BKS
12-29-2007, 11:23 PM
-Taken from Sherdog.com-
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Georges St. Pierre (Pictures) took the next step towards reclaiming his UFC welterweight title with an armbar submission over Matt Hughes (Pictures) in the second period of a dominating performance.
Quicker, stronger and bigger than Hughes -- the 170-pound UFC division champion from 2001 to 2003, and again from 2004 to 2006 following bookend fights with St. Pierre -- the 26-year-old from Montreal, Quebec, simply overwhelmed the veteran American.
Denying Hughes' multiple takedown efforts, St. Pierre (15-2) showed himself to be the dominant grappler -- and more importantly, dominant mixed martial artist -- in the welterweight rubber match, netting three takedowns to Hughes' zero.
St. Pierre, now owner of a UFC interim belt at 170 pounds, completely owned the striking department, connecting with 77 strikes to Hughes' 5. He also offered two submission attempts, including the fight-ending armbar that came when Hughes, 34, verbally submitted to referee Steve Mazzagatti with just six seconds remaining in the second period of the five-round fight.
St. Pierre declined to honor the title of UFC interim champion, saying that Matt Serra (Pictures), who defeated the French Canadian in April, was the true title holder. Serra was originally scheduled to fight Hughes, now 41-6, however the New Yorker fell off the card due to injury.
Six years in the making, former UFC light heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell (Pictures) out-pointed former PRIDE champion Wanderlei Silva (Pictures) in a thrilling contest.
A fight fans have craved since each man dominated the 205-pound divisions in their respective organizations, the anticipated showdown came too late according to some pundits. But that didn't stop Liddell and Silva, both victims of two-fight losing streaks coming into tonight's contest, from delivering one of the best bouts of 2007.
"The Iceman" was sharp in the opening round, tossing out jabs against the uncharacteristically cautious Brazilian. Liddell, 38, landed a series of punches that appeared to hurt Silva, but when the veteran Californian stalked it was obvious Silva had baited him in to respond with a salvo of counter punches.
Round two was the best of the fight. Silva (31-8-1, 1 NC) found his range, scoring with kicks and wild punches he was famous for during his career in Japan. Liddell, however, delivered the best sequence of the fight when he backed up and bloodied "The Axe Murderer" against the Octagon fencing.
In the third, Liddell (21-5-0) opened and closed with takedowns. Between the surprising grappling moments, Liddell landed 32 of the 55 punches he threw, compared to just 17 for the Brazilian.
Judges at ringside saw it three rounds to none for Liddell (30-27 twice and 29-28).
Lyoto Machida (Pictures) dominated Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou (Pictures) for a round and a half en route to an impressive arm-triangle submission victory. The highly touted Sokoudjou, a 23-year-old native of Cameroon, had no answer for the karate stylings of the undefeated Machida.
Fighting out of Belem, Brazil, Machida, 29, showed why he's undefeated in 12 fights. Refusing to allow the hard-punching Sokoudjou (4-2) to find a rhythm, Machida threatened with chokes and arm locks until securing the choke at 4:20 of round two.
In other action, Eddie Sanchez (8-1) bloodied up Soa Palelei (Pictures) (8-2) before stopping the UFC newcomer in the third round of a heavyweight tilt.
Rich Clementi (Pictures) (30-12-1) settled his feud with Melvin Guillard (Pictures) (20-7-2, 1 NC) by submission, forcing a tapout via rear-naked choke at 4:40 of the first round.
James Irvin (Pictures) (13-4-0, 1 NC) earned a victory the hard way when Luis Arthur Cane (Pictures) (7-0-1, 1 NC) was disqualified for an illegal knee to the head when the fighters were on the floor at 1:51 of the first round.
Manvel Gamburyan (Pictures) (6-2) submitted Nate Mohr (Pictures) (8-5) with an ankle lock at 1:31 of the first round.
Dean Lister (Pictures) (10-5) earned a unanimous decision over Jordan Radev (Pictures) (11-3).
Roan Carneiro (Pictures) (12-6) stopped Tony DeSouza (Pictures) (10-4) with strikes at 3:33 of the second round.
Mark Bocek (Pictures) (5-1) took a unanimous decision over Douglas Evans (Pictures) (5-2) after three rounds.
I just watched this event and my god... I must say it was amazing. By far, one of the best main events UFC has had in a long while. All in all, Georges St. Pierre proved that he is the best Welterweight out there today, and if he shows up to fight Matt Serra like he showed up to fight Hughes, he is unstoppable.
So, any MMA fans out there, or people who happened to catch the fights? Your opinions?
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Georges St. Pierre (Pictures) took the next step towards reclaiming his UFC welterweight title with an armbar submission over Matt Hughes (Pictures) in the second period of a dominating performance.
Quicker, stronger and bigger than Hughes -- the 170-pound UFC division champion from 2001 to 2003, and again from 2004 to 2006 following bookend fights with St. Pierre -- the 26-year-old from Montreal, Quebec, simply overwhelmed the veteran American.
Denying Hughes' multiple takedown efforts, St. Pierre (15-2) showed himself to be the dominant grappler -- and more importantly, dominant mixed martial artist -- in the welterweight rubber match, netting three takedowns to Hughes' zero.
St. Pierre, now owner of a UFC interim belt at 170 pounds, completely owned the striking department, connecting with 77 strikes to Hughes' 5. He also offered two submission attempts, including the fight-ending armbar that came when Hughes, 34, verbally submitted to referee Steve Mazzagatti with just six seconds remaining in the second period of the five-round fight.
St. Pierre declined to honor the title of UFC interim champion, saying that Matt Serra (Pictures), who defeated the French Canadian in April, was the true title holder. Serra was originally scheduled to fight Hughes, now 41-6, however the New Yorker fell off the card due to injury.
Six years in the making, former UFC light heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell (Pictures) out-pointed former PRIDE champion Wanderlei Silva (Pictures) in a thrilling contest.
A fight fans have craved since each man dominated the 205-pound divisions in their respective organizations, the anticipated showdown came too late according to some pundits. But that didn't stop Liddell and Silva, both victims of two-fight losing streaks coming into tonight's contest, from delivering one of the best bouts of 2007.
"The Iceman" was sharp in the opening round, tossing out jabs against the uncharacteristically cautious Brazilian. Liddell, 38, landed a series of punches that appeared to hurt Silva, but when the veteran Californian stalked it was obvious Silva had baited him in to respond with a salvo of counter punches.
Round two was the best of the fight. Silva (31-8-1, 1 NC) found his range, scoring with kicks and wild punches he was famous for during his career in Japan. Liddell, however, delivered the best sequence of the fight when he backed up and bloodied "The Axe Murderer" against the Octagon fencing.
In the third, Liddell (21-5-0) opened and closed with takedowns. Between the surprising grappling moments, Liddell landed 32 of the 55 punches he threw, compared to just 17 for the Brazilian.
Judges at ringside saw it three rounds to none for Liddell (30-27 twice and 29-28).
Lyoto Machida (Pictures) dominated Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou (Pictures) for a round and a half en route to an impressive arm-triangle submission victory. The highly touted Sokoudjou, a 23-year-old native of Cameroon, had no answer for the karate stylings of the undefeated Machida.
Fighting out of Belem, Brazil, Machida, 29, showed why he's undefeated in 12 fights. Refusing to allow the hard-punching Sokoudjou (4-2) to find a rhythm, Machida threatened with chokes and arm locks until securing the choke at 4:20 of round two.
In other action, Eddie Sanchez (8-1) bloodied up Soa Palelei (Pictures) (8-2) before stopping the UFC newcomer in the third round of a heavyweight tilt.
Rich Clementi (Pictures) (30-12-1) settled his feud with Melvin Guillard (Pictures) (20-7-2, 1 NC) by submission, forcing a tapout via rear-naked choke at 4:40 of the first round.
James Irvin (Pictures) (13-4-0, 1 NC) earned a victory the hard way when Luis Arthur Cane (Pictures) (7-0-1, 1 NC) was disqualified for an illegal knee to the head when the fighters were on the floor at 1:51 of the first round.
Manvel Gamburyan (Pictures) (6-2) submitted Nate Mohr (Pictures) (8-5) with an ankle lock at 1:31 of the first round.
Dean Lister (Pictures) (10-5) earned a unanimous decision over Jordan Radev (Pictures) (11-3).
Roan Carneiro (Pictures) (12-6) stopped Tony DeSouza (Pictures) (10-4) with strikes at 3:33 of the second round.
Mark Bocek (Pictures) (5-1) took a unanimous decision over Douglas Evans (Pictures) (5-2) after three rounds.
I just watched this event and my god... I must say it was amazing. By far, one of the best main events UFC has had in a long while. All in all, Georges St. Pierre proved that he is the best Welterweight out there today, and if he shows up to fight Matt Serra like he showed up to fight Hughes, he is unstoppable.
So, any MMA fans out there, or people who happened to catch the fights? Your opinions?