The good, the bad and the ugly from UFC 129: St Pierre VS Shields – results & commentary

The Rogers Centre in Toronto, Canada crammed over 55,000 screaming fans into their arena for UFC 129, which was being promoted as the biggest card in the history of the UFC. In a card that stacked up as being almost entirely USA VS Canada, viewers all across the world were treated to some exciting fights, as well as a few stinkers. Once again, let’s take a journey through this event and take a look at the good, the bad, and the ugly of UFC 129!

The Good:

UFC champions defend their gold in tough tests - Jose Aldo and Georges St. Pierre exited the Rogers Centre the same way they walked in, wearing their UFC championship belts around their waist. The only difference was the amount of cuts and lumps on their faces. Both battles went the distance and tested the heart of the champions and contenders, but the gold stayed on their original owners by the end of the night.

GSP fought through an eye injury midway through the fight, despite complaining about not being able to see. St. Pierre implemented a superior jab that stopped Shields every time from moving in and great takedown defense for the few times that Jake Shields attempted to wrestle with him. Very little time was spent on the ground in this fight, as St. Pierre wanted nothing to do with Shields guard, which left the only option to stand and pick shots. After five rounds, St. Pierre took the unanimous decision in one of the hardest fights in his time as welterweight champion. His immediate future is up in the air now as we await word on his eye and if it will need surgery (GSP headed to the hospital following the fight), but a catchweight bout with Anderson Silva could be a reality sooner than later.

Mark Hominick took the fight to Jose Aldo in their match for the UFC featherweight title that won “Fight of the Night” honors. This was a fight that words do not do justice, as Hominick was locked and loaded and looking to steal the title in his hometown. Aldo looked sluggish through the fight but pushed on and showed the heart of a champion, taking over as the fight pushed into the championship rounds. After Aldo’s arm was raised, he told Joe Rogan that he has been out for so long due to his injury that his body was not used to all the muscle he put on during fight camp and it was not jet lag or the weight cut that slowed him down. Hominick sported a hideous tumor-looking growth on the side of his head by the end of the fight, and was taken to a hospital immediately following the bout.

Machida cements the Steven Seagal legacy - When I first read about Machida VS Couture, I asked myself one question, “Why?” I suspected the match would be a dull affair, and when compounded with this being Randy’s final fight, I could think of several better opponents for him (five in fact). The first round played out as expected, with Machida stifling Randy’s shots and picking his shots. Suddenly, Machida threw a flying front kick a la Daniel LaRusso in “The Karate Kid”, connecting on Randy’s chin and crumbling him like a cookie in milk.

The last time we saw a front kick knockout like that was relatively recent, which was when Anderson Silva made Vitor Belfort kiss his foot in his last title defense. Maybe I was wrong when I mocked Steven Seagal the first few times. He might be the next big striking coach for top-level MMA athletes… okay, I won’t go that far but I am still impressed. Traditional martial arts are finding their way back into MMA in their own new-school way, and it’s always nice to see the roots of combat sports get a sweet nod like that.

Hit the jump for the rest of the good, as well as the bad, and the ugly of UFC 129!

“The Janitor” cleans up - It only took 20 seconds for Vladimir Matyushenko to decapitate Jason Brilz with a dramatic shovel punch. The question now is where does this put Vlad in terms of the title scene. This nerd suggests a match with Lyoto Machida to see where both of these fighters stand in the rankings with the winner moving back into contention. Nuff’ said about that, since how much more can I write about a match that was 20 seconds long?

Facebook fights - Thus far in his Zuffa tenure, Pablo Garza has finished all of his fights in the first round. At UFC 129, he added a slick flying triangle choke victory to his record over Yves Jabouin during the first prelim fight aired on Facebook for this show. Garza landed stiff kicks and hard knees from the clinch to Jabouin during the short fight, which led up to the amazing choke that ended the bout.

Following up the aerial submission, Team GSP fighter John Makdessi connected with a powerful spinning backfist to Kyle Watson. For the first two rounds, Watson and Makdessi threw punches in bunches and showy strikes, but were fearful to commit too long. Makdessi seemed to flip the switch in the third round and came out a new man, counter-striking purposefully and eventually finding his mark to add the seventh knockout win in his MMA career.

But wait, there’s more! Jason McDonald made his return to the octagon after rehabbing a terrible leg injury and forced Ryan Jensen to tap out early in the first round with a smooth triangle choke. Ivan Menjivar decided to top the speed of that submission with a TKO over Charlie Valencia in 90 seconds. A sharp left elbow crushed Valencia’s face and dropped him to the mat, as Menjivar pounced on Valencia until referee “Big” John McCarthy pulled him off. Moments after the stoppage, McCarthy discovered that Valencia’s nose was broken from the blow.

Rory MacDonald’s German Suplexes - Rory MacDonald dominated Nate Diaz for three rounds, slamming him around with three consecutive German suplexes that would make Kurt Angle blush! Diaz seemed unable to answer any of the attacks that MacDonald used during their fight and made him look like an amateur through their fifteen minutes in the cage together. What’s next for MacDonald? Anything he wants.

The Bad:

GSP was not impressed by his performance - As Herb Dean held the fighters arms to wait for word from the referee, GSP used the big screen monitors to look at his bruised and bloodied face. During his post-fight interview, the champ suspected that he scratched his cornea due to a jab from Shields and was unable to push the plan he had hoped due to lack of vision. Rogan asked if St. Pierre was happy with his performance, which he replied, “No, not really.”

Scratched cornea or not, GSP took his time fighting Shield and played his usual patient game, only this time more patient than most could tolerate. GSP did his best to punctuate the end of each round by taking down (or attempting to take down) Shields, and was clearly not looking for a finish but to rack up points. While I appreciate the respect he showed for his opponent’s abilities, GSP disrespected his fans and himself by not giving 100%, and just doing what it took to win and nothing more.

Then again, it takes two to tango and Shields was equally unimpressive in this fight, and admitted that he did not fight as well as he should have at the post-fight press conference. Shields was literally fighting a one-eyed GSP and still could not finish him off! St. Pierre is an excellent counter-fighter and that style of fighting can make for dull fights, but Shields should have smelled blood in the water and became more aggressive once he noticed GSP checking out the round time so early in the final round. Neither man wanted to lose such a high-profile bout, but for many viewers at home, it felt like neither man wanted to fight.

Roberts not quite ready for prime time - The final fight of the Facebook prelims was Claude Patrick meeting Daniel Roberts in a match that should have been more exciting. Both men are finishers, especially Roberts. Never having gone the distance too often worked against Roberts in this fight, as fatigue set in quickly in the first round after a battle for a kimura.

Patrick controlled the stand-up throughout the fight and was able to nullify any of Roberts submissions attempts. As the match pushed into the later rounds, Roberts never seemed to get his wind back and grew sloppier and more desperate. Patrick took the bout by unanimous decision in a fight that exposed many holes in Robert’s game. There is no doubt that Roberts has a superb ground game, but if his lungs can not keep up with his grappling, then what good will he be other than fodder for up and comers?

Joe Rogan’s “UFC Drinking Game” - “If you’re playing the UFC drinking game, take a shot!” How many times did Rogan say this during the telecast? Maybe I am nitpicking, but I found it rather annoying and unprofessional for the color commentator in the top MMA league to tell viewers at home to get drunk. Does this harken back to who their target audience is, or is it just harmless fun? Either way, I was not a fan of it, even if Rogan is growing on me as a commentator lately. Now that Zuffa owns Strikeforce, it’s nice to hear Rogan acknowledge other companies in high regards and shows how passionate he is for the sport now that he is open to speak. But the UFC drinking game has got to go!

The Ugly:

An Un- “Natural” way to retire – Why Randy Couture chose Lyoto Machida for his last opponent still baffles me. I suppose he thought he could have easily manhandled the karateka and outwrestle him, but grappling was never an issue in their meeting. Machida played a cat and mouse game with Randy, tagging him repeatedly in the first round with enough force to wobble his opponent. In the end, Couture finally looked his age and went out with his eyes staring at the spotlights. It’s too bad his pupils were too dilated to see that.

I am not sure who had a worse retirement fight, Liddell or Couture? The 47-year-old former champ retired in a way that few wanted to see, but I am glad he is hanging up the gloves now, lest he look worse against a more competent opponent as he continues to age. Good luck on your retirement, Mr. Couture. It’s good to know that you can get on with living the rest of your life, but it was sad to see you fight Machida and finish your career in a fight that you won’t remember until the swelling in your brain goes down.

Mark Hominick’s brain tumor - Just gross! How the fight was not stopped due to that massive hemotoma swelling on Hominick’s head is a mystery to me, but it hurt me just looking at it. What was even worse was during the post-fight interview with Joe Rogan as Hominick began to drip lines of fresh blood from a still open wound under his left eye. Shudder!

The Final Verdict: As Joe Rogan said during the facebook prelims, “It’s like watching the UFC in the Death Star,” and indeed it was. The atmosphere was amazing for those in attendance, so much that you could feel it emanating from your TV while watching it live. We have truly come a long way since 1993 and the UFC proved they could sell out a stadium in minutes… pending they are in the right spot. New York, get smart and legalize this so we can have MMA not at Madison Square Garden… but in Yankee Stadium!

Otherwise, Benson Henderson and Jake Ellenberger also looked good in their bouts (since I did not talk about their bouts), and top to bottom the show was very good. It’s unfortunate that such a lackluster main event marred the night for viewers, but if you just pretend that fight never happened and imagine that Aldo VS Hominick was the real main event, you will be much happier. UFC 129 answered many questions about several fighters on the UFC roster and was a great show that I found very little negative to write about, other than the elephant in the room named Georges St. Pierre. If Dana White was able to complain about Anderson Silva’s performances in his past fights, I think it is overdue that he does the same about GSP.

What did you think of UFC 129? Leave some comments below!