GSP, Iceman, Machida victorious at Nemesis

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.

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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)