Written by Scott Swerbinsky

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Fans of the Ultimate Fighting Championship are in for a treat this evening. UFC 129 takes place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and will be the organization’s biggest event. Literally. Fifty five thousand tickets were sold and it’s going to be electric inside of the Rogers Centre.

For the fans at home, you will also be able to see every single fight on the card. Facebook is showing five fights starting at 6pm. After that, you’ll need to tune into SpikeTV for two more prelim fights. The Pay Per View will have a new start time of 9pm and there you will be able to enjoy the main card.

 

The sport of mixed martial arts has come a long way as has officially taken over and gobbled up boxing, which is in a very sad state right now. While the card is pretty good, the fact that fans will get to enjoy every fight is pretty much unheard of.

 

Let’s take a look at a few of the matchups that I’m looking forward to. Top to bottom, I think the UFC could have done a lot better for a card that will be watched by so many people. The event does take place in Georges St. Pierre’s backyard so it probably didn’t matter who else was fighting tonight.

The main event is for the welterweight championship and features two guy who haven’t lost in a really long time. Champion Georges St. Pierre faces off against Jake Shields. The last time GSP lost was in 2007. Shields hasn’t tasted defeat since 2004. This is truly the best of the best going toe to toe for the title.

GSP has won 30 straight rounds, a sick number. He should face a stiffer test with Shields tonight. There is no visible weakness in GSP’s game ever since the stunning upset loss to Matt Serra back at UFC 69. He is the most gifted athlete in the sport, his striking is off the charts, his wrestling in unmatched, and he overall ground game is lights out. Does he have any holes? I’m not too sure.

Jake Shields isn’t known for his striking yet it is solid, but nowhere near the caliber of St. Pierre. It’s no secret that Jake will need to get to the ground and use his submissions and his wrestling to beat GSP. It’s been awhile since GSP has fought a fighter as skilled in submissions as Shields.

The biggest key in this fight tonight I believe is going to be Jake Shield’s chin. If he is able to weather some of the storms that are coming his way he might be able to pull off the upset. I don’t see it happening, but it’s possible. The longer the fight stays standing, the more trouble Shields will be in. Jake needs to score takedowns and try to wear down GSP somewhat and make him make a mistake.

I would never pick against St. Pierre but I am a believer in Jake Shields. Both of these guys are great to watch and I’m pumped for this one. The crowd will be insane and I don’t see them being let down by their guy. This is my choice for fight of the night and possibly fight of the year.

Jose Aldo makes his UFC debut and puts his featherweight title on the line against Mark Hominick. This is another matchup of two fighters I really like to watch. If you haven’t seen these two WEC veterans in action, now is the time.

This one is going to be action packed and fast paced, just like all WEC fights were. Aldo has shown no flaws as have been compared to GSP because of his all around dominating game. Hominick is a very good striker and has a great chin. He is going to need it as Aldo is relentless in his attack.

We have never seen Aldo in trouble in a fight and Hominick will need to get to him early if he wants to score the victory. This is going to be a fireworks display and I’m not expecting too many takedown attempts. Look for a standup war, and a damn good one at that.

Randy Couture is fighting Lyota Machida in what they are saying will be Couture’s last fight. I hope it is. While Couture has had a wonderful career, and done a ton for the sport of mixed martial arts, he has nothing left to prove.

I’m not too interested in the fight if I’m being totally honest. Machida has an akward and boring style and Couture isn’t flashy by any means.  The only reason I’ll be tuning is because it’ll be the last time we see Couture in the octagon.

A prelim fight that I have my eye on is Nate Diaz versus Rory MacDonald. It is a matchup of two young up and coming superstars n the 170 pound division. Both have crowd pleasing styles and love to bang. They are both very skilled and can take a ton of punishment. This is my sleeper pick for fight of the night. You shouldn’t miss this one, it’ll air on the SpikeTV prelim card at 8pm.

Full card:

MAIN CARD (PPV)

Champ Georges St-Pierre vs. Jake Shields (for welterweight title)

Champ Jose Aldo vs. Mark Hominick (for featherweight title)

Jason Brilz vs. Vladimir Matyushenko

Randy Couture vs. Lyoto Machida

Mark Bocek vs. Ben Henderson

PRELIMINARY CARD (Spike TV)

Nate Diaz vs. Rory MacDonald

Jake Ellenberger vs. Sean Pierson

PRELIMINARY CARD (Facebook)

Claude Patrick vs. Daniel Roberts

Ivan Menjivar vs. Charlie Valencia

Jason MacDonald vs. Ryan Jensen

John Makdessi vs. Kyle Watson

Pablo Garza vs. Yves Jabouin

I’m really looking forward to this card tonight. It should be a very entertaining night of mixed martial arts action. Every fight will be seen, what else could you possibly want?

Tune in, I know I will.