Upcoming UFC 129 St-Pierre vs. Shields

 Upcoming UFC 129 Georges St-Pierre vs. Jake Shields April 30^th, 2011 from Toronto, Canada

Better late than never, this night is HUGE for Canadian fighters, two guys in title fights and some big up and comers in the undercard. By this point most of my picks will be extremely predictable and a bit self-explanatory but I'll share them anyway. As I have a custom made t-shirt ready for tonight (yep, I’m that nerdy) I’m more than ready for the action!

Georges St-Pierre vs. Jake Shields - Welterweight Championship

No question I am going for one of my top fives and fellow Canadian GSP! I'm not taking anything away from Shields, especially after watching the three-part primetime series. Shields is a stand up guy that has been working his way through tough opponents and holding world titles in different leagues, such as strikeforce before the UFC bought it. He is crazy strong on the mat but I still don't think its enough. GSP is a total well-round fighter. He does seem a little more nervous for this fight than any other though. I think that mainly comes from the fact that so many people around him are already looking past this fight. Because of Shield's blahzay first appearance in the UFC at UFC 121 people don’t expect much. These people are definitely naïve. I know this will be a great matchup. GSP has a ridiculous training regiment. The most interesting I feel would be his gymnastics training. Helping on his agility and control it’s something you can see is helpful in his fights and I haven’t heard of any fighters that train that way. GSP is without a doubt an amazing athlete but he can also be beat. He doesn’t have a strong chin like a lot of other fighters are. He says himself you can be winning all four rounds and you make one mistake in that fifth round and its all for nothing. That’s why I feel he doesn’t finish fights. His last matchup against Koscheck he could have gone hard to finish but as Koscheck was still throwing punches and throwing them hard he didn’t want to risk getting too cocky and getting clipped with one. I like what one of Shield’s trainer’s said about GSP. He explains that GSP is not the average fighter, you have to take him into deep water. You have to see what is inside of his soul, and then defeat that. Kinda sounds like a weird video game boss battle but it makes sense, you can’t just go in and hope to catch him, you have to beat GSP in every aspect of the fight, and today is not the day for that to happen.

Jose Aldo vs. Mark Hominick – featherweight Championship

This will be the first title defense for Mr. Aldo. Too bad it’s against another top notch Canuck, Mark Hominick. After his amazing appearance at UFC Fight for the Troops 2 I am totally behind this kid. He’s got crazy talent in addition to being a cool dude. I’m excited for this fight. Watching featherweights is totally a different game. They’re usually more fast and agile than the bigger weightclasses and obviously have a lot more room to work with in the cage. Go Canada!

Randy Couture vs. Lyoto Machida – light heavyweight

Captain America is one of my all time favourite fighters and always will be. Machida lost his title in his rematch again Rua and then went on to loose his most recent matchup against Rampage. Not sure what’s up with him, he hasn’t seemed to be the great fighter I know he is lately. I’m okay with that though, a W against Machida will look great on Coutures list of fights and I’m excited to see him take out the dragon.

Mark Bocek vs. Ben Henderson – lightweight

I made the mistake of underestimating this kid at UFC 124 and I will not be doing that again. Henderson is great and held the title in the WEC before it was taking by Pettis right before the merge at WEC 53 but Bocek is better. I’m expecting another victory for team Canada here.

Sean Pierson vs. Jake Ellenberger – welterweight

Yet another great Canadian! After an impressive and exciting victory in his UFC debut at UFC 124 I have high hopes for Pierson.

Nate Diaz vs. Rory MacDonald – welterweight

No real reason, I just like this guy and I read an article about him and his brother Nick Diaz in an mma magazine a few months back that made me like him even more. I wouldn’t be too disappointed if MacDonald pulled off a W though, as long as it’s a great fight.

John Makdessi vs. Kyle Watson – lightweight

Watson was on team GSP on the 12^th season of TUF but unfortunately lost out in the quarterfinals. He defeated a fellow cast member at the TUF finale but this will be his first fight since the show. I like this guy and even though he’s fighting a Canadian on Canadian soil, I’m hoping he’ll pull off the win.

UFC 128 Shogun vs. Jones

UFC 128 Mauricio "Shogun" Rua vs. Jon "Bones" Jones March 19th, 2011 from Newark, New Jersey.

Wow what a dummy, I didn't press the “publish post” button so this results blog has been sitting for 2 weeks, sorry about that. 

Edson Barboza vs. Anthony Njokuani - lightweight

Not as impressive as his win at UFC 123 but winner of fight of the night it was definitely a battle. You can watch it on UFC.com in the videos section.

Mirko Cro Cop (Filipvic) - Brendan "The Hybrid" Schaub – heavyweight

Shaub comes out aggressive throwing a lot of punches to get the fight going early. Shaub gets a "strong warning" from ref Herb Dean to make sure he avoids punches to the back of the head. He follows that up with a takedown instead. Cro Cop lands a pretty nice up kick against Shaub but is still on the bottom taking some huge, heavy punches. They stand up with just over a minute left but Shaub keeps Cro Cop close to stuff his lethal kicks. He finished the round landing a couple knees and some nice body shots. Cro Cop lands a great left kick to Shaub's head but is taken down right after. While Cro Cop was on the mat Shaub lands a punch to the back of Cro Cops head and while Cro Cop tried to protest ref Herb Dean explains it wasn't targeted, that happened because he moved his head. That's why he's an awesome ref! Cro Cop's lucky he didn't get a warning himself for landing an up kick while Shaub's knee was still on the mat. Shaub continues to keep Cro Cop in close and does eat a few elbows himself getting cut up a bit but I still feel like he had control. Unfortunately that strong warning was serious, and Shaub gets one point taken away for hitting the back of Cro Cops head again. Third round I feel like Shaub is up 2-0 but with that point taken away he still has to come out strong. Shaub gets a nice takedown early in the third round. They stand up but Shaub stops that really quick taking the fight down again. Shaub lands a bit of ground and pound but they get back on their feet. Cro Cop gets another beautiful left kick right to Shaub's head. I would not want to be on the receiving end of one of those. Rogan and Goldberg said a couple times Cro Cop is always just one kick away from ending the fight but I don't think they saw the one punch coming from Shaub... KO!!! (Offically by TKO but it was one punch from where I was sitting) Out cold one punch just over a minute left Cro Cop is laid out! Man that was a nice one for the highlight reel. KO as Cro Cop is throwing another kick too, that was pretty cool. Its nice to see Cro Cop was actually fighting this time, not like his recent match up against Mir but this is definitely the result I wanted. Happy 28th Birthday to the Hybrid as this earned him one of two knockout of the night bonuses. Dana mentioned this will probably be the last time we see Cro Cop in the octagon, just seems like he can’t quite fight like he used to.

Nate Marquardt vs. Dan Miller - middleweight

In the post fight press conference we found out that Miller lost his daughter and she would have been two years old that night. Very impressive Miller, brother of Jim Miller, also on this card, took this fight on such short notice after Akiyama pulled out after the disaster in Japan on March 12^th and on such an emotional evening. Miller was able to get close to a guillotine in the first round but Marquardt showed some great defense being able to get out of it. Marquardt landed some nice elbows from his top position but with just over a minute left the ref stood them up. From that he was able to land a huge slam takedown, which probably earned him the round. Second round Marquardt lands some nice combinations. Getting in and getting out quickly. Miller landed a nice takedown grabbing Marquardt's flying knee but didn't do much with it. The fight goes to the mat and Miller again grabs a pretty tight guillotine but Marquardt is able to get out and ends the round on top. That was a pretty close round to me and I think Marquardt definitely had the stand up game but you never know how the judges will score it. Marquardt comes out strong again third round landing a very pretty head kick early. Miller gets a takedown but again winds up on the bottom. Marquardt takes advantage of his top position dealing some brutal knees to bloody up Miller's left eye and finishing the fight strong. It goes to the judges and all three call it 30-27 for Marquardt. Not the most exciting finish but a great fight from both guys.

Jim Miller vs. Kamal Shalorus – lightweight

Shalorus has some skills. He started off the first round throwing some nice quick punches but Miller was countering every one of them. He landed a few leg kicks a sweet head kick and a damaging punch that started to swell up Shalorus' right eye pretty badly. Miller stayed aggressive the rest of the round but so did Shalorus. Second round Miller grabs a takedown and immediately takes Shalorus' back. He holds on with a body triangle to prevent Shalorus to spin around and face him. Miller tries for the submission but just can't get the right hold. Miller is not tired at all going into the third round and lands pretty solid knees to the body right away. Just under three minutes left Miller lands a beautiful uppercut then a lethal knee to Shalorus' face the totally rocks him. He jumps right on him and lands punch after punch to finish the fight by TKO. Miller is an awesome fighter and a really modest guy and I like him more and more each time I see him fight, he is quickly becoming one of my favourites. Of course a title shot was brought up during the post fight press conference but since the lightweight division is becoming so powerful there are a ton of guys up at the top waiting for that shot. I think Miller definitely deserves it but I think he will have one or two more fights while waiting.

Urijah Faber vs. Eddie Wineland – bantamweight

It was a really solid first round. Both guys working hard for a takedown and Wineland lands the big slam halfway into the round. He lands a couple nice punches but not a whole lot of damage. Wineland does a really great job stuffing a couple big takedown attempts. Faber does land a few nice punches himself but I would absolutely give the round to Wineland. During the break you can see Wineland has a nice little goose egg developing over his left eye, Faber certainly does damage. Second round Faber finally gets a takedown. He is able to use it more that Wineland did landing some really nice elbows. A couple times Faber did this crazy thing where he was able to lift Wineland up while he was in his guard and slam him again. Wineland was almost able to stand up and did do a pretty good job holding Faber in so not a lot of damage could be done but this round still goes to Faber. He was continuously attacking from the top. Not doing a ton of damage but still working. Going into the third round it's 1-1, the fight is definitely not over. The fight stays standing and both fighters are attacking but Faber is definitely more effective in his punches. They're fast, precise and absolutely powerful. One more takedown from Faber in the last minutes of the fight that I think won the fight for him. The decision goes to the judges and no surprise all three call it 29-28 for Faber. This was a great fight and even though Wineland wasn't able to pull off the upset he was not at all a stepping-stone or just an opponent to introduce Faber to the UFC. I'm excited that this division is now in the UFC and I'm looking forward to seeing both of these classy guys continue to fight. Faber is a little disappointed in his performance as he is still getting used to the weight class but he had no problem calling out current UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz, saying “Hide your kids, hide your wife and hide your belt” (if you don’t know what he is referring to just look up Antoine Dodson on youtube). it looks like that fight will be happening in July at UFC 132. 

Mauricio "Shogun" Rua vs. Jon "Bones" Jones - light heavyweight championship

Ladies and Gentlemen we have a NEW CHAMPION!! This man is a real champion and an inspiration. Just a couple of hours before the fight Jones was meditating in a park and heard a couple getting mugged. He chased down the thief and held him until the police arrived. If you haven’t heard him tell the story himself go watch the post fight presser now, what a funny and great guy! The first round both fighters come out aggressive. Jones grabs the first takedown though about 30 seconds in. Jones maintained control on top landing some hard elbows to Shogun's face and body. About a minute and a half left in the round the two stand up and Jones gets some nice connections, a knee to the body and a kick to he face against Shogun on his way up. Shogun is still trying to push forward but you can tell he is wobbly and he definitely looks tired. Round one to the rookie, no doubt about it. About thirty seconds into the second round Jones lands his famous spinning elbow. Its great to see that he is not letting up at all even though it is a big title fight. He's fighting like he always does, strong, aggressive, creative and effective. Jones finishes the round on top continuing to land solid elbows to shoguns face and smothering him making it hard for him to breath in his tired state. The way I see it, clearly 2-0 for the kid. Not counting Shogun out, the beginning of the third round he gets close to a leg lock on Jones. Unable to hold it Jones gets on top and deals some painful ground and pound. He lands elbow after elbow and just as Shogun is able to stand up he gets a brutal left hook and a knee to the face and the fight is over! The youngest Champion ever in the UFC, Jones wins in the third round via TKO. Now THAT is how to take a belt! So excited he gives Joe Rogan a cute little kiss to the cheek before the interview. Dreams do come true for him; he was signing autographs 2011 Champion and tonight he proved that’s exactly what he is. Very soon the smile went away though. The game face is back on as Jones is told he will be taking on his teammate and training partner Rashad Evans for his first title defense. He will take off a little time to spend quality time with his daughters and future wife but I’m sure the battle will happen in late 2011.

During the post fight press conference Dana White was asked if he would arrange a fight between Jones and Anderson Silva after such a dominating win. Dana explained Silva does not want to fight at 205 at all so it’s not likely that will happen. All the other fighters spoke very highly of Jones. Not only speaking about his athletic ability and skill but his personality and what he will do for the sport.

So I was six for six on all my fight picks... well that's new. A great night of fights, exciting finishes and proper decisions! The next season of TUF (after the current one on Spike) will be 135/145 fighters to introduce the new divisions to the UFC a little bit better. Faber has been looked at as a possible coach but we’ll have to wait and see. During the post fight presser I also found out Anthony Pettis (who was the last WEC lightweight champ after defeating Ben Henderson at WEC 53 and was supposed to have the next shot at the belt after Maynard and Edgar fought the first time) will be taking on Clay Guida at the TUF 13 finale this summer. If Pettis wins he will still get the title shot after the Maynard/Edger rematch but Guida would likely not. (Yay)

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