The following is an article from TSN.ca:
Canada rules UFC welterweight ranks
Canadian Press
11/19/2006 12:32:36 PM
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (CP) – Georges St. Pierre said he would do his talking in the ring with his first. And he talked up a storm Saturday night.
The 25-year-old mixed martial arts fighter from Montreal dethroned champion Matt Hughes in dominant fashion to take the UFC 170-pound title before 15,350 at Arco Arena in the California capital.
It was a complete victory. The sleek, stylish and athletic St. Pierre humbled a veteran fighter dubbed “the most dominant welterweight champion of all time” by UFC president Dana White.
Both men had expected the fight to go the full five rounds but Hughes was simply unable to cope with the Canadian, who was faster, smarter and better on the night.
St. Pierre crumpled Hughes late in the first round with a flying right – dubbed a Superman punch in the sport – followed by a left. In the second round, St. Pierre faked one of the low inside leg kicks that had worked so well in the opening five minutes. When Hughes bit, St. Pierre launched a high kick that connected to the head like a wrecking ball. Hughes toppled and St. Pierre pounced, prompting referee (Big) John McCarthy to step in at 1:25 of the round and stop the 33-year-old Hughes from eating any more elbows and punches.
Hughes literally didn't know what hit him. He thought a punch had put him down in the second round.
St. Pierre said later he know he had Hughes when the champion started smiling as the blows mounted.
“When a guy smiles, it's because he's hurt,” St. Pierre said. “The more you smile, the more you are hurt.”
Hughes, meanwhile, got to St. Pierre just once – with a right in the first round. “I had a little flash,” the Canadian said.
After the fight, St. Pierre fell to the canvas in disbelief and was mobbed by his handlers. When the mayhem subsided and his mother entered the ring, he gave her the championship belt and raised her on his shoulders.
St. Pierre improved to 13-1 in avenging his 2004 loss to Hughes and joining Carlos Newton as the only Canadian to hold a UFC title. Hughes, who had won 19 of his last 20 fights coming in, fell to 42-5.
St. Pierre said he had given Hughes – his idol – too much respect in their first fight. On Saturday, he was all business in turfing a champion who had shown cracks in his aura of invincibility in his last fight against B.J. Penn – a bout where he lost the first two rounds before rallying for the win.
St. Pierre has all the tools to dominate the 170-pound division. And with his good looks, humble ways and megawatt smile, he could also become an ambassador for a sport still looking to win people over despite leaving its bloodsport origins far behind.
In fact, Canada now has a champion in a sport that is not permitted in Ontario and seveal other provinces. Pro mixed martial arts north of the border is restricted to Alberta, B.C., Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Quebec for the most part with Quebec and Alberta the hub.
St. Pierre, who calls MMA beautiful and misunderstood, said he hopes to speak to officials in such provinces to have them open up the sport, which in states like California and Nevada is regulated by the same athletic commissions that oversee boxing.
While St. Pierre's first title defence will be Feb. 3 – the day before the Super Bowl – against Matt Serra in Las Vegas, a rematch with Hughes will likely follow in Montreal.
“I'm in,” White said of Hughes-St. Pierre 3 in Montreal.
According to his manager, the Montrealer made US$80,000 for the win – $40,000 plus a $40,000 win bonus. He has one more fight on his current UFC deal and the UFC will be no doubt looking to extend that, with the St. Pierre camp calling for a hefty pay raise.
There is big money – for some – in the sport. UFC officials expected to surpass the one-million mark in pay-per-view buys in North America for their next card when light-heavyweight champion Chuck (The Iceman) Liddell faces off against Tito Ortiz on Dec. 30 in Las Vegas. At C$40 a shot, that's $40 million in revenue.
It was easy to spot the winner Saturday. St. Pierre was unmarked and looked stylish in suit and tie at the post-fight news conference. A battered, sweaty Hughes wore his ring gear, his face showing signs of St. Pierre's handiwork.
Hughes was gracious in defeat, but dismissed talk of retirement.
“Everybody has good days and bad days, Georges is a heck of a fighter, there's no doubt about it. Tonight he was better than I was. Now does that mean tomorrow he will be? No it doesn't … Everybody's got their day.”
Some won't be sad to see Hughes taken down a notch, tiring of the former champion's endless talk and suggesting he had become too big for his country britches.
Others will choose to remember the relentless, ruthless way he mowed down opponents like the corn on his family farm in Hillsboro, Ill. _ he was 11-1 in world championship fights prior to Saturday night and had avenged the lone loss with the September win over Penn.
Saturday's fight represented a changing of the guard.
Hughes is a former star wrestler who has worked to polish his other skills. St. Pierre represents a new breed of fighter, well-rounded in striking, grappling and jiu-jitsu.
“He's the future of the sport, there's no doubt about it,” Hughes acknowledged
St. Pierre used his speed and reach to frustrate Hughes. And the Canadian was able to resist Hughes' attempts to take him down to the canvas, where he could punish him with his wrestling skills.
An accidental kick to the groin slowed down Hughes in the first round. Another near the same region also took its toll, although Hughes was given time to regroup both times.
Hughes suggested later that perhaps he had grown too comfortable with his success, saying he had abandoned game plans in recent fights because he felt confident he could find a way to win.
“I've got some things to think about,” he acknowledged.
Hughes, who loves to play mind games, may also want to put a lid on his lip.
He looked churlish in jabbing away at the polite St. Pierre when the two crossed paths as coaches on The Ultimate Fighter reality TV show. And before this fight, he made disparaging remarks about Canada, suggesting Canadians were not fighters.
The classy St. Pierre refused to join the war of words.
“I don't do any trash-talking,” he added. “I do my talking in the Octagon with my fists.”
And in a hint of things to come, he said: “When you talk too much, if you lose, you look stupid.”
In the co-main event, heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia defeated Jeff (The Snowman) Monson via a unanimous if uninspiring decision that drew boos from the crowd.
The fight matched the six-foot-eight, 262-pound champion against the five-foot-nine, 240-pound challenger – a towering striker against a fireplug grappler with serious jiu-jitsu skills.
The difference in size and styles did not make for a good fight, other than the third round when Monson finally got the big man to the ground. In the fifth and final round, referee McCarthy even stopped the bout to urge both fighters to get busy.
Sylvia said he was happy with his ground game, but disappointed he had not been able to knock out the game Monson, who left the ring with a bloody, swollen face. Despite the boos, Sylvia seemed to take some solace from the fact “he's in hospital and I'm standing here with not a mark on me.”
Sylvia raised his record to 25-2 while Monson slipped to 24-6 and saw his 16-bout win streak stopped.
In other action Saturday, rising heavyweight star Brandon (The Truth) Vera demolished Frank Mir, using knees and punches to carve open the face of the former heavyweight champion before the referee stopped the contest at 1:09 of the first round.
The win raised Vera's record to 8-0-0 and moved him to the front of the line of heavyweight contenders. Mir's future is cloudy after losing two of three fights in his comeback from a bad motorcycle accident.
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