GSP vs. Shields Official for UFC 129

Friday, January 7, 2011

By FCF Staff

The Ultimate Fighting Championship’s first event in Toronto will feature one of Canada’s biggest stars, as the promotion has confirmed that, as expected, welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre will take on renowned challenger Jake Shields at the April 30th event. UFC 129 will be hosted by the city’s Roger Centre, which has a seating capacity of 69,000, and is expected to break North American gate and attendance records for mixed-martial-arts. 

The main event bout for UFC 129 was announced on the online UFC Ultimate Insider program.

St. Pierre (21-2) last defended his title on December 11th, when he outscored long time rival Josh Koscheck for the unanimous decision win. GSP’s only other bout in 2010 took place in March, when he worked his way to another UD win over challenger Dan Hardy.

The 29 year-old-champion has won eight straight bouts.

Shields (26-4-1) hasn’t fought since UFC 121 on October 23rd, when the former Strikeforce middleweight champ narrowly defeated Martin Kampmann by split decision. Shields also competed in April and scored an impressive unanimous decision win over former Pride champion Dan Henderson.

The soon to be 32 year-old-fighter has won 15 fights in a row and hasn’t lost since 2004.

No other bouts for the UFC 129 card have been officially announced.