Torch passed between two greats

LAS VEGAS – The Georges St. Pierre-Matt Hughes rivalry tells the story of the evolution of the sport of mixed martial arts, with St. Pierre winning match three of the series Saturday night basically the exact same way he lost match one.

St. Pierre is the epitome of the MMA superstar of the future, someone who boxes with top level boxers, wrestles with Olympic wrestlers, and trains jiu-jitsu and all-around MMA with a group of the top athletes in the sport.

Hughes was the epitome of the original group of MMA champions, people who were stars in a singular sport, in his case wrestling, that used their original sport to dominate all opponents.

Youth was served in the third meeting of the two people generally considered the best welterweights in the world. The 26-year-old St. Pierre won UFC's interim championship, set up when champion Matt Serra went down with a back injury on Thanksgiving week, in the main event of UFC 79 before a sellout 11,075 fans at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas.

Hughes, 34, verbally submitted to an armbar at 4:54 of the second round in the main event of what was the second-highest grossing live gate in North American MMA history, taking in $4.9 million.

The rivalry started a few years ago when St. Pierre was 23, and Hughes seemed unbeatable. The Montreal-area native went into the match mentally beaten, facing his personal idol, and when the match started, felt he didn't deserve to be in the match. But he got the first takedown, fought evenly for a round, until trying a poorly executed Kimura. Hughes did a great reversal into an armbar, with St. Pierre tapping with three-tenths of a second left in the first round.

The second meeting, on Nov. 18, 2006, in Sacramento, Calif., was in hindsight the passing of the torch. Hughes couldn't take St. Pierre down, and couldn't match him standing, losing to a ground-and-pound assault following a head kick in round two.

In the rubber match, St. Pierre fought Hughes at his strength – wrestling – and was completely dominating. St. Pierre took the two-time NCAA All-American down every time he tried and nearly had an armbar at the end of the first round, but time ran out. In the second round, the clock looked to be on Hughes' side as seconds were ticking off. When St. Pierre clamped the armbar tight, Hughes had little choice but to scream his submission.

St. Pierre was handed the interim welterweight title. He then handed the belt off to a cornerman, saying that the real champion was Serra, who defeated him April 7 in Houston. The plan, provided Serra recovers from two herniated discs in time, is for Serra and St. Pierre to unify the belts in UFC's first event ever in Canada, scheduled for April 19 in Montreal at the Bell Centre.

"I'm not the type of person who makes excuses," said St. Pierre regarding his loss to Serra. "Next time we fight, they'll know why it (the loss) was the best thing that ever happened to me."

Hughes (43-6) also offered no excuses, saying he was ready both physically and mentally, but simply couldn't get anything going. It had to be even more frustrating because Hughes' strategy was obvious: to take the fight to the ground. But with the entire fight on the ground, St. Pierre dominated positioning and every aspect of the game.

"I came in shape with a good game plan and I never got rolling," said Hughes, who was questioning his future after the fight. "I've got to think about what I want to do, what my family wants me to do. This sport was a hobby, not a career. It's been so much fun. I get to go to the gym twice a day and work with a great bunch of guys."

Hughes, whose left eye was swollen almost completely shut when it was over, credited St. Pierre's overall athleticism as the difference.

If anything, St. Pierre's win came across as a statement that has to put a question mark into every welterweight contender, because he completely dominated a powerhouse wrestler in wrestling.

St. Pierre was training for the Canadian Olympic trials in December when he found out on Thanksgiving weekend that Serra was injured and pulled out of the fight. He immediately contacted UFC asking for the match, even though he had been guaranteed a title shot in April, most likely in Montreal.

"My job is MMA," he said. "Being the UFC world champion is more important to me than going to the Olympics."

The crowd was highly vocal, even after being emotionally spent in the previous Wanderlei Silva vs. Chuck Liddell match. The crowd alternated chants of "GSP" and "USA," showing each had a large contingent of fans. St. Pierre connected with a few punches and low kicks, but the first significant move was a takedown by St. Pierre 2:00 into the fight. St. Pierre scored with punches from the top and a unique move when Hughes' head would elevate. St. Pierre used his chest on Hughes' head to drive the head on the mat four times. After some elbows he went for an armbar just as time was running out.

The second round was more of the same. St. Pierre scored a takedown to start the round. When Hughes turned his back, St. Pierre went for a choke, but Hughes maneuvered out of trouble. As time was running down, he got another takedown and went for a Kimura like in their first meeting. But this time, it was St. Pierre who turned the move into an armbar and Hughes submitted six seconds before the round was to end.