Contents

UFC 129

UFC mixed martial arts event in 2011

UFC 129: St-Pierre vs. Shields

The poster for UFC 129: St-Pierre vs. Shields

Ultimate Fighting Championship

April 30, 2011

Rogers Centre

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

55,724^[1]

$12,075,000^[1]

800,000^[2]

UFC 129: St-Pierre vs. Shields was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on Saturday, April 30, 2011 at Rogers CentreinToronto, Ontario, Canada.^[3]

Background[edit]

The event was the sixth that the UFC has hosted in Canada and the first sanctioned mixed martial arts event in Ontario since the sport was legalized in the province in August 2010.^[4] The Toronto event was originally titled UFC 131 by the promotion, but later changed to UFC 129 as its early 2011 schedule started to fall more firmly into place.^[5]

It was the largest UFC event in North American history^[6][7] and coincided with a two-day UFC Fan Expo at the Direct Energy Centre.^[8][9] UFC officials had originally planned for the Rogers Centre to be configured to hold 42,000 fans for UFC 129. The UFC put those tickets on sale to UFC Fight Club members in a special pre-sale on February 10, 2011, selling nearly all of them. They released and sold more tickets the following day to UFC newsletter subscribers in a second special pre-sale. UFC 129 then sold out when tickets went on sale to the general public on February 12, with officials scrambling to up the number of seats to 55,000.^[10] Selling out all 55,000 tickets for gate revenues exceeding $11 million,^[11] the event shatters both MMA attendance and gate records in North America.^[10]

John Makdessi was rumored to face Jonathan Brookins at the event; however, Makdessi instead fought Kyle Watson.^[12]

In a conference call for UFC: Fight For The Troops 2 in January 2011, Dana White confirmed that UFC Featherweight Champion José Aldo would defend his title against Mark Hominick on this card, provided that Hominick defeated George Roop.^[13] White also stated that, regardless of the outcome of the Hominick/Roop fight, Aldo would still defend his Featherweight Championship at this event.^[14] Hominick defeated Roop, via first-round TKO, to confirm his place as no. 1 contender, and solidify the bout with Aldo. After the bout, judge Doug Crosby made a mistake scoring the 5th round 10–8 in favor of José Aldo instead of Mark Hominick, making the final tally 50–43 for Aldo. A correction was made after the bout, and the correct score was 48–45 in favor of Aldo.^[15]

Rory MacDonald was expected to face James Wilks at this event, but Wilks was forced from the card, and replaced by Nate Diaz.^[16]

On February 11, it was announced that Matt Hamill will no longer fight Phil Davis at this event and will instead fight Quinton JacksonatUFC 130.^[17] In a Twitter post, Davis said he was "sorry the fight had been removed from the website, and would be fighting in Toronto regardless."^[18] Davis was expected to face Jason Brilz^[19] until Tito Ortiz had to pull out of his UFC Fight Night: Seattle fight with Antônio Rogério Nogueira. Davis headlined that event against Nogueira,^[20] while Brilz is now expected to fight Vladimir Matyushenko at this event.^[21]

Brian Foster was expected to face Sean Pierson at this event, but Foster was forced out of the bout after a pre-fight MRI scan showed that Foster had a brain hemorrhage,^[22] and was replaced by Jake Ellenberger.^[23]

On February 27, 2011, it was revealed that two of the preliminary bouts would air on a Sportsnet card.^[24] These bouts aired at a new time of 8 pm ET / 5 pm PT, as the UFC announced on March 5, 2011, that UFC 129 would be the first PPV to air live at 9 pm ET / 6 pm PT.^[25]

UFC Primetime returned to promote the St-Pierre/Shields title fight.^[26]

On April 19, 2011, it was revealed that two of the preliminary bouts would air on a Facebook stream.^[27] However, on April 21, the UFC instead announced that all of the prelims (except the two fights airing on Spike) would be on the Facebook stream.^[28]

Results[edit]

Method

Round

Time

Notes

Georges St-Pierre (c)

def.

Jake Shields

Decision (unanimous) (48–47, 50–45, 48–47)

5

5:00

^[a]

José Aldo (c)

def.

Mark Hominick

Decision (unanimous) (48–45, 48–46, 49–46)

5

5:00

^[b]

Lyoto Machida

def.

Randy Couture

KO (crane kick)

2

1:05

Vladimir Matyushenko

def.

Jason Brilz

KO (punches)

1

0:20

Benson Henderson

def.

Mark Bocek

Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–27, 30–27)

3

5:00

Rory MacDonald

def.

Nate Diaz

Decision (unanimous) (30–26, 30–27, 30–26)

3

5:00

Jake Ellenberger

def.

Sean Pierson

KO (punches)

1

2:42

Claude Patrick

def.

Daniel Roberts

Decision (unanimous) (29–28, 29–28, 29–28)

3

5:00

Ivan Menjivar

def.

Charlie Valencia

TKO (elbow and punches)

1

1:30

^[c]

Jason MacDonald

def.

Ryan Jensen

Submission (triangle choke)

1

1:37

John Makdessi

def.

Kyle Watson

KO (spinning back fist)

3

1:27

^[d]

Pablo Garza

def.

Yves Jabouin

Submission (triangle choke)

1

4:31

^[e]

Bonus awards[edit]

Fighters were awarded $129,000 bonuses.^[29]

• Fight of the Night: José Aldo vs. Mark Hominick
• Knockout of the Night: Lyoto Machida
• Submission of the Night: Pablo Garza

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• UFC 129atIMDb

• Category:UFC

WikiProject:MMA

UFC multimedia