Author: By Thomas Gerbasi

Below are the official weigh-in results for Saturday night’s UFC 129 event. UFC 129, which is headlined by the welterweight championship bout between Georges St-Pierre and Jake Shields and the featherweight championship bout between Jose Aldo and Mark Hominick, airs live on Pay-Per-View from the Rogers Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada at a new time of 9 pm ET / 6 pm PT. Fans can also tune in to Spike TV at 8pm ET / 5pm PT to see live UFC 129 preliminary bouts, and those who “like” the UFC on Facebook can view the rest of the undercard bouts beginning at 6:00 pm ET / 3:00 pm PT.

Main Event – UFC Welterweight Championship
Georges St-Pierre (169.5) vs. Jake Shields (169)

Co-Main Event – UFC Featherweight Championship
Jose Aldo (145) vs. Mark Hominick (145)

PPV
Randy Couture (203.5) vs. Lyoto Machida (204.5)
Vladimir Matyushenko (205.5) vs. Jason Brilz (204.5)
Mark Bocek (155) vs. Ben Henderson (156*)

SPIKE TV PRELIMS
Nate Diaz (171) vs. Rory MacDonald (170.5)
Sean Pierson (170) vs. Jake Ellenberger (170)

FACEBOOK PRELIMS
Claude Patrick (169.5) vs. Daniel Roberts (170.5)
Ivan Menjivar (136) vs. Charlie Valencia (135.5)
Jason MacDonald (185) vs. Ryan Jensen (185)
John Makdessi (155.5) vs. Kyle Watson (155)
Yves Jabouin (146) vs. Pablo Garza (145)

* Henderson made 156 on his second attempt after initially weighing in at 156.5

The big 3-0. It’s an age many dread, the official signpost on the way to middle age. But Georges St-Pierre doesn’t seem too bothered by the milestone he will reach on May 19th, nearly three weeks after he defends his UFC welterweight title against Jake Shields in front of over 55,000 fans at Toronto’s Rogers Center this Saturday night.

Instead, he says with a knowing smile, “30 is only a number.”

Then he pauses.

“But it’s something.”

That’s for sure, and what that something will turn out to be in his 30th year will be determined greatly by what happens this weekend against Shields. In many ways, it’s his toughest challenge yet, one that goes far beyond pre-fight hype.

In the California jiu-jitsu ace, St-Pierre will be defending his crown against perhaps the best submission artist he has tackled, one who also has the wrestling ability to back up his ground game. Shields is also no stranger to top-level competition and championship fights, having experienced both over his years outside of the UFC, though as St-Pierre points out, in the UFC “Everything is multiplicated by ten.”

So the champion has prepared accordingly, almost doing as much hyping, if not more, of Shields as the soft-spoken challenger has done for himself, calling him “the toughest guy that I’ve fought.”

With a resume that includes BJ Penn, Matt Hughes, Jon Fitch, Sean Sherk, Matt Serra, Josh Koscheck, and Thiago Alves, that’s saying a lot. But it also begs the question, is St-Pierre saying these complimentary things about Shields because he believes them, or because he wants to convince himself?

It’s been no secret that St-Pierre has run through his opposition ever since regaining his title from Serra in April of 2008. The big number floating around GSP these days is 30, and it’s not for his impending birthday, but because that’s the number of consecutive rounds he’s won since losing a single stanza in his 2007 bout against Koscheck. It’s an amazing streak, one that doesn’t show any signs of ending if you go by his last three victories – shutouts of Alves, Dan Hardy, and Koscheck. It may start getting to the point where we’re keeping a tally of minutes lost, since he can’t find a way to lose rounds or fights.

And the way he’s winning each bout is almost as if he’s toying with his opponents. Hardy is a striker. Solution, take him down and keep him on the mat for 25 minutes. Well, fight fans complained about that strategy. So what does St-Pierre do in the Koscheck rematch last December? He turns into a Canadian Larry Holmes and wins another five rounder, this time behind a jackhammer jab.

With such Master Class level performances, can he even be challenged at this point? St-Pierre thinks he will be, or at least he’s saying he will.

“Nobody is perfect,” he said, most certainly referring to the only two blemishes on his 21-2 record, first round defeats to Serra and Hughes. “It’s gonna be a tough fight (against Shields). I have a big, big challenge on my shoulders April 30th.”

But what’s the secret to beating complacency? Future boxing Hall of Famer Bernard Hopkins once told me that when things were going too well, he would need someone to break a glass or slash his tires to shake things up and get his mind back to where it needed to be before a fight. St-Pierre, unlike Hopkins and one of his fighting favorites – Manny Pacquiao – doesn’t work well under such circumstances. Where they need chaos, he needs order, and as he approaches this Saturday’s title defense, he feels that he has the necessary order in his life.

“I used to not enjoy it (the fight game) as much,” he admits. “But as the fights have gone by, I made a lot of changes to my entourage and in my training, and now my smile is back on my face and I’m very excited for this fight.”

He’s excited enough that he has heard what fans and members of the media have said about him but has let it go, noting that “I don’t really listen to the critics.” But when asked about Shields’ ground game and how he plans on dealing with it, a champion’s fire is evidently still burning when he says, “The way I’m thinking is that Jake is gonna have to be careful that I don’t put him down on his back to get submitted and punched in the face. That’s how I see things. I’m gonna dictate the pace of the fight.”

It’s kind of sad that it can come to this, where a dominant champion has to defend his dominance while promising to do even more. But that’s the nature of the beast, especially in the world of combat sports. If St-Pierre was a baseball pitcher, his string of shutouts would be front page news. If he was a quarterback leading a football team to 28-0 wins every Sunday, no one would be able to stop talking about him. But in the fight game, excellence is sometimes overruled by excitement. Casual boxing fans will always love Arturo Gatti more than Floyd Mayweather, even though purists know what the real score is, and while Anderson Silva and Jon Jones are rightly getting praised for their recent spectacular victories, it’s unfair to leave GSP out of the conversation.

Luckily, St-Pierre appears to be impervious to such talk, and if he’s listening and taking it to heart, he’s not letting it show. Therefore, if he’s learned anything in his nearly 30 years on this planet, it’s that winning has a way of conquering all. How does he know? Well, he’s been on the other side, and he doesn’t like it one bit. So don’t expect him to slow down yet.

“I have to keep in mind that I can lose everything in the blink of an eye,” he said. “I can’t be on cruise control, I have to keep working hard.”

Seven seconds. Ahead on two of the three judges’ scorecards in his UFC 115 bout against Carlos Condit last June, that’s all Rory MacDonald needed to walk away with the biggest victory of his career against a former WEC champion.

But as referee Kevin Dornan pulled Condit off the soon to be 21 year old after a barrage of punishing blows, a stunning victory morphed into a crushing defeat. Seven seconds remained in the third and final round, and even an enormous amount of respect from his opponent, the media, and the fans, and a post-fight bonus check for participating in the Fight of the Night couldn’t soothe him.

Even today, nearly a year removed from the bout, he looks back and calls the aftermath “a dark time”, but the one thing he won’t do is make excuses or wish that the Dornan gave him those seven precious seconds.

“Absolutely not.” said MacDonald. “I don’t think that whatsoever. Carlos did a great job in the last round and he did a lot of damage, more damage than I did to him in the whole fight. So he deserves the win he got. I wasn’t put away, but the referee stepped in for my safety, which I appreciate. But I wasn’t gonna give up.”

That grit and determination may be the lasting image of the bout, even more than Condit’s come from behind victory. In 10 previous pro bouts, including a UFC debut win over Mike Guymon in January of 2010, MacDonald was barely tested as he lived up to all the hype he received as the top prospect to come out of Canada since current welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre. And if you wanted to call him a future Michael Jordan of MMA, few batted an eye at such a lofty proclamation.

But without the Detroit Pistons to teach them the unwritten rules of championship level basketball, perhaps Jordan and his Chicago Bulls don’t go on to win multiple NBA titles. Without Matt Hughes armbarring him in their first fight, maybe St-Pierre doesn’t go on to greatness at 170 pounds. And without Carlos Condit, Rory MacDonald may not have the intangibles he now possesses today.

“Everyone was right about saying that experience was gonna play a factor, because it really did,” said MacDonald. “He outsmarted me in the last round. I came out guns blazing, trying to be exciting, and I’m always gonna be that exciting fighter, but I learned how to be smarter now. Before, it was all action, like a race to the finish, and I made some crucial mistakes in the last round, and it was hard for me to deal with because it set me back in my career. I was really thinking that that was my time, but in the end, it’s a blessing in disguise. I was hurt by it at first, but I’m coming back much stronger and much smarter.”

And more dangerous. Now MacDonald knows that he can push past fatigue against a world-class opponent and still battle on with the heart every fighter hopes he has, but doesn’t know if he possesses until it’s tested. And though only 21, his reaction to the loss wasn’t one of ‘okay, it was just a bad day at the office.’ It hit him harder than anything Condit threw at him, proving once again that in his chest beats the heart of a fighter.

“I took a little bit of time away because it was a hard loss for me, but I’m okay now, I’ve come a long way since then, I had a knee surgery, so I’ve had a lot of time to work on my game with my new team out here in Montreal, so I’m very excited to come back.”

This Saturday night, MacDonald returns to the Octagon to face fellow rising star Nate Diaz on the UFC 129 card in Toronto’s Rogers Centre. It’s a bout that has Fight of the Night written all over it, and one that is pivotal for both fighters since they’re looking to rebound from recent defeats. So to get ready, the British Columbia native made the trek to Quebec to train with the gang at the Tristar Gym. To hang with that group, which includes fellow 129 participants GSP, Ivan Menjivar, Sean Pierson, John Makdessi, and Yves Jabouin, you have to be on top of your game at all time, and being around some of the accomplished veterans that call the gym home has done wonders for MacDonald’s game in and out of the Octagon.

“I talk with the more experienced guys a lot to help me with decisions I have to make in my career,” he said. “They give me advice as to what I need to look out for, what to look forward to, how to handle certain situations and advice to handle myself in the ring too. It’s an extra bonus, not just to be able to train with these guys, but the things they can teach me outside.”

Diaz has the same kind of squad behind him back home in California, but while the two share similarities when it comes to youth, talent, and quality teammates, the kid from Stockton is never afraid to up the ante when it comes to gamesmanship both before and during a fight. But the quiet MacDonald insists that he isn’t going to play along.

“I don’t really see myself getting very hot-headed about it,” he said. “This is what we do for a living, and it makes no difference to me if he says something to me before or if he doesn’t. There’s no emotion at all for me. Some people need emotion to hurt other people and get themselves in the right frame of mind for the fight, but if he does, it’s all on his own behalf. I’m not gonna have anything to do with that.”

That poker-faced approach is going to play into MacDonald’s performance in the Octagon as well, as he admits that his homecoming fight in British Columbia against Condit overwhelmed him a bit in terms of bringing that emotion of being home into the fight.

“I was real psyched up and emotional (against Condit), but it’s not gonna play into the fight this time,” he said. “I’ll have one thing in mind the whole time, and that’s looking across the cage and fighting Nate Diaz, and nothing else.”

Diaz will have the same mindset, just another reason why this fight is a must-see. And if you need any more proof, just rewind a bit to April 9th and watch Nate’s brother Nick do his thing in defending his Strikeforce welterweight title against Paul Daley. It was vintage Diaz style fighting, and Nate is a virtual clone of his older sibling when it comes to attitude, resilience, and well-rounded skills. Not surprisingly, MacDonald was watching, and he’s ready.

“The Diaz brothers are very tough, durable, and composed,” he said. “They might not look physically threatening, but they’re very smart and very relaxed. They have some weapons that a lot of people don’t have, and I know Nate is a very unorthodox fighter and he’s very original with his style so I have to be ready for that, and I take him very, very seriously.”

After Charles Rader’s loss to Ramsey Nijem last week, coach Brock Lesnar isn’t happy with his team or their efforts in the Octagon. Len Bentley takes exception to such comments and he leaves the locker room.

“I’m not gonna sit there and get punked out,” said Bentley, who dropped a hard-fought bout to Ryan McGillivray on episode three. “I fought my heart out.”

Bentley eventually returns, and Lesnar lets his squad know that he wants somebody to “wow” him.

“Take it,” he tells the three fighters (Tony Ferguson, Clay Harvison, Chuck O’Neil) left to compete. “When you step into the Octagon, it’s kill or be killed.”

Team dos Santos retains control of the fight picks, and this week it will be Mick Bowman squaring off against Team Lesnar’s Clay Harvison.

In the gym, two recurring themes pop up again, as dos Santos and his assistant coach Lew Polley butt heads on the training of the team, and Team Lesnar’s Chris Cope continues to study his squadmates, which doesn’t sit too well with them since they believe he’s giving info to the other team.

“I know a shady person when I see one,” said Harvison. “I haven’t trusted him since the get go, and I still don’t trust him.”

“I’m not a double agent and I don’t work with Team dos Santos,” said Cope. “I don’t tell them about matchups or anything of that nature.”

The team meets later and apparently settle matters, but Harvison and some of the rest are still suspicious, and Cope accuses Ferguson of starting all the ‘double agent’ talk. Ferguson isn’t too happy and things get heated.

“On the street I would have kicked his ass,” said Ferguson.

It turns out that Bowman was the one who wrote double agent in the sand box in the house, not expecting that his joke was going to start so much drama.

Thankfully, the action soon shifts to the Octagon, and Harvison comes out throwing at Bowman, who is immediately put on the defensive. After settling in, Bowman looks for a takedown but comes up empty. When the action resumes on the feet, Harvison remains the aggressor, and he begins scoring more frequently en route to a solid first round performance.

In the second, the round is closer, but it’s still Harvison holding the edge as he earns a unanimous decision victory.

“It was a much needed win,” said Lesnar. “I was wowed.”

After the bout, Harvison gets some bad news when he removes his glove though, as the pinky on his left hand is broken.

“He’s out,” said UFC President Dana White. “The bone is sticking out of his skin.”

Team dos Santos now leads the competition 3-2. Here’s how the teams look:

Team Lesnar
Len Bentley – Eliminated on episode three by Ryan McGillivray
Charles Rader – Eliminated on episode four by Ramsey Nijem
Tony Ferguson
Clay Harvison 1-0
Chuck O’Neil
Chris Cope 1-0
Nordin Asrih – Eliminated on episode one by Shamar Bailey

Team dos Santos
Shamar Bailey 1-0
Ryan McGillivray 1-0
Javier Torres – Eliminated on episode two by Chris Cope
Ramsey Nijem 1-0
Zachary Davis
Mick Bowman – Eliminated on episode five by Clay Harvison
Justin Edwards

For weekly recaps of The Ultimate Fighter, as well as fighter profiles, stay tuned to UFC.com.

Welterweight contender Diego Sanchez has never been shy in expressing his desire for a fight with UFC Hall of Famer Matt Hughes. This fall, Sanchez will get his wish, as he faces the legendary two-time welterweight champ on a date and at a venue to be announced.

“A matchup between two welterweight fan favorites has been verbally agreed to as Diego “The Dream” Sanchez will face former UFC welterweight champion and Hall of Famer Matt Hughes,” said UFC President Dana White. “Sanchez is coming off of a Fight of Night winning performance against Martin Kampmann and Hughes is looking to add another great victory to his incredible UFC career.”

If you ever get to chatting with Ivan Menjivar about the fight game, you won’t hear him talking about world titles, television appearances, or action figures bearing his likeness. Instead, if he had one mixed martial arts wish, the ten year vet has a simple request.

“You know what I would like to see again,” he said, “where a guy fights three times in the same night. If somebody asks me if I would like to do it, I would say yes.”

He laughs, knowing as the words come out of his mouth that it’s practically an impossibility these days, but still getting excited at the thought of revisiting the one night tournaments that used to be commonplace in the early days of the UFC.

“You know your first opponent,” he speculates. “If you win, you have to recover and prepare for the second opponent, and after the third opponent in the finals, that’s crazy. There, you can say this guy is the fighter of the night. There you can see a real martial artist.”

That’s an old school mentality in its purest form, and you don’t get more old school than the 28 year old Menjivar, a bantamweight whose dance card over the last decade has included featherweights like Urijah Faber, lightweights like Matt Serra, Caol Uno, Joe Lauzon, and Bart Palaszewski, and a pretty fair welterweight named Georges St-Pierre.

The fact alone that Menjivar, 4-0 at the time, fought the debuting St-Pierre in 2002 is mind boggling, but the native of La Paz, El Salvador downplays any significance of his first round TKO defeat (a controversial one due to a poor referee stoppage) beyond the fact that the two eventually became friends and training partners after the bout.

“Georges was a beginner at that time, and so was I, so it was normal,” said Menjivar. “We were living in the same city, so it was normal for us to fight together. After that fight, we started training together and got close and became good friends. I’m happy for him – he’s now a superstar and so popular, and that’s good.”

Menjivar’s journey was quite different. Fighting naturally bigger opponents on a regular basis, he never shied away from a challenge, even with the odds stacked against him. That was the price you paid at that point, with the WEC not yet reaching the powerhouse level it eventually got to, and the UFC then cutting things off at 155 pounds. Menjivar fought once in the Octagon, losing a three round decision to eventual welterweight champion Matt Serra at UFC 48 in June of 2004, but that was it. And while wins over Lauzon and Hideo Tokoro kept his name in front of fight fans, following back-to-back losses against Uno and Palasewski in 2006, he walked away, ready to heal his injuries and consider the next chapter of his life. He has no regrets for his ‘anyone, anywhere’ attitude toward the sport, but he does realize that things are different now.

“First of all, I’m a martial artist so I do this for me,” he explains. “Martial artists are made to defend ourselves and prove that we have good technique. Second, there was the challenge – the guys are a little bit bigger, so I took a chance and said let’s do it. Third now, my vision’s changed a little bit because the sport has grown up so much. It’s not the same. In the beginning, ten years ago, everybody can fight everybody, but now we see the difference – we’re professionals and we have to study each other before we say yes to a fight. I want to fight anybody, but we’re professionals now, just like Formula 1 drivers. You have to study the car and you have to study the driver before you go there. It’s the same for us and that’s what I do now.”

By 2010, the 28 year old Montreal resident decided to take another shot at the fight game, and after he scored a first round submission win over Aaron Miller in June of last year, he got the call to the WEC, where he lost an exciting and close decision to Brad Pickett last December. It was a new Ivan Menjivar in a new fighting world. So does he ever miss the old days?

“(Back then) The guys were more prepared for a war,” he said. “Today, we’re smarter and more professional and we prepare for a fight. But guys want to win and not take too many chances.”

Playing it safe is something Menjivar will never be accused of, and it’s the same for his opponent this Saturday at UFC 129, fellow veteran Charlie Valencia. For diehard fight fans, this could very well be a bout that steals the show, and as far as Menjivar is concerned that’s the goal each and every time out.

“I took a break for three years, and in that three years the sport grew up so fast,” he said. “For me, I just need to prove who I am in the sport. We have to make the people happy and I need to prove myself so that way they can remember me, and that’s my goal for this fight. The sport is like my second passion. It’s my family first, and after that it’s the sport. After my injury, I think to myself, each fight, I give one hundred percent because this may be my last fight.”

So whether he’s fighting in front of 500 people or 55,000, like he will on Saturday, it’s all the same; he’s going to fight with everything he has in search of victory.

“I don’t think about the people,” said Menjivar. “I’ll be honest, I appreciate that they will be there and I’m happy to fight with all those people around me. But at that moment, as an athlete, I’m only thinking about the fight. After the fight, if I say hello to everybody and can give a hug to everybody in the place, I’m happy with that.”

A hug for everyone in Rogers Centre? That could take a while, but that’s just fine with Ivan Menjivar.