Georges St-Pierre met Jake Shields on Saturday, April 30 at UFC 129 and has been the case in many of his title defenses as of late, the UFC welterweight champion exploited the weakness in his opponent’s game to retain his UFC title.Going into the fi…
Georges St-Pierre met Jake Shields on Saturday, April 30 at UFC 129 and has been the case in many of his title defenses as of late, the UFC welterweight champion exploited the weakness in his opponent’s game to retain his UFC title.
Going into the fight, the knock on Shields had been his weak striking game, which St-Pierre used to his advantage, keeping the fight standing for the full five rounds.
The champion was able to take advantage of that weakness, but he did not walk away without sustaining some damage.
According to the CompuStrike stats, Shields landed 63 of 318 arm strikes he threw, leaving the champion with a bloodied face as well as a damaged left eye. The injury to the eye, which appeared to come from an eye poke from Shields, left St-Pierre unable to see from that eye for much of the fourth and fifth rounds.
In addition to bloodying the champion, Shields was able to accomplish something that no one else had done for 30 straight rounds, and that was take a round from the champion. The scorecards gave the unanimous decision victory to St-Pierre 50-45, 48-47, 48-47.
Following the fight, St-Pierre, speaking with UFC commentator Joe Rogan, apologized for his performance: “I can’t see with my left eye right now. I just see a blur. I’m sorry to the fans. I wanted to make it a knockout or submission.”
The fight marked the sixth title defense for St-Pierre.
Bleacher Report’s Tony Preston:Cung Le, a Sanshou kickboxer and mixed marital artist, recently told ESPN that he will not be fighting in 2011.Instead, Le is going to be in five motion pictures this year. Due to his filming schedule, he says that a fi…
Bleacher Report’s Tony Preston:
Cung Le, a Sanshou kickboxer and mixed marital artist, recently told ESPN that he will not be fighting in 2011.
Instead, Le is going to be in five motion pictures this year. Due to his filming schedule, he says that a fight this year is “impossible.”
Le last fought in June 2010, in a fight against Scott Smith.
That bout saw Le claim victory over Smith by way of a second-round knockout. The fight was a rematch of their clash in December 2009, in which Smith pulled off a stunning third-round knockout over Le, despite Le having dominated. Le’s career record is 7-1, every fight ending by knockout.
Before his two fights with Smith, Le fought his biggest name opponent to date in Frank Shamrock for the Strikeforce middleweight title.
Bleacher Report’s MMA News Recap for Wednesday, May 4.UFC 132: Evan Dunham Out George Sotiropoulos To Face Rafael Dos AnjosCung Le will not fight in 2011.UFC 129 Video Highlights: Georges St-Pierre vs Jake Shields.UFC 130: Extended Video Trailer for Ed…
Bleacher Report’s MMA News Recap for Wednesday, May 4.
UFC 132: Evan Dunham Out George Sotiropoulos To Face Rafael Dos Anjos
Cung Le will not fight in 2011.
UFC 129 Video Highlights: Georges St-Pierre vs Jake Shields.
UFC 130: Extended Video Trailer for Edgar vs. Maynard III.
Georges St-Pierre vs Anderson Silva: How GSP would make the weight jump.
Rashad Evans talks Twitter feud with Jon Jones and upcoming fight with Phil Davis.
Anderson Silva’s customized Camaro SS.
UFC 129: Jose Aldo Needed Antibiotics, Says Head Trainer.
Last Saturday, the UFC orchestrated their largest live show ever, filling the Rogers Centre in Toronto with 55,000 adoring fans screaming for fellow Canadian fighters like Georges St-Pierre, Mark Bocek, and Mark Hominick.
It was a historic night suture…
Last Saturday, the UFC orchestrated their largest live show ever, filling the Rogers Centre in Toronto with 55,000 adoring fans screaming for fellow Canadian fighters like Georges St-Pierre, Mark Bocek, and Mark Hominick.
It was a historic night sutured with incredible bouts, memorable finishes and a lackluster main event defense by the sport’s premiere poster boy Canadian St-Pierre.
Once the decision was rendered after GSP’s hand was raised at the end of the fifth round, fans immediately balked at the champion’s fourth consecutive unanimous decision defense, wondering if he has what it takes to be a memorable champion.
After UFC 129 concluded, the big question mark continues to swirl above the welterweight champion’s head: where does he go next, who does he fight? It’s not Anderson Silva or Nick Diaz.
A superfight with middleweight kingpin, Anderson Silva, has be desirable for the last year, but after such an uninspiring victory over a one dimensional challenger, most pundits question whether St-Pierre would have the heart and power to deal with the Spider’s ferocious striking.
UFC president Dana White has mentioned in numerous interviews that both Silva and St-Pierre would have to collect victories at UFC 126 and 129—both have been accomplished, one more astounding than the other.
Now that both champions have disposed their respective challengers, does the UFC brass really want to send it’s cautious bread-winner to the “spider wolf” that lingers at 185 lbs?
Regardless if you think GSP’s wrestling could dictate a fight against the Brazilian or not, even in his later 30’s, Anderson possesses strength, size and striking that would cause obstacles for the smaller opponent.
In addition, timing is a factor along with the fact that St-Pierre has been hesitant about moving up to middleweight in some of his recent interviews, Zuffa boss man Lorenzo Fertitta tweeted a post-fight question asking fans if they would rather see GSP vs. Anderson or GSP vs. Nick Diaz.
Apparently, an overwhelming amount of spectators—including myself—voted for the latter.
Does the UFC really have many options at welterweight now? St-Pierre has either fought the current “contenders” already and beat them with little effort or needs to fight a cross-promotional belt holder.
As incredible as it would be to watch the lead up to a GSP vs. Nick Diaz fight, the actual fight, the finish, the post fight presser, this potential bout has its own complications as well. Once news broke of Zuffa purchasing Strikeforce, the media renzy began to speculate who from the UFC should fight who from Strikefoce.
Needless to say, there are numerous co-promotional matches that would have the intrigue to draw big numbers and make fans salivate.
Beyond having current heavyweight destroyer and champion Alistair Overeem and Cain Velasquez fight, many enthusiasts started clamoring for Diaz vs. GSP as their first choice after Jake Shields, due to Diaz’ stubborn forward movement and his ability to “not be scared.”
That’s a humorous generalization of course, but not too many challengers have solved Diaz’ stand up puzzle. Even if the fight gets to the ground, the Cesar Gracie protégée boasts a black belt in the ground art and has proven himself many times on the mat in MMA.
Unfortunately, Nick Diaz will not be GSP’s next challenger either.
Unlike a potential fight with Anderson, Diaz has contractual obligations with Showtime via Strikeforce, which Dana White has made clear the UFC has no plans of disrupting—at the moment anyways.
I’m not lawyer—god knows my wallet wishes I was—but I wouldn’t be surprised if Zuffa has a few loopholes they could exploit if they were really interested in getting fighters like Nick Diaz and Gilbert Melendez in the octagon sooner.
Let’s assume Strikeforce’s Showtime contracts have another year and the UFC doesn’t have plans to disband them as soon as possible—that means no Nick Diaz.
When discussing the possibility of Diaz or Silva, the time factor also has to be weighed into the equation. Contractually, Diaz wouldn’t be ready for another year or so and Anderson is rumored to be fighting contender Yushin Okami on the Rio card this summer.
Will the UFC really shelve St-Pierre for a year or more to wait out the other two fighters’ predicaments? I highly doubt that will happen. GSP will be fighting at least once more before the year ends. But, against who, it’s hard to say—the top regular top contenders have already been eradicated.
To avoid tedious repeats, let’s delete Jon Fitch, BJ Penn, Thiago Alves, Sean Sherk and Matt Serra. What does the welterweight division have left?
Scraping at the bottom of the welterweight barrel with Jon Fitch vs. BJ Penn 2, scrapped due to double injury, the only contender fight ready to produce a realistic challenger (I use this word loosely) is ex-WEC champion Carlos Condit vs. Dong Hyun Kim scheduled for UFC 132.
Maybe on paper, an argument could be made for Nate Marquardt vs. Anthony Johnson. Unfortunately, the favorite to win in that contest is very unlikely to face his longtime Greg Jackson training partner.
In summary, the most realistic challenger to Georges St-Pierre’s welterweight title will more than likely go to Carlos Condit.
Fans, get excited for GSP’s sixth consecutive decision defense….
“It’s good to be king”—Tom PettyWhen you’re sporting a new sled like UFC middleweight champ Anderson Silva is, it sure is good to be the king.Silva has joined UFC hall of fame member Randy Couture by purchasing a new Camaro SS. But this isn’t j…
“It’s good to be king”—Tom Petty
When you’re sporting a new sled like UFC middleweight champ Anderson Silva is, it sure is good to be the king.
Silva has joined UFC hall of fame member Randy Couture by purchasing a new Camaro SS. But this isn’t just any normal Camaro—this baby is tricked out like none other.
All the customizations done to this car are far too many to list. Thankfully, someone from the Camaro5.com forums took the time to break down everything West Coast Customs did to make the Camaro a one-of-a-kind for the “Spider.”
“The customization of Silva’s Camaro is extensive and to our eyes includes: custom paint, black stripes running from hood to tail, widened rear quarter fenders/shoulders with functional open rear quarter fender openings, Silva Bee grill emblem, Silva Bee embroidered headrest, back seats, trunk lid liner, and floormats, custom black spoke / yellow lip wheels, custom functional Transformers 2 style bumper air inlets, custom cowl ram air hood, custom, custom rear diffuser with exhaust outlet, black painted rear light bezel, SILVA door sills, alcantara headliner and door paneling, custom dashboard including driver facing gauges, dual colored seats, steering wheel, shift knob, contrasting stitching, in-dash screen, custom trunk subwoofer system and pop-up screens on rear quarter shoulders.”
Just reading everything that was done to the car isn’t enough to do it any justice. You can check out a bounty of pictures of this incredible ride by clicking here.
After eyeballing a similar Camaro at a local dealership for months, and getting financing all lined up, second thoughts must be sitting in. After seeing that incredible car, having something less sitting in your garage would put a frown on your face.
(Weirdest part is, the Portuguese language has no phrase that means “dress shoes.”)
Just one of the many, many problems inherent in ranking MMA’s top “pound-for-pound” fighters – aside from the obvious fact these lists are 100 percent fantasy-based and therefore flatly ridiculous to begin with — is that a lot of people can’t even agree what the phrase “pound-for-pound” actually means. Does it simply provide a method for comparing the best fighters in the world across different classes? Does it purport to measure a fighter’s dominance relative to his size? Does it envision a bizzaro world where everyone is the same height and weight? And if so, does a 135-pound Fedor Emelianenko still have that ribbon of fat around his gut? Fuck if we know.
Fact is, pound-for-pound lists are really just a study in speculative fiction. Rather than trying to rank a bunch of fighters who will never actually fight we’d probably be better off writing a sprawling, dystopian novel presupposing that the Nazis won WWII, Custer didn’t die at the Little Bighorn and that during the summer of 1985 a 27-year-old Dan Severn accidentally stepped on a butterfly during his morning jog through Ann Arbor, setting off a chain reaction that caused Jon Jones never to be born at all. I guess what we’re trying to say is, things are about to get real theoretical up in this bitch. Like, comically subjective and shit.
Still, even if we can’t claim to know exactly what these rankings are trying to achieve, we do know one thing: Our carefully cultivated demographic information tells us you motherfuckers loves you some lists. And in that, we must oblige …
(Weirdest part is, the Portuguese language doesn’t even have a phrase that means “dress shoes.”)
Just one of the many, many problems inherent in ranking MMA’s top “pound-for-pound” fighters – aside from the obvious fact these lists are 100 percent fantasy-based and therefore flatly ridiculous to begin with — is that a lot of people can’t even agree what the phrase “pound-for-pound” actually means. Does it simply provide a method for comparing the best fighters in the world across different classes? Does it purport to measure a fighter’s dominance relative to his size? Does it envision a bizzaro world where everyone is the same height and weight? And if so, does a 135-pound Fedor Emelianenko still have that ribbon of fat around his gut? Fuck if we know.
Fact is, pound-for-pound lists are really just a study in speculative fiction. Rather than trying to rank a bunch of fighters who will never actually fight we’d probably be better off writing a sprawling, dystopian novel presupposing that the Nazis won WWII, Custer didn’t die at the Little Bighorn and that during the summer of 1985 a 27-year-old Dan Severn accidentally stepped on a butterfly during his morning jog through Ann Arbor, setting off a chain reaction that caused Jon Jones never to be born at all. I guess what we’re trying to say is, things are about to get real theoretical up in this bitch. Like, comically subjective and shit.
Still, even if we can’t claim to know exactly what these rankings are trying to achieve, we do know one thing: Our carefully cultivated demographic information tells us you motherfuckers loves you some lists. And in that, we must oblige …
Ben Goldstein:
1. Anderson Silva: All the easy analogies have been beaten to death, so what can you really say about Anderson Silva except that he’s a lion playing among wildebeests? It’s not just athleticism, aptitude, and creativity — Silva possesses the kind of extra-dimensional vision usually reserved for deaf composers and chess savants. When it comes to fighting, he can do literally anything.
2. Georges St. Pierre: Let’s be frank — GSP’s technical perfection is not always a thrill to watch, and his five-rounder against Jake Shields nearly ruined UFC 129. But the level of dominance he’s displayed against the UFC’s welterweight elite over the last four years has been astounding. You have to give it up for a guy who can take the fight wherever he wants it to go, 100 percent of the time.
3. Jose Aldo: I actually liked seeing Aldo get beat up a little bit by Mark Hominick; adversity is what makes a legend. Now that he’s survived that test, I have no doubt he’ll resume his slash-and-burn through the contender list at 145, starting with Chad Mendes, then (fingers crossed) moving on to Kenny Florian.
4. Jon Jones: The present and the future of MMA. His performances are already as impressively superhuman as Anderson Silva’s. All he needs is the title reign — and maybe, one day, a run at heavyweight.
5. Dominick Cruz: A complete and uniquely talented champion who has left some of the best bantamweights in the sport licking their wounds and scratching their heads. A win over Urijah Faber at UFC 132 in July would finally get him over with casual fans, while avenging his only loss in 18 fights.
Chad Dundas:
1. Jon Jones: Jonny Bones is 23 years old, has had fewer than 10 fights in the UFC, isn’t even done physically maturing yet and already, nobody in the world wants to fight him. That includes at least one guy on this list and that’s good enough for me.
2. Georges St. Pierre: All St. Pierre has done during the last three and a half years is outthink, outperform and outclass every opponent the UFC could find to put in the cage with him. Is it his fault he competes in the only sport in the world where that’s not good enough for some people?
3. Anderson Silva: Silva is so good that half the time it looks like he’s not even really trying. I guess that’s a problem for everybody not named Anderson Silva.
4. Dominick Cruz: One of the most elusive and unorthodox fighters in the sport, Cruz must be a nightmare to prepare for. Just 25 years old, as long as his body doesn’t come apart on him, he could be champ for a while.
5. Jose Aldo: Aldo may have shown his mettle in gutting one out over Hominick, but he didn’t exactly come away looking like a pound-for-pound great. I’m willing to chalk it up to sickness for now, but I’ll need to see a return to form if I’m going to justify keeping him on this list at the expense of guys like Frankie Edgar, Gilbert Melendez and Cain Velasquez next time. Wait, we are going to do this again at some point … right?
Mike Russell:
1. Anderson Silva: Besides the four round spanking he received from Chael Sonnen last year, no opponent has been able to touch “The Spider” the past few years. He’s the reason Georges St. Pierre is reluctant to move up to 185 and why Jon Jones will likely change his tune about fighting friends if Silva decides to move up to light heavyweight.
2. Georges St-Pierre: His only loss of the past six years came at the hands of Matt Serra, who loses 9.995 times out of 10 to GSP under normal circumstances. The problem is, the loss made him revert to a more careful (read, boring) style that has turned many fans off of watching his fights. It’s tough to argue against him being on this list, as he is as dominant a fighter as you’ll find, but if this was the top most exciting fighters in the game he would be somewhere at the bottom, ahead of Jake Shields and Jon Fitch.
3. Jon Jones: Another few wins over top competition could move Jones ahead of St-Pierre on the list, but considering that the UFC’s light heavyweight strap is becoming as cursed as its heavyweight one (in the past nine championship bouts it has been won by seven different men), the odds of him remaining champion are stacked against him.
4. Jose Aldo: Some people think that Aldo’s hard-fought win over Hominick should drop him in the pound-for-pound rankings. I think it should elevate Hominick up a few slots. The fight proved that Aldo can fight through adversity to win and although he didn’t look dominant in doing it, the same can also be said for the top two on this list at times during their respective careers.
5. Frankie Edgar: If Edgar can definitively beat Gray Maynard in their rubber match, nobody will argue that he deserves to be on this list. If he wins, I’d like to see him take on Gilbert Melendez next, as I think “El Nino” could shake things up a bit in the UFC’s lightweight class and in these rankings.
Honorable mentions: Gilbert Melendez, Cain Velasquez, Dominick Cruz, Nick Diaz.
