UFC 129 will, without a doubt, be one of the biggest events in UFC History. Selling out the 55,000- seat Rogers Centre in Toronto, Canada, means that the event has already smashed attendance records for MMA in North America.
The card is understandably stacked, so here is BBM’s predictions for the full card. We’ll also be streaming the pre-fight press conferences and weigh ins so make sure to keep your eyes posted to this very website.
UFC 129 – May 1st, 2011 Toronto, Canada
Welterweight Title: George St-Pierre vs. Jake Shields
St-Pierre is widely considered the best fighter in the division and after defeating Koshcheck, Hughes, Serra, Fitch, Penn, Hardy and Alves, it’s hard to see Shields bring anything different to the table.
Featherweight Title: Jose Aldo vs. Mark Hominick
This is the first time the Featherweight title has been defended in UFC after the merger with WEC. Hominick has the hometown crowd but Aldo is considered one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world.
Lyoto Machida vs. Randy Couture
Now this is what we’re talking about! Randy is an absolute legend in the UFC and MMA in general, and was last seen knocking out ex-boxing world champion James Toney at UFC 118. However, Machida has amazing takedown defence, an underrated submission game and rarely gets hit by his opponents. This one should go to decision, with Randy barely scraping by with a win.
Vladimir Matyushenko vs. Jason Brilz
Vladimir is by far the more experienced fighter here and is coming off a win in Germany at UFC 122 against Alex Ferreira. However, Jason is coming off a close a split-decision loss to Antonio Rogerio Nogueira and will be determined to put in a good showing here. Another split decision for Brilz, but this time in his favour.
Mark Bocek vs. Ben Henderson
Bocek has the hometown crowd firmly in his favour here, while Henderson’s last fight was at the hands of Anthony Pettis, who took the now-UFC Lightweight title away from him. We probably should pick at least one Canadian to win so Mark gets the nod.
Preliminary Card:
Nate Diaz vs. Rory MacDonald
Sean Pierson vs. Brian Foster
Yves Jabouin vs. Pablo Garza
Claude Patrick vs. Daniel Roberts
Ivan Menjivar vs. Charlie Valencia
Jason MacDonald vs. Ryan Jensen
John Makdessi vs. Kyle Watson
