Georges St Pierre is back! After being out of the octagon for almost 19 months due to a serious knee injury, the Canadian demonstrated that he did not feel the lack of rhythm and, despite the scare in the third round, dominated Carlos Condit in the main fight of UFC 154, an event held this Saturday, in Montreal, Canada. With the result, GSP unified the welterweight belt and the category once again has just one champion.
READ: Diabate shines and Rodrigo Damm loses on the preliminary card
The UFC 154 fight program also featured two Brazilians in action. On the preliminary card, Rodrigo Damm lost to Antonio Pato Carvalho while on the main card Rafael dos Anjos dominated Mark Bocek and won by unanimous decision from the judges.
In a great comeback, St. Pierre is scared, but dominates Condit
The duel between St. Pierre, champion of the category, and Carlos Condit, owner of the interim belt, began studiedly, with the two athletes measuring the distance to unleash blows in their striking. But GSP didn't need long to feel comfortable in the octagon, even after the long period away and to improve his game.
Halfway through the first round, the Canadian took down the North American and showed a lot of aggression on top, evolving in positions and delivering strong blows from above. In turn, Condit tried to attack with some submissions and even applied some elbows from below. History repeated itself in the next part, with the champion dominating.
But GSP still had to go through a big scare in the duel. In the third round, Condit had his best moment in the fight. After applying a combination of punches that stopped in GSP's guard, the American released a powerful kick that hit the champion's head and he fell to the ground. Carlos threw several punches and elbows on top, but as soon as he had an opportunity, St. Pierre managed to reverse the position and stay on top for the second half of the round.
After the scare in the third round, GSP returned cautiously for the fourth round and soon took down his opponent. On top, the champion controlled the dispute with a few blows and evolving in positions. History repeated itself in the last part and Georges St Pierre unified the UFC welterweight belt.
Hendricks takes down Kampmann and asks for the belt
the american John hendricks he needed just 46 seconds to show why he deserves to be the next challenger for the welterweight belt. Right at the beginning of the fight against Martin Kampmann, he went on the attack and, after feinting with a right jab, landed a powerful left cross that took the Dane to the ground.
“It was too much. He's a tough guy, I already knew he had a chance of beating me. But I had to get here and prove that I deserve the opportunity to compete for the title. Please, I want this chance,” Hendricks said after the duel.
Rafael silences the crowd and beats Bocek
With the right to show, the Brazilian Rafael dos Anjos He imposed his game against Canadian Mark Bocek and silenced the Montreal fans in the second fight on the main card of UFC 154. The Brazilian, who comes from jiu-jitsu, showed that the season he spent in Singapore improved his striking.
With good movement, Rafael avoided his opponent's takedowns and unleashed his arsenal of blows with powerful punches and, whenever he had the opportunity, he unleashed dangerous knees.
In the second round, the Brazilian opened up his game even more in his striking and even took down his rival, from where he worked with some punches from above and almost submitted him with a Kimura, which was well defended by Bocek.
With an advantage in the first two stages, the Rio athlete put on a show in the last round. Dos Anjos even let his guard down, applying round kicks and powerful uppers, which punished Mark, who had no power to react. At the end of the dispute, a peaceful victory for Rafael dos Anjos in the unanimous decision of the judges (30×27, 30×27, 30×27).
With the triumph, Rafael reached a streak of three UFC victories, as he beat Anthony Njokuani and Iran Kamal Shalorus in his last fights for the organization.
Check out the UFC 154 results below:
Main Card
Georges St-Pierre defeated Carlos Condit in the unanimous decision of the judges;
John hendricks defeated Martin Kampmann by knockout in R1;
Francis Carmont defeated Tom Lawlor via split decision;
Rafael dos Anjos defeated Mark Bocek via unanimous decision;
Pablo Garza defeated Mark hominick in the unanimous decision of the judges;
Preliminary Card
Patrick Coté defeated Alessio Sakara by disqualification.
Cyrille Diabaté submitted Chad Griggs with a rear naked choke in R1;
John makdessi derrotou Sam stout in the judges' split decision
Antonio Carvalho defeated Rodrigo Damm in the judges' split decision;
Matthew Riddle defeated John Maguire via unanimous decision;
Ivan Menjivar submitted Azamat Gashimov with an armbar at 2 minutes and 44 seconds of R1;
Darren Elkins defeated Steven Siler via unanimous decision.
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