Without a doubt, UFC 129 was the most anticipated MMA event of 2011 to date. The main card featured not one, but two title fights, plus a line-up of household names in other featured bouts. It was also the UFC's debut in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, so needless to say, there was a lot of excitement around this event. As usual, the action in the Octagon didn't disappoint, so keep on reading for a full account of the main card.
Ben Henderson defeated Mark Bocek by unanimous decision. Since he first won the WEC Lightweight title, I've always wondered how Henderson would match up with legitimate UFC talent. Bocek isn't necessarily a household name, but he's definitely a solid introduction into the promotion. He's a solid wrestler with good strikes and Henderson would have to be careful for sure. Of course, it was also going to be interesting to see how Henderson rebounded from his loss to Anthony Pettis. The first round featured a lot of clinching, but Henderson got some good strikes and combinations off. Bocek got a take down later in the round and finished in a dominant position, making it a tough round to score. Bocek was on the offensive for most of the second round and caught Henderson is several bad positions, but as we've seen so many times before, Henderson was able to slip them all and finished the round with a flurry of strikes and cut Bocek on the top of the head with an elbow. Henderson controlled most of the final round as well, definitely landed the most strikes, but Bocek had a couple of submission attempts that at least gave the judges something to think about.
Vladimir Matyushenko KO'd Jason Brilz in the first round. Brilz gained a lot of fans when he nearly beat Antonio Rogerio Nogueira in his UFC debut, but this fight didn't do his reputation any favors. In fairness, he just got caught really quickly and it's the kind of thing that can happen to any fighter. Right off the drop, Matyushenko rushed in and nailed Brilz with a short right, then a big left and put him on his back. Matyushenko followed with a couple of ground strikes and the ref stopped him. Brilz objected, but he definitely went limp for a split second and it's the referee's job to protect the fighters.
Lyoto Machida KO'd Randy Couture with a front kick in the second round. I had a really hard time trying to figure out how this fight would go beforehand. I was fully aware of what Couture would want to do (i.e. clinch against the cage and dirty box), but was curious as to whether or not Machida could dictate the pace and location of the fight. I felt like whoever was ultimately able to do that would win. In the first round, Machida avoided all of Couture's attempts to get him backed into the cage and landed some solid striked. In the second round, he got off one of the craziest kicks I've ever seen in MMA. It honestly resembled the crane kick in "Karate Kid," because Machida kind of lifted his arms up and and jumped and landed a front kick right to Couture's chin. You could literally see one of his teeth fly out of his mouth and he hit the ground out cold. It was spectacular to say the least. After the fight, Couture once again hinted at retirement, but it seems like we've heard that before.
Jose Aldo defeated Mark Hominick by unanimous decision to retain the UFC Featherweight Championship. There was no way I was going to pick against Aldo in this fight. I swore off doing that a long time ago, but I had high hopes for the match-up nonetheless. Hominick is a great striker and he's aggressive. It's not that Aldo hasn't faced and dispatched aggressive strikers in the past, but I was hoping Hominick could at least make an entertaining fight of it. Much like he did in his fight against Urijah Faber, Aldo started attacking Hominick's lead leg immediately. he then got a take down and proceeded to batter him with elbows. Aldo continued to strike aggressively in the second to set up yet another dynamic take down. Hominick definitely got some shots in too, but it was all Aldo through the first two rounds. If you like high level striking, you loved the third round. Hominick was really crisp, but Aldo slipped nearly everything. Hominick did start landing with his jab a little bit, though, and you could see the evidence on Aldo's face. Aldo landed a combination that buckled Hominick and ended up on top of him on the ground for the remainder of the round. The third round got even worse for Hominick. He got tagged and put on his back again, where Aldo started blasting away with elbows. He developed a huge hematoma on the right side of Hominick's forehead. It was crazy looking (everyone I was watching with was screaming like crazy), but they let him keep fighting. Aldo started the fifth round strong, but Hominick got him down and started in with some ground and pound of his own. Aldo just seemed tired at that point and Hominick put on a valiant display as he pounded away, but it was way too little, way too late. Hominick said he'd bring the fight to Aldo in a way that no one had before, and he certainly did that. His fitness, toughness and determination were very impressive and I'd venture to say that, even in defeat, Hominick made a lot of new fans with that performance.
Georges St. Pierre defeated Jake Shields by unanimous decision to retain the UFC Welterweight Championship. By the time the main event rolled around, it seemed like we'd already been treated to more than a full fight card of great action. But everyone was still pumped up to see GSP and how he would handle the latest challenge. Like GSP, Shields is very well-rounded, but I have a policy about picking against GSP, because the odds are never good if you do. I basically expected GSP to be better at everything than Shields. GSP had a good first round. He established his jab and bloodied Shields up a bit. He poured it on more in the second round, throwing a huge overhand right repeatedly and rocked Shields. GSP continued to beat Shields to everything in the third round. He avoided every take down, then took Shields down late in the round to prove a point. GSP had gotten hit in the left eye late in the third round and it bothered him for the rest of the fight. He took a hard right from Shields that opened a cut high on his nose. Despite sustaining some damage, he continued to dominate the fight on every level. He avoided the take downs and beat Shields to the punch the majority of the time. He was hurt and he'd been in one of his toughest fights in a while, but he performed like a champ and took care of business. For Shields' part, he hung in there and didn't take too much damage. The problem was that he just couldn't put much offense together.
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