It was difficult, but the Canadian Georges St Pierre retained the welterweight belt against a brave John hendricks. In a disputed split decision from the judges, GSP scored his ninth title defense. The fight was the main attraction of UFC 167, an event that celebrated Ultimate's 20th anniversary and was held on Saturday night (16), in Las Vegas, in the United States.
The fight
The UFC couldn't have received a better gift on its 20th anniversary. The duel between GSP and Hendricks was electrifying and full of alternations. The champion started better, finding the distance, landing good shots and getting a takedown. However, the North American quickly managed to get up and maintain the exchange in striking terms. In the final half of the first round, the challenger balanced the contest and landed the best shots.
From the second round onwards, Hendricks began to change the story of the duel. Johny found the distance and was close to knocking out the champion, but he preferred to attack the legs and put St. Pierre on his back on the ground.
In the third part, the duel remained balanced in terms of striking, but Hendricks took down the champion once again and ended the part on top. History repeated itself in the fourth round and the challenger was close to taking the belt from the Canadian.
But willing to remain champion, St. Pierre came back with everything in the fifth round. He landed two good short blows, clinched and took Johny down. The American quickly got up, but he was unable to recover in the final.
When the gong sounded, John hendricks came out celebrating and St. Pierre was carried on his coach's shoulders. On the judges' sheets, victory for Georges St Pierre in the split decision (48×47, 47×48, 48×47).
Career stop
At the end of his ninth title defense, Georges St Pierre surprised everyone and revealed that he is stopping his MMA career. “I have a lot of things going on in my life right now. I need to hang up my gloves, I have to go away and stop for a while”, said GSP, who did not guarantee that his retirement will be permanent.
Rashad knocks out Sonnen
Rashad evans left the friendship with Chael Sonnen outside the octagon. In the second most important fight of the night, the former light heavyweight champion took no notice of the controversial North American and knocked out his benchmate on UFC Tonight, a program on the FOX Sports channel in the United States, in the first round.
As soon as the duel started, Sonnen closed the distance to look for the takedown. But with an excellent wrestling game, Rashad avoided being taken down and put Chael against the bars. With good technique in the takedown game, the athletes exchanged positions in the clinch and Evans was the one who came out on top. The former light heavyweight champion managed to put his rival on his back and paved the way for victory.
On top, Rashad started a sequence of punches and Chael ended up turning on his back. The punishment continued and as Sonnen was unable to defend himself, the referee ended up declaring a technical knockout.
Check out the complete UFC 167 results below:
main card
Georges St-Pierre defeated John hendricks in the judges' split decision.
Rashad evans derrotou Chael Sonnen by technical knockout in R1;
Robbie Lawler defeated Rory MacDoonald via split decision;
Tyron woodley derrotou Josh koscheck by knockout in R1;
Ali Bagautinov defeated Tim Elliott in the unanimous decision of the judges;
Preliminary Card
Donald Cerrone finished Evan dunham with a triangle on R2;
Thales leites defeated Ed Herman via unanimous decision;
Rick Story defeated Brian Ebersole via unanimous decision;
Erik Perez defeated Edwin Figueroa via unanimous decision;
Jason High defeated Anthony Lapsley via unanimous decision;
Sergio Pettis defeated Will Campuzano via unanimous decision;
Gian Villante defeated Cody Donovan via TKO in R2;
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