The 55,000 strong that packed Toronto's Rogers Centre came ready to welcome the sport of mixed martial arts into the province of Ontario and to cheer on their 10 countrymen who were participating Saturday night. The card was stacked to accommodate the magnitude of the event and included two title fights and the final in-cage appearance of Randy Couture.
Most importantly, though, they came to see national hero Georges St. Pierre as he defended his UFC welterweight title against Jake Shields, who brought a 15-fight win streak into the Octagon with him.
That contest, the main event of the evening, defied expectations and was contested nearly exclusively on their feet. In fact, over 24 of the 25 minutes were in the standing position, something very odd for two men who have had very successful careers by mastering the ground game.
In the end, St. Pierre was able to jab his way past his very game opponent to a unanimous decision victory. To Shields' credit, however, he did take two rounds on two of the judges' scorecards, making him the first person do so against GSP since Josh Koscheck the first time they fought back in August 2007.
The fight was largely an uneventful affair with neither competitor shining in the striking department and Shields especially looking lost as he tried to work his suspect offense. The loyal Canadian fan base even got a little restless near the end, as there were a smattering of boos that could be heard throughout the arena.
After the fight, UFC commentator Joe Rogan asked St. Pierre about a possible move up in weight to fight middleweight champ Anderson Silva, but St. Pierre simply said it was something he would think about and discuss in the future.
The co-main event of the evening between Jose Aldo and Mark Hominick for the UFC featherweight title was the true star of the show. After the first four rounds were dominated by the champion Aldo, the fight was nearly stopped due to a grotesque welt on the forehead of Hominick. The doctors looked at it twice and allowed him to continue, which was very good news because it allowed for the thrilling final round that nearly saw Hominick pull off a miracle knockout. He dominated the entire round, keeping Aldo flat on his back where he was able to brutalize him with ground-and-pound tactics.
Eventually, Aldo was able to survive the round and the fight and score a unanimous-decision victory. In an odd twist, however, one judge scored the final round for Aldo while most everybody else had Hominick winning it by a 10-8 score.
Randy Couture's swan song ended the way most expected, which was not good news for the Hall of Famer. The former UFC heavyweight and light heavyweight champion stood tall through the opening round. In the second, though, his opponent, Lyoto Machida, hit a flying front kick that conjured up memories of both Anderson Silva and The Karate Kid. After the fight, Couture confirmed he will indeed be retiring and thanked the fans for their warm embrace of him.
The opening two fights of the main card saw former WEC lightweight champ Ben Henderson make a successful UFC debut as he defeated Canadian foe Mark Bocek by unanimous decision. A day earlier, Henderson had missed weight and needed the extra two hours allowed to shed a final half pound. He was on his game Saturday night, though, as he pitched a shutout against Bocek, who was coming off a Submission of the Night victory over Dustin Hazelett at UFC 124. After that bout, Vladimir Matyushenko stunned many by knocking out Jason Brilz a mere 20 seconds into their fight.
Overall, Canada went 6-4 in front of their home crowd, a respectable record, to be sure, though some may have hoped for more. John Makdessi probably made the biggest statement of the night, though, as he hit a wicked spinning back fist on Kyle Watson that knocked him out cold.
