INTRO
13 years ago, Georges St-Pierre defended his prestigious welterweight title against the elite veteran Jake Shields at UFC 129. This event was a historic milestone from countless different perspectives. The most prominent significance is that UFC 129 is the first UFC event in the province of Ontario since it became legal just months prior. Being in Rogers Centre (formerly the Skydome), it was also able to accommodate 55,000 fans and still holds the attendance record for a North American MMA event.
From the perspective of the fight game, UFC 129 witnessed many highlights in the careers of the sport’s most important fighters. The main card featured five fighters who held a UFC title at one point. Besides the main event, the audience also witnessed:
Future lightweight champion Benson Henderson’s dominant UFC debut
Lyoto Machida landing the only crane kick finish in UFC history
Randy Couture’s retirement fight
Mark Hominick’s rapture of a homecoming and his dominant 5th round in a losing effort
José Aldo’s UFC debut
Lastly but most importantly, Georges St-Pierre faced his most accomplished adversary in Jake Shields – an opponent holding a 15-win streak with no losses for the past 6 years. Here’s a closer look at UFC 129 from the perspective of the main event starting from the legislation that made this event a reality.
PART 1: THAT’S ILLEGAL!
Section 83 of the Canadian Criminal Code prohibits prize fights with a few exemptions, notably professional and amateur boxing. Because this part of the Criminal Code predates the existence of the sport, MMA was illegal within the province of Ontario. Because legislation between provinces is asymmetric, the path to MMA’s legality was not simultaneous across all of Canada.
A substantial amount of the lobbying behind the legalizing of MMA in Ontario came from the UFC itself. On 14 August 2010, a breakthrough finally occurred and the sport was legalized within the province. This went into effect on 1 January 2011. UFC 129 was the 1st UFC event and the 3rd MMA event in Ontario.
UFC 129 was officially announced on 7 Dec 2010, just days before UFC 124 which was held in the Bell Centre, home of the Montreal Canadiens. The venue of choice was Rogers Centre located in Downtown Toronto and could be configured to accommodate more than triple the attendees of the MGM Grand Arena.
The event didn’t have an initial main event but most fans were anticipating a matchup between Georges St-Pierre and Jake Shields. Who else could headline the UFC’s biggest event other than Rush? And who else to challenge him other than Jake Shields? After all, Jake Shields was ranked higher than Koscheck in the Sherdog rankings even prior to the thrashing that Koscheck would endure at UFC 124.
PART 2: THE CHAMPION
Georges “Rush” St-Pierre is an all-time great who needs little introduction even to the casual fans. He can best be summarized as the greatest welterweight and one of the greatest ambassadors to this young sport. Heading into UFC 129 as an 8-year long veteran, Georges St-Pierre was widely regarded as the #1 or #2 P4P talent in the sport. His record stood at an impressive 21-2 and avenged his only 2 losses convincingly and dominantly.
His current title reign began in April 2008 and stood at 5 defenses heading into 2011. At this point in his career, GSP held an 8-win streak over 7 title fights. Within that winning streak was an unparalleled level of dominance. Starting from UFC 74, where he faced Josh Koscheck, and going to UFC 124, where he rematched Josh Koscheck, Rush won 30 consecutive rounds on all official scorecards. The only round he officially lost was the first round at UFC 74 where two of three judges awarded the round to Koscheck. Every other round that followed was for GSP, most of which were one sided.
All of these impressive accolades and feats came consecutively and against the division’s best. During St-Pierre’s title reign, welterweight was one of the two best divisions along with lightweight and was home to multiple elite fighters. At the start of 2011, GSP already held notable wins over Matt Hughes x2, BJ Penn x2, Fitch, and Alves – all of whom held a spot on Sherdog’s official P4P rankings at one point. The next challenger was unique in many ways compared to GSP’s growing list of wins.
PART 3: THE CHALLENGER
Heading into 2011, Jake Shields found himself with the opportunity of a lifetime as the next challenger to face St-Pierre. Jake Shields amassed a remarkable resume outside of the UFC, an impressive feat given the UFC’s strong monopoly on the welterweight division since the early 2000s.
Having been a professional cage fighter for more than 10 years and aged 32, Jake Shields was not a newcomer and was as much of a veteran as the champion. His journey in MMA in local California regional promotions before moving to Japanese promotions Shooto and Pancrase. November 2005 was the beginning of his current win streak starting with Toby Imada.
Over the course of the following years, Jake Shields would amass a win streak that spanned 14 fights in total with his most recent one being a middleweight title defense against all-time great Dan Henderson. This win streak was attained in high level promotions Rumble on the Rock, EliteXC, and Strikeforce and across two weight classes. Within those high level promotions, Jake Shields secured notable wins against Yushin Okami, Carlos Condit, Paul Daley, Robbie Lawler, and Dan Henderson. Jake Shields was indeed a P4P talent and the official Sherdog rankings just prior to UFC 129 reflect that by listing him at #6.
Being a grappler of a similar build to the champion, Jake Shields possessed one of the greatest challenges for GSP. Besides the champion, Jake Shields was considered the best welterweight grappler by the likes of Dominick Cruz and John Danaher. His best submission was the guillotine choke and secured it in some of the tightest spaces like he did against Robbie Lawler. In some ways, he was also considered an overachiever due to his limited skillset in striking. Despite any limitations in his game, Shields faced and defeated the best opponents available to him outside of the UFC across 2 weight classes and was able to suck them into his control grappling approach every time.
The first legitimate indication of Jake Shields having a future in the UFC came during an intermission for WEC 48: Aldo vs Faber. The camera points towards Jake Shields sitting with UFC president Dana White. While smiling towards the camera, Dana White gestures to the camera “He’s mine!” In typical Dana White fashion, this happened 45-60 days before Shields’ Strikeforce contract expired.
The UFC debut of Jake Shields came across the very underrated Martin Kampmann. This fight would go on to be an underwhelming showing from Shields and would win the fight by a disputed split decision to extend his win streak to 15. The takedowns did not come easily and Kampmann ravaged the body of Shields during clinch exchanges. Shields would later comment that deviating from his usual weight cutting methods had a negative impact. Having three previous fights at 185lbs, Shields needn’t reach the 170lb limit since October 2008.
Despite an underwhelming UFC debut and some disputed decisions within his record, Jake Shields was clearly at the front of the queue to challenge for the welterweight belt after GSP’s dominant win at UFC 124.
PART 4: 15 MINUTES OF TAME
Despite closing in on similar odds to the GSP-Koscheck 2 fight, the main event for UFC 129 was far from a dominant showing. Although more comfortable at kickboxing range, St-Pierre’s biggest moments were sporadic and mostly came from jabbing as Shields closed the distance. The right overhand also landed at times but highlighted an asymmetry in the effectiveness of the champions left side and right side strikes.
Shields on the other hand found his best success by targeting the body with a round kick from the lead leg. These were timed to GSP’s right overhands for maximum effect. Shields also jabbed with GSP to prevent the champion from fully taking the initiative.
For reasons not fully known, GSP did not attempt takedowns until the end of round 3. Jake Shields was indeed the best grappler GSP would ever face in his career but the contrast between GSP using his striking and grappling vs just his striking was noted during the entirety of the fight.
After closing the 3rd stanza, it was clear that something was wrong with GSP’s left eye and told his corner he couldn’t see out of it. The 3 likely culprits could all be found within round 3
(a) a swiping left-handed slap from Shields where the finger scraped the eye
(b) a jab that landed on the eye and was shown on the replay in the intermissions
(c) a protruding eye poke that happened as Shields attempted to defend the takedown
PART 5: CHAMPIONSHIP ROUNDS
Rounds 4 and 5 were much closer than the opening 15 minutes. Having lost vision in his left eye, GSP had a difficult time landing his jab and landing the already ineffective overhand became an impossibility. At the start of round 4, GSP lands a double leg takedown but quickly disengages to prevent Shields from reversing the position. The highlight of round 4 was a high kick from the lead leg. It scored a knockdown but isn’t official according to fightmetric, likely because Shields attempted a takedown from that kick.
Round 5 was the closest of the fight largely due to GSP having just one eye to work with. Shields continued being ineffective with his boxing and GSP held on for a clear but underwhelming decision win. Jake Shields proved to be the most difficult opponent to St-Pierre up to that point, but also at the expense of a terrible showing from himself. Shields officially won rounds 4 and 5 on two of three official scorecards, ending GSP’s official round win streak at 33. Official decisions aside, it’s almost impossible to justify any round for Jake Shields.
What felt like superfight between two P4P talents ended up being an underwhelming performance from all parties. This forgettable fight didn’t upset the 55,000 attendees though as they were happy just to see the face of Canadian MMA further his legacy.
PART 6: LASTING LEGACY
UFC 129 had strong implications from a legacy standpoint. GSP inched closer towards the end of his title reign with another win over a P4P talent who also happened to be his most accomplished foe up to that point. The eye injury sustained would heal within 10 days despite the initial 60 day medical suspension.
Jake Shields on the other hand never challenged for the UFC title again. He would lose his next fight by 1st round TKO and win 3 contested decisions before being cut by the UFC in 2014. Thanks for reading, check out the appendix if you’re interested in full media footage related to the event.
APPENDIX
UFC Primetime Episodes
Dana White’s Vlogs
