Georges St. Pierre took the next step towards reclaiming his UFC welterweight title with an armbar submission over Matt Hughes 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, according to CompuStrike. 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 out-pointed former PRIDE champion Wanderlei Silva 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.
Read more here.
Showing posts with label Matt Hughes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Matt Hughes. Show all posts
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Monday, December 17, 2007
Georges "Rush" St.Pierre - Matt Hughes 3 Primer Highlights
We are just counting the days before the much awaited third bout between probably the greatest welterweight ever Matt Hughes against his heir apparent Georges "Rush" St.Pierre. In the first fight, GSP dominated Matt Hughes in the first four minutes before getting caught in an armbar with only one second to go. In the second bout, GSP destroyed Matt Hughes to win the Welterweight title for the first time.
December 29 2007. Matt Hughes - GSP III. Who will take it?
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
The Canadian Who Saved Christmas
From Thomas Gerbasi of UFC.COM Original link here
Thanksgiving. A time for celebration and to get away from it all for at least a day or two.
Not for Dana White though, Instead, the UFC President got hit with the worst possible news on Thursday night – the main event on the organization’s big year-end show on December 29th – a welterweight title bout between champion Matt Serra and former 170-pound boss Matt Hughes – was off after Serra suffered a herniated disc in his back last Monday night.
“I was on suicide watch for about five hours,” joked White during a media teleconference Monday. “But you’ve got to bounce back and we started working on what we could do.”
The next day, ironically the huge shopping day known as Black Friday, the UFC started shopping for a replacement, not even sure if Hughes would agree to fight another high level opponent on short notice and risk his guaranteed title shot at Serra. Soon, Hughes made it known that he wanted to fight. Then another call came in from a fighter looking to give White and UFC fans an early Christmas present – former welterweight champ Georges St-Pierre, who eagerly tossed his name in the hat for consideration in the UFC 79 sweepstakes.
By Saturday night, Hughes was in, GSP was in, and the UFC had a main event rubber match possibly even bigger than the fight it replaced. And no one was happier than the 26-year old from Montreal, who couldn’t contain his joy when told the news that night.
“I’m so excited to get this fight,” said St-Pierre, who broke off between sentences to shout to his friends about the impending bout. “I’m fighting Matt Hughes for the interim title right now, and then after that I’m going to go after Serra. I’ve wanted that rematch against Serra, and this is the best scenario that can happen.”
Monday with reporters, two days after the interim welterweight title bout was announced, St-Pierre was a little more subdued, but no less excited, not only because he will be fighting a man in Hughes he stopped in two rounds in November of 2006, but that a win will give him the chance to redeem his upset loss to Serra from last April. But St-Pierre isn’t about to take Hughes – who handed him his first pro loss in 2004 – lightly.
“I’m not overconfident at all,” said St-Pierre (14-2). “I remember that Matt beat me once and I beat him once. Now it’s equal. We’re both going to be different fighters this time. We both grew up from our wins and losses and it’s going to be a totally different match.”
Both fights between the two were vastly different, with Hughes winning the first via submission, and St-Pierre evening the score with a dominating two round stoppage. It was after GSP’s huge win that everything got a little cloudy for “Rush”.
Expected to dominate the division for as long as he wanted to after his one-sided win over Hughes (which was preceded by big wins over Jason Miller, Frank Trigg, Sean Sherk, and BJ Penn), St-Pierre was a heavy favorite against Serra in their UFC 69 bout in Houston. Instead, Serra blitzed St-Pierre via a first round TKO to send the 26-year old crashing back to Earth. It was a costly lesson for St-Pierre, who later admitted to a number of outside distractions in the lead up to his first title defense.
“I faced the greatest honor by winning the world title before, and I also faced the humiliation,” said St-Pierre. “I know what I want and what I don’t want right now. This loss to Matt Serra was probably the best thing that ever happened for my career. I don’t want to give any excuses. If you look at any sport, for example baseball, it’s not always the best team that wins the game. The team who is the most well-prepared and who plays the besp wins the game. It’s the same thing in fighting. It’s not always the best fighter who wins the fight, but the fighter who is the most well-prepared and who fights the best. I will come very-prepared and my mental game can not be better than it is right now.”
Many questioned St-Pierre’s place among the welterweight elite after the upset loss to Serra, but in August, he silenced the critics who questioned his mental toughness under fire with a lopsided three round decision win over highly-regarded Josh Koscheck that not only got him back in the win column, it got him a measure of confidence back.
“I went through a lot of things in my life, a lot of personal issues, and I just had the worst time in my life,” said St-Pierre of his past. “But right now it’s behind me, and I just look up to the future. This win (over Koscheck) made me a way better fighter, and I’m the type of guy who won’t make the same mistake twice. I learned from it (the loss to Serra), I grew up from it, and what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger.”
So when the opportunity to face a fighter like Hughes on short notice came up, St-Pierre didn’t shy away. In fact, he asked for it.
“I’m at the top of my game right now, and I’m in great shape,” he said. “I’ve been training with Rashad Evans to get him ready for his fight, and the only thing I was doing wrong was not eating as well as I should have. I just have to change this and keep training like I was doing.”
It’s the mark of a champion, just like Hughes’ acceptance of the fight marks him as one of the greats to ever grace the Octagon. Now, what it all comes down to is training, gameplan, and execution. They’ve each won one fight each. Who will break the tie?
Georges St-Pierre has some ideas.
“I have a lot of respect for Matt Hughes, but that night when I put my shorts on, and my gloves, I’m gonna come out with my killer instinct,” he said. “I have a job to do and my job is to destroy my opponent.”
Thanksgiving. A time for celebration and to get away from it all for at least a day or two.
Not for Dana White though, Instead, the UFC President got hit with the worst possible news on Thursday night – the main event on the organization’s big year-end show on December 29th – a welterweight title bout between champion Matt Serra and former 170-pound boss Matt Hughes – was off after Serra suffered a herniated disc in his back last Monday night.
“I was on suicide watch for about five hours,” joked White during a media teleconference Monday. “But you’ve got to bounce back and we started working on what we could do.”
The next day, ironically the huge shopping day known as Black Friday, the UFC started shopping for a replacement, not even sure if Hughes would agree to fight another high level opponent on short notice and risk his guaranteed title shot at Serra. Soon, Hughes made it known that he wanted to fight. Then another call came in from a fighter looking to give White and UFC fans an early Christmas present – former welterweight champ Georges St-Pierre, who eagerly tossed his name in the hat for consideration in the UFC 79 sweepstakes.
By Saturday night, Hughes was in, GSP was in, and the UFC had a main event rubber match possibly even bigger than the fight it replaced. And no one was happier than the 26-year old from Montreal, who couldn’t contain his joy when told the news that night.
“I’m so excited to get this fight,” said St-Pierre, who broke off between sentences to shout to his friends about the impending bout. “I’m fighting Matt Hughes for the interim title right now, and then after that I’m going to go after Serra. I’ve wanted that rematch against Serra, and this is the best scenario that can happen.”
Monday with reporters, two days after the interim welterweight title bout was announced, St-Pierre was a little more subdued, but no less excited, not only because he will be fighting a man in Hughes he stopped in two rounds in November of 2006, but that a win will give him the chance to redeem his upset loss to Serra from last April. But St-Pierre isn’t about to take Hughes – who handed him his first pro loss in 2004 – lightly.
“I’m not overconfident at all,” said St-Pierre (14-2). “I remember that Matt beat me once and I beat him once. Now it’s equal. We’re both going to be different fighters this time. We both grew up from our wins and losses and it’s going to be a totally different match.”
Both fights between the two were vastly different, with Hughes winning the first via submission, and St-Pierre evening the score with a dominating two round stoppage. It was after GSP’s huge win that everything got a little cloudy for “Rush”.
Expected to dominate the division for as long as he wanted to after his one-sided win over Hughes (which was preceded by big wins over Jason Miller, Frank Trigg, Sean Sherk, and BJ Penn), St-Pierre was a heavy favorite against Serra in their UFC 69 bout in Houston. Instead, Serra blitzed St-Pierre via a first round TKO to send the 26-year old crashing back to Earth. It was a costly lesson for St-Pierre, who later admitted to a number of outside distractions in the lead up to his first title defense.
“I faced the greatest honor by winning the world title before, and I also faced the humiliation,” said St-Pierre. “I know what I want and what I don’t want right now. This loss to Matt Serra was probably the best thing that ever happened for my career. I don’t want to give any excuses. If you look at any sport, for example baseball, it’s not always the best team that wins the game. The team who is the most well-prepared and who plays the besp wins the game. It’s the same thing in fighting. It’s not always the best fighter who wins the fight, but the fighter who is the most well-prepared and who fights the best. I will come very-prepared and my mental game can not be better than it is right now.”
Many questioned St-Pierre’s place among the welterweight elite after the upset loss to Serra, but in August, he silenced the critics who questioned his mental toughness under fire with a lopsided three round decision win over highly-regarded Josh Koscheck that not only got him back in the win column, it got him a measure of confidence back.
“I went through a lot of things in my life, a lot of personal issues, and I just had the worst time in my life,” said St-Pierre of his past. “But right now it’s behind me, and I just look up to the future. This win (over Koscheck) made me a way better fighter, and I’m the type of guy who won’t make the same mistake twice. I learned from it (the loss to Serra), I grew up from it, and what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger.”
So when the opportunity to face a fighter like Hughes on short notice came up, St-Pierre didn’t shy away. In fact, he asked for it.
“I’m at the top of my game right now, and I’m in great shape,” he said. “I’ve been training with Rashad Evans to get him ready for his fight, and the only thing I was doing wrong was not eating as well as I should have. I just have to change this and keep training like I was doing.”
It’s the mark of a champion, just like Hughes’ acceptance of the fight marks him as one of the greats to ever grace the Octagon. Now, what it all comes down to is training, gameplan, and execution. They’ve each won one fight each. Who will break the tie?
Georges St-Pierre has some ideas.
“I have a lot of respect for Matt Hughes, but that night when I put my shorts on, and my gloves, I’m gonna come out with my killer instinct,” he said. “I have a job to do and my job is to destroy my opponent.”
UFC 79: Nemesis
The best card on the year as advertised.. and I couldn't agree more. After having Welterweight Champion Matt Serra withdraw due to back injuries, who would've ever expected that the current champion's injury would be a blessing in disguise to us fight fans and to the organization itself.
A day after Serra withdrew from his title bout against Matt Hughes, UFC.com confirmed that former Welterweight Champion and current number 1 contender Georges "Rush" St.Pierre would be fighting Matt Hughes, and it will be for the Interim Welterweight Championship.
Not only will we see two of the best welterweights in history, we will also get to see the rubber match of the said fighters. In the war of '04 (UFC 50), Matt Hughes defeated Georges St.Pierre via submission with only a second left in round 1. However, GSP bounced back from that loss in UFC 65: Bad Intentions, where in he dominated the then champion Matt Hughes from the get go until the fight was stopped early in the second round.
After that GSP loss his title in an upset to Matt Serra in UFC 69:Shootout then outwrestled wrestler Josh Koscheck at UFC 74:Respect. Matt Hughes won his match against Chris Lytle at UFC 68: UPRISING, then went on to coach the ultimate fighter series, against Matt Serra.
In the Co-Main event of the evening, the match everyone has been waiting for. The most dominating Light Heavyweight in UFC history Chuck Liddell takes on the most dominating Middleweight in PrideFC history, Wanderlei Silva.
This match is long overdue, considering that the two fighters are coming off of two loses. And some would even say that the match wouldn't be as good as it should've been two to three years ago. But either way, I expect this match to be a war.
Another match worth waiting for is the debut of the African Assasin in the UFC, Rameau Sokoudjou as he takes on undefeated Light Heavyweight contender Lyoto Machida.
Other matches in the event are:
Nate Mohr vs Manvel Gamburyan (Lightweight)
Rich Clementi vs Melvin Guillard (Lightweight)
Tony DeSouza vs Roan Carneiro (Welterweight)
Dean Lister vs Jordan Radev (Middleweight)
Doug Evans vs Mark Bocek (Lightweight)
Eddie Sanchez vs Soa Palalei (Heavyweight)
A day after Serra withdrew from his title bout against Matt Hughes, UFC.com confirmed that former Welterweight Champion and current number 1 contender Georges "Rush" St.Pierre would be fighting Matt Hughes, and it will be for the Interim Welterweight Championship.
Not only will we see two of the best welterweights in history, we will also get to see the rubber match of the said fighters. In the war of '04 (UFC 50), Matt Hughes defeated Georges St.Pierre via submission with only a second left in round 1. However, GSP bounced back from that loss in UFC 65: Bad Intentions, where in he dominated the then champion Matt Hughes from the get go until the fight was stopped early in the second round.
After that GSP loss his title in an upset to Matt Serra in UFC 69:Shootout then outwrestled wrestler Josh Koscheck at UFC 74:Respect. Matt Hughes won his match against Chris Lytle at UFC 68: UPRISING, then went on to coach the ultimate fighter series, against Matt Serra.
In the Co-Main event of the evening, the match everyone has been waiting for. The most dominating Light Heavyweight in UFC history Chuck Liddell takes on the most dominating Middleweight in PrideFC history, Wanderlei Silva.
This match is long overdue, considering that the two fighters are coming off of two loses. And some would even say that the match wouldn't be as good as it should've been two to three years ago. But either way, I expect this match to be a war.
Another match worth waiting for is the debut of the African Assasin in the UFC, Rameau Sokoudjou as he takes on undefeated Light Heavyweight contender Lyoto Machida.
Other matches in the event are:
Nate Mohr vs Manvel Gamburyan (Lightweight)
Rich Clementi vs Melvin Guillard (Lightweight)
Tony DeSouza vs Roan Carneiro (Welterweight)
Dean Lister vs Jordan Radev (Middleweight)
Doug Evans vs Mark Bocek (Lightweight)
Eddie Sanchez vs Soa Palalei (Heavyweight)
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