Toronto will host a title fight with its first UFC event.As expected UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre (21-2 MMA, 15-2 UFC) defends his title against Jake Shields (26-4-1 MMA, 1-0 UFC) at the event.
UFC president Dana White confirmed the long-rumored bout with MMAjunkie.com over the weekend, and officials today formally announced the fight during this week's "UFC Ultimate Insider" online show.
"UFC 129: St-Pierre vs. Shields" is slated for April 30 at the 69,000-seat Rogers Centre in Toronto. The night's main card airs on pay-per-view, and a UFC Fan Expo event coincides with the show.
UFC 129 is expected to break attendance and gate records for the UFC and North American MMA. Officials haven't decided on an official seating capacity, but 40,000 isn't outside the realm of possibility.
Having St-Piere, a French-Canadian, on the card certainly will help. The champ recently posted his fifth consecutive title defense with a lopsided unanimous-decision win over Josh Koscheck at UFC 124. The fighter, who many consider the world's top-ranked pound-for-pound competitor, essentially would clean out the welterweight division with a win over Shields. It'd also mark his ninth straight win and 15th victory in his past 16 fights.
A victory over Shields, a former EliteXC welterweight champion and Strikeforce middleweight titleholder, could prompt St-Pierre to move to middleweight.
Shields recently made his UFC debut and edged Martin Kampmann via split decision at UFC 121. The Cesar Gracie product owns a staggering 15-fight win streak with wins over notables such as Dan Henderson, Jason "Mayhem" Miller, Robbie Lawler, Paul Daley, Nick Thompson, Mike Pyle, Carlos Condit and Yushin Okami.
He looks to become just the seventh different welterweight champion in UFC history.
The latest UFC 129 card now includes:
- Champ Georges St-Pierre vs. Jake Shields (for welterweight title)
- Randy Couture vs. Lyoto Machida*
- Mark Bocek vs. Ben Henderson*
- Pablo Garza vs. Yves Jabouin*
For more on UFC 129, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of MMAjunkie.com.
Source: http://mmajunkie.com
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