In tomorrow night's main event, UFC Welterweight Champion "Rush" Georges St. Pierre (black shorts) makes his seventh title defense, this time against former Strikeforce Middleweight Champion Jake Shields. (Photo courtesy of Zuffa, LLC.)
Tomorrow night the UFC arrives in Toronto, Quebec, Canada for the very first time and the world’s premier MMA organization certainly isn’t holding anything back in its inaugural visit. UFC 129: St. Pierre vs. Shields will present a record breaking sold out crowd of over 55,000 fans with a card built on the backs of some of the most talented and accomplished fighters on the UFC roster. In his UFC debut “Smooth” Ben Henderson (11-2), the former WEC lightweight champ, squares off against the native Torontonian Mark Bocek (9-3) before 14-year MMA veteran “The Janitor” Vladimir Matyushenko (25-5) takes on fellow wrestler “The Hitman” Jason Brilz (18-3-1). The card only grows more prestigious from there as UFC Hall of Famer “The Natural” Randy Couture (19-10) fights what he claims will be his final battle against fellow former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion “The Dragon” Lyoto Machida (16-2) and the explosive “Junior” Jose Aldo (17-1) makes the first defense of the UFC Featherweight Championship against Canadian kickboxing ace “The Machine” Mark Hominick (19-7). With such a stacked card preceding it, there are only a handful of fights that could even hope to headline it and the UFC hasn’t failed to find just such a bout. The main event sees the UFC Welterweight Champion and arguably the top pound-for-pound fighter in the world “Rush” Georges St. Pierre (21-2) will face a man who hasn’t tasted defeat in over six years, former Strikeforce Middleweight Champion Jake Shields (26-4-1). While many fights are fueled by a lot of hype, this match is one that actually has the potential to live up to it. Continue reading »
