Author: By Thomas Gerbasi

TORONTO, April 30 – By the time welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre finished his UFC 129 main event bout with Jake Shields before a record UFC crowd of over 55,000 fans at Rogers Centre, he looked like he had been in a fight. And two of the three judges agreed, as St-Pierre retained his title by two razor-thin scores of 48-47 and one more comfortable margin of 50-45. See post-fight interview

Entering the bout, St-Pierre had won 30 consecutive rounds. Tonight that streak was broken, but he retained his undisputed title for the sixth time.

“His striking was much better than I thought,” said St-Pierre, who injured his left eye in the second round. “I expected to beat him standing up and then finish him on the ground. I’m sorry to the fans, I wanted a knockout or a submission.”

Shields immediately began firing off kicks to start the bout, either to find his range or get rid of some nervous energy. When St-Pierre fired off a kick of his own to the midsection, Shields caught it in search of a takedown, but the champion calmly backed his way to the fence on one leg and battled his way free. Shields, undeterred, kept using his kicks, while St-Pierre came up short on a few of his own. In the second half of the round, St-Pierre began opening up his punching arsenal, particularly trying to tag his foe with right hands. It was his stiff left jab that was doing much of the damage though, with Shields even briefly switching to southpaw to throw off the champion’s rhythm, but to no avail.

Staying busy, Shields tried to get off to a good start in round two, but his strikes had little steam behind them. St-Pierre, on the other hand, was throwing with bad intentions with his right hand, finally jarring the challenger with nearly two minutes gone. Shields shook it off quickly, but his offense was remaining in neutral thanks to St-Pierre’s quick punches and solid defense.

Both fighters came out fast to start round three, and the strategies didn’t change, they only got sped up. Almost 90 seconds in, St-Pierre landed another big right, forcing Shields to go for a takedown that got rebuffed. After that, it was more of the same until St-Pierre broke the pattern with a late takedown of Shields in the final 30 seconds.

After some quick 1-2s by Shields to open round four, St-Pierre broke him out of his rhythm with a quick takedown, but the two rose immediately. Again, the bout settled into the pattern of the previous three rounds, and Shields, fighting with his mouth open, looked winded. Midway through the round, Shields hit the deck courtesy of a head kick, but again the resilient vet got up to his feet with no problem and got in some solid punches which bloodied St-Pierre’s nose. Now it was the champion looking at the clock and backing up as Shields advanced, but a couple of stiff jabs to the mouth left GSP in control at the bell.

The fifth round was a carbon copy of the previous four, with Shields surprisingly not doing everything in his power to look to turn things around by getting a takedown. For the champion’s part, he continued pecking away with his punches, cutting and bloodying Shields until the bout’s conclusion.

With the win, St-Pierre improves to 22-2; Shields falls to 26-5-1.

TORONTO, April 30 – It looked like a typical dominant performance for UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo early in the UFC 129 co-main event Saturday night at Rogers Centre, but Ontario’s own Mark Hominick refused to go away, fighting off a series of facial bumps, bruises and cuts to finish strong and leave his own courageous effort as the lasting image of the 145-pound title fight, which was ultimately won clearly and unanimously by Aldo. Watch post-fight interview with Aldo

Scores were 48-45, 48-46, and 49-46 for Aldo, who improves to 19-1; Hominick, who is expecting his first child with his wife shortly, falls to 20-9. The bout was named fight of the night by Dana White at the post-fight press conference. Watch post-fight interview with Hominick

“I got to take my hat off to Mark Hominick, he’s a helluva fighter,” said Aldo. “He just went five round and gave it his all.”

After a quick touch of gloves, Hominick went at Aldo at the bell, with the champion’s first barrage making him back up to restart. Aldo kept pressing, scoring with punches and kicks, but Hominick took them well, even catching a kick and knocking Aldo off balance. With 3:15 left, Aldo switched things up with a takedown of his foe, but almost got caught in a submission until he quickly pulled away and bulled the challenger into the fence. Hominick struggled to get free, but Aldo wasn’t having it, as he delivered hard strikes from the top while still staying in positional control. Soon, Hominick’s face began getting marked up by the assault, but he benefitted from a restart by referee John McCarthy in the final minute. By the end of the round, Aldo had taken the bout back to the mat, capping off a solid opening frame.

Aldo opened the second with one of his blistering leg kicks, but Hominick took it well and began trying to work punches to the body. Two Aldo takedown attempts were tossed aside, and Hominick’s confidence seemed to be growing with each passing second as he began to tag the champion with his punches. Aldo’s response was a takedown two minutes in that immediately silenced the crowd, and if possible, they got even quieter after a couple of thudding shots. They got back into it after McCarthy restarted the bout with a minute left, but again, Aldo used a sharp 1-2 to set up another late round takedown.

The two featherweights battled it out on even terms while standing in the opening stages of round three, but as the stanza progressed, Aldo’s punches looked to be the harder shots. Hominick was far from done though, and his takedown defense started to aid his striking as he confidently put a jab in Aldo’s face. But just as suddenly, with nearly 90 seconds left, a right hand jarred Hominick and sent him shooting for a takedown. The Brazilian shot in for the finish, but the pride of Thamesford quickly recovered. Unfortunately, he was stuck on the bottom again, giving Aldo the superior positioning up until the end of the round.

After some solid two-way exchanges to start round four, Aldo struck paydirt with the right hand again, dropping Hominick to the canvas. A subsequent ground assault raised a nasty knot on his forehead, forcing referee John McCarthy to halt the bout and have the Octagonside physician look at the injury. Cleared to resume, Hominick got taken down before the bell, sealing another round for the champion.

The doctor returned in between rounds, thoroughly examining Hominick before allowing him back out for round five. The challenger still had a spring in his step, but the more aggressive he got, the most Aldo was able to tag him. Hominick got jarred by another right hand, but this time he was able to hit a takedown, allowing him the dominant top position.  Now it was his turn to do damage with his strikes, and the crowd erupted. Aldo calmly kept his wits about him, but Hominick was piling up the points, punishing Aldo to the head and body, and letting the champion know that there was plenty of fight left in him. By the end of the fight, Aldo had survived, won the fight and retained his UFC crown, but the champion in Ontario still remained Mark Hominick.

When the word got out that middleweight contender and trash talking wizard Chael Sonnen had been enlisted by Jake Shields to help him prepare for his UFC 129 challenge for Georges St-Pierre’s welterweight title, the wheels started turning.

Sure, Sonnen’s wrestling acumen was going to be a valuable resource for Shields against GSP, but could he also be bringing in a few handy tips on pre-fight gamesmanship for the Californian to use.

“We didn’t even talk about that,” laughed Shields, killing a thousand dreams of a smack talking war before the biggest event in UFC history. “I’m already mentally strong, and I plan on going out there and taking the belt. I ain’t really worried about the mental battle; I think GSP already knows what he’s in for, and I’m not really a huge smack talker. It’s not my style.”

It never has been and probably never will be. It’s not necessary. A lot of times, a war fought verbally results in what James Brown once sang as “talking loud and saying nothing.” At a certain point, it all melts into a steaming mess of garbage, with the eventual fight usually unable to live up to the hype. Shields, like St-Pierre, prefers to let the work speak for itself, and in the case of the challenger, it’s a resume unlike most of the champion’s opponents.

Winner of 15 consecutive bouts, Shields has not tasted defeat since a decision loss to Akira Kikuchi in 2004. And if you assume that since 14 of these victories came outside of the UFC that it dilutes such an impressive number a bit, think again. Among Shields’ victims are current UFC fighters Yushin Okami, Carlos Condit, Mike Pyle, and Jason “Mayhem” Miller, and Octagon vets Steve Berger, Dave Menne, Renato Verissimo, Nick Thompson, Paul Daley and Robbie Lawler. But undoubtedly the biggest win of his career was his five round decision win over former PRIDE two-division champion Dan Henderson in their April 2010 bout.

A heavy underdog fighting at 185 pounds, Shields stunned the oddsmakers and Henderson with an impressive victory that was punctuated not by the Strikeforce champion’s jiu-jitsu, but his wrestling, an amazing feat against a wrestler of Henderson’s caliber. So when fans and pundits turn to GSP-Shields and note the level of the champion’s wrestling, remember that Shields has walked down this road before.

“It (the Henderson win) helped a lot with my confidence,” he said. “I believed in myself before, but to go out there and show that I can take down an Olympic level wrestler who’s also a big guy, it proved that I can take down anyone, and I plan on doing the same with GSP. People say that I’m not gonna be able to take him down, but I’m used to people underestimating me.”

It should be the height of foolishness to look past Shields or diminish anything he’s done over the years. Maybe he should have talked more, but in all seriousness, if you don’t consider Shields among the top fighters in the game, you’re just not paying attention. At least St-Pierre is, and he’s really the only one that counts at this point.

On Saturday, what matters is how the champion and his challenger deal with each other once the bell rings. As far as conventional wisdom goes, most expect St-Pierre to use his standup game to keep Shields at bay while avoiding his jiu-jitsu game. For his part, St-Pierre has gone on record saying that he’s not afraid about hitting the mat with his opponent in any way, shape, or form. Shields wants it to go the ground as well, and while some have said he doesn’t have the wrestling to either take St-Pierre down or avoid his takedowns, again, we’ll refer to the Henderson fight. In addition, Shields – a two-time All-American wrestler in college – has boosted his camp with visits from the aforementioned Sonnen, Matt Lindland, and Phil Davis. That’s an all-star wrestling trio right there, letting you know what’s on Shields’ mind before the most important bout of his life.

“GSP doesn’t have any wrestling credentials, but he’s one of the best wrestlers out there,” said Shields. “He’s been taking everyone down and no one’s been taking him down, so I think this is a fight where wrestling’s going to be a big part of the strategy for both of us.”

And if and when the bout hits the mat, that’s when the fun begins. St-Pierre has been able to dominate foes with his wrestling on the ground for years now. Shields is a submission expert who has an uncanny ability to transition from position to position almost effortlessly. It will be a battle of will and skill on the mat, but there’s one thing Shields can almost guarantee, and it’s that he won’t be submitted.

“Nothing’s impossible, but it’s very, very unlikely,” said Shields, owner of 10 submission wins of his own. “I’ve never been submitted in a fight and I don’t plan on ever being submitted in a fight.”

It’s a supreme statement of confidence, but not of cockiness, and walking that fine line can make a difference in a fight. On Saturday, Shields’ goal is to be aggressive, but not reckless.

“I’m just gonna go out there and give it all on the ground and I’m not gonna be worried about getting submitted,” he said. “Of course I can make a mistake and get caught, but I don’t plan on that happening. I’m gonna go after him on the ground.”

Georges St-Pierre has been saying that Jake Shields will be the biggest test of his career, the toughest opponent he’s ever been in with. He may be right. Shields isn’t Josh Koscheck, Jon Fitch, Dan Hardy, or Thiago Alves, all quality fighters, but fighters with no experience in title fights or in going the championship distance. Shields has been there and done that, and whatever St-Pierre has dealt with in competition, the challenger can probably claim kinship with. That’s an intangible you can’t overemphasize.

“I think it gives me a huge edge,” he said. “I’ve probably had almost as many title fights as he’s had, and I’ve had five rounders lots of times. Of course the UFC’s the biggest show, so it’s a little different, but overall, it’s somewhere I’ve been before, so it gives me an advantage.”

Over 55,000 fans may disagree come Saturday night, but the 32 year old Shields is unconcerned. He knows what it’s like to win a title, defend one, and fight with everything you’ve got to hold on to it. And like his opponent, his goal isn’t just the belt, but something a lot more important.

“I want to be remembered as one of the best that ever lived,” said Shields. “I made a good name for myself but I’m not happy yet. I want people to look back in 20 years and remember me.”

Below are the official weigh-in results for Saturday night’s UFC 129 event. UFC 129, which is headlined by the welterweight championship bout between Georges St-Pierre and Jake Shields and the featherweight championship bout between Jose Aldo and Mark Hominick, airs live on Pay-Per-View from the Rogers Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada at a new time of 9 pm ET / 6 pm PT. Fans can also tune in to Spike TV at 8pm ET / 5pm PT to see live UFC 129 preliminary bouts, and those who “like” the UFC on Facebook can view the rest of the undercard bouts beginning at 6:00 pm ET / 3:00 pm PT.

Main Event – UFC Welterweight Championship
Georges St-Pierre (169.5) vs. Jake Shields (169)

Co-Main Event – UFC Featherweight Championship
Jose Aldo (145) vs. Mark Hominick (145)

PPV
Randy Couture (203.5) vs. Lyoto Machida (204.5)
Vladimir Matyushenko (205.5) vs. Jason Brilz (204.5)
Mark Bocek (155) vs. Ben Henderson (156*)

SPIKE TV PRELIMS
Nate Diaz (171) vs. Rory MacDonald (170.5)
Sean Pierson (170) vs. Jake Ellenberger (170)

FACEBOOK PRELIMS
Claude Patrick (169.5) vs. Daniel Roberts (170.5)
Ivan Menjivar (136) vs. Charlie Valencia (135.5)
Jason MacDonald (185) vs. Ryan Jensen (185)
John Makdessi (155.5) vs. Kyle Watson (155)
Yves Jabouin (146) vs. Pablo Garza (145)

* Henderson made 156 on his second attempt after initially weighing in at 156.5

The big 3-0. It’s an age many dread, the official signpost on the way to middle age. But Georges St-Pierre doesn’t seem too bothered by the milestone he will reach on May 19th, nearly three weeks after he defends his UFC welterweight title against Jake Shields in front of over 55,000 fans at Toronto’s Rogers Center this Saturday night.

Instead, he says with a knowing smile, “30 is only a number.”

Then he pauses.

“But it’s something.”

That’s for sure, and what that something will turn out to be in his 30th year will be determined greatly by what happens this weekend against Shields. In many ways, it’s his toughest challenge yet, one that goes far beyond pre-fight hype.

In the California jiu-jitsu ace, St-Pierre will be defending his crown against perhaps the best submission artist he has tackled, one who also has the wrestling ability to back up his ground game. Shields is also no stranger to top-level competition and championship fights, having experienced both over his years outside of the UFC, though as St-Pierre points out, in the UFC “Everything is multiplicated by ten.”

So the champion has prepared accordingly, almost doing as much hyping, if not more, of Shields as the soft-spoken challenger has done for himself, calling him “the toughest guy that I’ve fought.”

With a resume that includes BJ Penn, Matt Hughes, Jon Fitch, Sean Sherk, Matt Serra, Josh Koscheck, and Thiago Alves, that’s saying a lot. But it also begs the question, is St-Pierre saying these complimentary things about Shields because he believes them, or because he wants to convince himself?

It’s been no secret that St-Pierre has run through his opposition ever since regaining his title from Serra in April of 2008. The big number floating around GSP these days is 30, and it’s not for his impending birthday, but because that’s the number of consecutive rounds he’s won since losing a single stanza in his 2007 bout against Koscheck. It’s an amazing streak, one that doesn’t show any signs of ending if you go by his last three victories – shutouts of Alves, Dan Hardy, and Koscheck. It may start getting to the point where we’re keeping a tally of minutes lost, since he can’t find a way to lose rounds or fights.

And the way he’s winning each bout is almost as if he’s toying with his opponents. Hardy is a striker. Solution, take him down and keep him on the mat for 25 minutes. Well, fight fans complained about that strategy. So what does St-Pierre do in the Koscheck rematch last December? He turns into a Canadian Larry Holmes and wins another five rounder, this time behind a jackhammer jab.

With such Master Class level performances, can he even be challenged at this point? St-Pierre thinks he will be, or at least he’s saying he will.

“Nobody is perfect,” he said, most certainly referring to the only two blemishes on his 21-2 record, first round defeats to Serra and Hughes. “It’s gonna be a tough fight (against Shields). I have a big, big challenge on my shoulders April 30th.”

But what’s the secret to beating complacency? Future boxing Hall of Famer Bernard Hopkins once told me that when things were going too well, he would need someone to break a glass or slash his tires to shake things up and get his mind back to where it needed to be before a fight. St-Pierre, unlike Hopkins and one of his fighting favorites – Manny Pacquiao – doesn’t work well under such circumstances. Where they need chaos, he needs order, and as he approaches this Saturday’s title defense, he feels that he has the necessary order in his life.

“I used to not enjoy it (the fight game) as much,” he admits. “But as the fights have gone by, I made a lot of changes to my entourage and in my training, and now my smile is back on my face and I’m very excited for this fight.”

He’s excited enough that he has heard what fans and members of the media have said about him but has let it go, noting that “I don’t really listen to the critics.” But when asked about Shields’ ground game and how he plans on dealing with it, a champion’s fire is evidently still burning when he says, “The way I’m thinking is that Jake is gonna have to be careful that I don’t put him down on his back to get submitted and punched in the face. That’s how I see things. I’m gonna dictate the pace of the fight.”

It’s kind of sad that it can come to this, where a dominant champion has to defend his dominance while promising to do even more. But that’s the nature of the beast, especially in the world of combat sports. If St-Pierre was a baseball pitcher, his string of shutouts would be front page news. If he was a quarterback leading a football team to 28-0 wins every Sunday, no one would be able to stop talking about him. But in the fight game, excellence is sometimes overruled by excitement. Casual boxing fans will always love Arturo Gatti more than Floyd Mayweather, even though purists know what the real score is, and while Anderson Silva and Jon Jones are rightly getting praised for their recent spectacular victories, it’s unfair to leave GSP out of the conversation.

Luckily, St-Pierre appears to be impervious to such talk, and if he’s listening and taking it to heart, he’s not letting it show. Therefore, if he’s learned anything in his nearly 30 years on this planet, it’s that winning has a way of conquering all. How does he know? Well, he’s been on the other side, and he doesn’t like it one bit. So don’t expect him to slow down yet.

“I have to keep in mind that I can lose everything in the blink of an eye,” he said. “I can’t be on cruise control, I have to keep working hard.”

Seven seconds. Ahead on two of the three judges’ scorecards in his UFC 115 bout against Carlos Condit last June, that’s all Rory MacDonald needed to walk away with the biggest victory of his career against a former WEC champion.

But as referee Kevin Dornan pulled Condit off the soon to be 21 year old after a barrage of punishing blows, a stunning victory morphed into a crushing defeat. Seven seconds remained in the third and final round, and even an enormous amount of respect from his opponent, the media, and the fans, and a post-fight bonus check for participating in the Fight of the Night couldn’t soothe him.

Even today, nearly a year removed from the bout, he looks back and calls the aftermath “a dark time”, but the one thing he won’t do is make excuses or wish that the Dornan gave him those seven precious seconds.

“Absolutely not.” said MacDonald. “I don’t think that whatsoever. Carlos did a great job in the last round and he did a lot of damage, more damage than I did to him in the whole fight. So he deserves the win he got. I wasn’t put away, but the referee stepped in for my safety, which I appreciate. But I wasn’t gonna give up.”

That grit and determination may be the lasting image of the bout, even more than Condit’s come from behind victory. In 10 previous pro bouts, including a UFC debut win over Mike Guymon in January of 2010, MacDonald was barely tested as he lived up to all the hype he received as the top prospect to come out of Canada since current welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre. And if you wanted to call him a future Michael Jordan of MMA, few batted an eye at such a lofty proclamation.

But without the Detroit Pistons to teach them the unwritten rules of championship level basketball, perhaps Jordan and his Chicago Bulls don’t go on to win multiple NBA titles. Without Matt Hughes armbarring him in their first fight, maybe St-Pierre doesn’t go on to greatness at 170 pounds. And without Carlos Condit, Rory MacDonald may not have the intangibles he now possesses today.

“Everyone was right about saying that experience was gonna play a factor, because it really did,” said MacDonald. “He outsmarted me in the last round. I came out guns blazing, trying to be exciting, and I’m always gonna be that exciting fighter, but I learned how to be smarter now. Before, it was all action, like a race to the finish, and I made some crucial mistakes in the last round, and it was hard for me to deal with because it set me back in my career. I was really thinking that that was my time, but in the end, it’s a blessing in disguise. I was hurt by it at first, but I’m coming back much stronger and much smarter.”

And more dangerous. Now MacDonald knows that he can push past fatigue against a world-class opponent and still battle on with the heart every fighter hopes he has, but doesn’t know if he possesses until it’s tested. And though only 21, his reaction to the loss wasn’t one of ‘okay, it was just a bad day at the office.’ It hit him harder than anything Condit threw at him, proving once again that in his chest beats the heart of a fighter.

“I took a little bit of time away because it was a hard loss for me, but I’m okay now, I’ve come a long way since then, I had a knee surgery, so I’ve had a lot of time to work on my game with my new team out here in Montreal, so I’m very excited to come back.”

This Saturday night, MacDonald returns to the Octagon to face fellow rising star Nate Diaz on the UFC 129 card in Toronto’s Rogers Centre. It’s a bout that has Fight of the Night written all over it, and one that is pivotal for both fighters since they’re looking to rebound from recent defeats. So to get ready, the British Columbia native made the trek to Quebec to train with the gang at the Tristar Gym. To hang with that group, which includes fellow 129 participants GSP, Ivan Menjivar, Sean Pierson, John Makdessi, and Yves Jabouin, you have to be on top of your game at all time, and being around some of the accomplished veterans that call the gym home has done wonders for MacDonald’s game in and out of the Octagon.

“I talk with the more experienced guys a lot to help me with decisions I have to make in my career,” he said. “They give me advice as to what I need to look out for, what to look forward to, how to handle certain situations and advice to handle myself in the ring too. It’s an extra bonus, not just to be able to train with these guys, but the things they can teach me outside.”

Diaz has the same kind of squad behind him back home in California, but while the two share similarities when it comes to youth, talent, and quality teammates, the kid from Stockton is never afraid to up the ante when it comes to gamesmanship both before and during a fight. But the quiet MacDonald insists that he isn’t going to play along.

“I don’t really see myself getting very hot-headed about it,” he said. “This is what we do for a living, and it makes no difference to me if he says something to me before or if he doesn’t. There’s no emotion at all for me. Some people need emotion to hurt other people and get themselves in the right frame of mind for the fight, but if he does, it’s all on his own behalf. I’m not gonna have anything to do with that.”

That poker-faced approach is going to play into MacDonald’s performance in the Octagon as well, as he admits that his homecoming fight in British Columbia against Condit overwhelmed him a bit in terms of bringing that emotion of being home into the fight.

“I was real psyched up and emotional (against Condit), but it’s not gonna play into the fight this time,” he said. “I’ll have one thing in mind the whole time, and that’s looking across the cage and fighting Nate Diaz, and nothing else.”

Diaz will have the same mindset, just another reason why this fight is a must-see. And if you need any more proof, just rewind a bit to April 9th and watch Nate’s brother Nick do his thing in defending his Strikeforce welterweight title against Paul Daley. It was vintage Diaz style fighting, and Nate is a virtual clone of his older sibling when it comes to attitude, resilience, and well-rounded skills. Not surprisingly, MacDonald was watching, and he’s ready.

“The Diaz brothers are very tough, durable, and composed,” he said. “They might not look physically threatening, but they’re very smart and very relaxed. They have some weapons that a lot of people don’t have, and I know Nate is a very unorthodox fighter and he’s very original with his style so I have to be ready for that, and I take him very, very seriously.”