

Scalpers are already asking for 40 grand for cage side seats! That just shows you how epic this audience will be. If they are half as vocal as the crowd for Wrestlemania 18 was, this could be the greatest card ever.

Main Card
Welterweight Championship bout: Georges St-Pierre (c) vs. Jake Shields
GSP one of the best fighters on the planet, is one win away from facing Anderson Silva, the superfight of the century rests on him beating Jake Shields. Jake Shields could very well play spoiler here and beat GSP, Jake Shields is no joke, his fight with Dan Henderson should've proved that to the doubters. I want GSP to win this so he can face Anderson, and as a result of that he would drop the WW title and open the doors for people like Jon Fitch.

Featherweight Championship bout: José Aldo (c) vs. Mark Hominick
Hominick will be Aldo's biggest test since Aldo hasn't face a striker of his caliber and was fighting mostly wrestlers. For some reason Also is being touted as a top fighter on peoples P4P list, but I still have a problem with taking midgets seriously.

Light Heavyweight bout: Randy Couture vs. Lyoto Machida
This is a fight I will just enjoy watching, I'm a big fan of both men. I don't know why Randy still wants to fight, but I'll never question him about it or bet against him, since he's been proving people wrong his entire career. Machida got screwed over in his last fight and will look to push the pace in this one. Should be a good fight.

Lightweight bout: Mark Bocek vs. Ben Henderson
Bocek and Bendo, Bocek has slick jits and Bendo is untappable. Should make for a good opener.

 

[Troy]

That is insane that scalpers are asking that much for ringside seats. The atmosphere will be intense and it should become one of the greatest sporting events in a long long time.

With GSP vs Shields, I don't discount Shields but I just can't see GSP losing. Belfort was meant to be the greatest test to Silva but he took care of him in no time. GSP is elite and he will find a way to win. Like you said it would be great for the WW division if he wins here, he will move up and it will give so many more fighters opportunities and it will level out the playing field a bit.

Very true that Couture continues to prove everyone wrong but he is getting on in age and Machida should account for him since Machida should still be a title contender in the near future.

 

[Chase]

Too me I believe in Shields. Dude is an awesome wrestler if not better then GSP. GSP is great not doubt about that but Jake Shields knows how to work, the only game Shields sucks at is striking otherwise he is not that bad. I want Shields to win, but at the same time I want GSP to fight Silva to get tooled by him for sure. So yeah thats just my two cents. Rest of the card looks good.

As well Aldo I see just doing a good job of not getting to heavy with Mark Hominik.

 

[Dademo]

It looks like Chase and I are the only people that are giving Jake Shields a chance and I'm alright with that. I'm pretty confident that Jake Shields can and will take Georges St. Pierre down more than once in the fight. I mean, he's just that good at getting guys on their back. Don't forget that Jake has some serious Jiu Jitsu and if GSP isn't careful Shields might be able to sub him.

But then, you have GSP. He's gotten all of his opponents down with ease, and the dude is just an animal. One thing his missing, I personally think, is that killer instict to finish fights. He's been pretty convincing saying that he wants to finish his opponents but so far he hasn't finished anyone since Matt Serra. But he's really just dominant so if you ask me, that makes up for the lack of killer instict.

As weird as this sounds, maybe to some of you, I think this will be a close decision and go to 5 rounds. We'll see though.

GSP wins and we see GSP/Silva or Shields wins and GSP fights BJ/Fitch winner for a title shot again.

I'm so Pumped for Aldo/Hominick as well. This is Aldo's toughest test to date if you ask me and this will show whether he deserves that P4P shot.

Davis/Hammil is off and DAvis was supposed to fight Jason Brilz. Now Davis will fight Little Nog and Brilz will fight Matyushenko. Probably will be on the undercard though and Diaz/Mcdonald will get bumped.

This event is going to be crazy!

 

[Troy]

This PPV can't come quickly enough for me and it is still so far away. There hasn't been much news about this PPV in the past month but I expect that once we get into April we will start hearing some more news leading up to the PPV.

UFC Primetime will be back to hype this PPV.

 

[Dademo]

I'm so pumped for this card, holy crap. I honestly think its' stacked, and not having Machida or Randy in the Co-ME or ME will be weird. The last time we had two title fights on a card was 112 and we all know what happened there, so two title fights will be awesome if you ask me.

 

[Dademo]

[video=youtube;0LI7ic7ox88]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LI7ic7ox88&feature=player_embedded[/video]

Awesome new video released by the UFC, only gets me more pumped for the show. Glad production and avertisement is going well, and I can only pray and wish that no one gets injured before this card.

 

[Troy]

UFC always produce great videos and this is another great quick hype video. Like you said hopefully they can all remain healthy for this PPV. If everyone makes it it is going to be a massive event that should deliver a great show.

 

[Chase]

Love that video can not wait for this event. Anyone catch UFC primetime. Both GSP and Shield are showing both great respect towards each other and confidence that both are going to win. Going for Shields though, and an upset, but who knows so basically like I said earlier can't wait.

 

[Troy]

Overall this was a good PPV but the mainevent was poor.

Shields was pathetic in this fight and GSP just shrugged off everything he did. GSP did get cut under the eye in the second round which altered his vision but Shields couldn't capitalise on it. Shields couldn't take GSP down and it looked like he wasn't even trying to win he was just trying to survive the full five rounds. Not sure what the judges were smoking, the score was 50-45 Shields didn't win one round let alone two. The closest he came was the fifth round but other than that I have no idea where he won another round.

Aldo vs. Hominick was deservedly fight of the night. Aldo controlled the first four rounds but surprisingly whenever he took Hominick down he didn't do anything with that position. He gave Hominick a massive hematoma on the top of his head thanks to an elbow and I am shocked the doctor allowed the fight to go on. Aldo also cut him pretty bad under his eye. Hominick won the last round when Aldo gassed but it wasn't enough. I scored it 49-46.

Machida's front kick on Couture was sensational and Segal has taught Silva and Machida a great finish. This is meant to be the end for Couture although he has said that a few times before. Machida will hopefully be considered a threat again in the division and will be given a good fighter next up.

Matyushenko easily finished Brilz with a great combination. Looks good for 40.

Henderson vs. Boeck was entertaining and Henderson was the deserving winner. I had it scored at 30-27 like all the judges.

MacDonald was just too good for Diaz. Diaz just couldn't get a glove on him and MacDonald was able to counter everything that came at him. 30-27

Ellenberger had a nice KO finish in a card full of them.

Pablo Garza pulled off a stunning flying triangle choke on Jabouin. Such a strange looking fighter since he is 6'1" but only 145 pounds.

Makdessi hit an awesome spinning back fist to KO Watson. It was a good fight for the first two rounds and then in the third Makdessi faked a kick and then hit that incredible back fist. Such a clean hit and he is unlucky that Machida pulled out that front kick because it was close to KO of the night.

MacDonald had a nice win by choke over Jensen.

Menjivar wasn't troubled against Valencia and won early in the first by TKO.

Well worth the money.

 

[Dademo]

No offense Troy, and I may be biased, but I wouldn't call Shields pathetic. He landed more strikes on GSP than GSP landed on him, bloodied him up, and sent him to the hospital. Shields AT LEAST won the last round. I wouldn't go as far to say I was impressed with Shields, but his striking is terrible, and with the way he was striking last night, landing on GSP, he wasn't doing half bad. Shields may not deserve one, but I'd be interested in a rematch, although that fight wasn't the best fight in the world. GSP still showed why he's one of the top fighters in the world, so props to him.

Aldo/Hominick was a classic. I scored it 48-46 with Aldo winning rounds 1, 3, and 4, and Hominick winning round 5 and round 2 being a draw. Jose Aldo's stock didn't go down in my book and neither did Mark Hominick.

Couture vs. Machida was a good back and forth battle, but then Machida out of no where hits a fucking sick Crane kick to knock out Randy! I screamed so loud and I also heard that Steven Seagal and Anderson Silva were going nuts when he hit that. Lyoto Machida is back and I can't wait for his next fight. Funny story, I told my friends "he's going to front kick him in the face, I saw Steven Segal with him". And he fucking did it.

Bendo vs. Bocek was a great fight, Ben Henderson is a great fighter, can't believe I didn't think he would win that fight.

And good for Vladdy with that win.

 

[Troy]

I only saw Shields hit GSP twice in the face, all other shots were blocked by GSP. Overall I was just so disappointing by his performance since he didn't play to his strengths and didn't look like he even tried to win. He was so slow when trying to take GSP down and GSP easily shrugged him off. They hyped Shields up so much I expected much more from him.

I find it so funny that the two guys Steven Segal has helped have both finished a fight with the crane kick. With all Segal's low grade action films it makes me forget that he was a highly trained martial artist. Such a good move and I was surprised to hear how rare it is.

 

[Deezy]

It was just another case of GSP being on another level than most fighters. Jake Shields is no slouch, it's just GSP is just that good, he makes elite fighters look like newbs and only gets better every fight. Jake Shields is alot better than that fight showed, but definitely didn't look like the fighter looking to topple the champ that night.

Aldo and Hominick on the otherhand was a great fight, Homonicks fight sort of looked like MMAs version of Rocky, where he gets the shit kicked out of him for most of the fight and looks like he is winning at the end. That goose egg on his head was gnarly, like someone smakced him with a hammer. Those takedowns definitely won the fight for Aldo, who really didn't look like he wanted to stand and trade with Hominick, the dual pushups were great too.

 

[Dod Draper]

Machida's KO of Couture was the highlight of the night for me. A lot like the Silva KO of Belfort.

GSP looked dominant against Shields up until his eye got busted. Even then, he still looked safe. The eye hindered him though, since he seemed pretty distressed by it.

Card as a whole was fairly decent. Goldberg and Rogan pissed me off continuously mentioning the 55,000 in attendance though.