The Rogers Centre in downtown Toronto will play host to more than 55,000 MMA fans on April 30, 2011. While UFC 129 is packed with high-level action, including fights between Randy Couture and Lyoto Machida and Jose Aldo and Mark Hominick, the attention of many fans is focused on a championship bout between welterweight kingpin and Canadian fan-favorite Georges "Rush" St. Pierre, and challenger Jake Shields.
Shields will come into this fight as a big underdog according to sports wagering sites, and with good reason. Despite his considerable grappling prowess and legitimate wrestling skills, his standup is very stiff and rudimentary. But that isn't stopping the UFC hype machine and many MMA fans from painting Shields as a serious threat.
That said, most savvy MMA fans believe Shields will have a great deal of trouble trying to take the champion down, and be absolutely dominated in the stand-up department. While it would technically be possible for Shields to get a submission here, he could barely control Martin Kampmann, and the disparity in wrestling skills between Kampmann and St. Pierre is stark.
Online sports betting players know that after GSP defeats Shields, the question of whether or not a super fight with Anderson Silva is in the future needs to be answered. GSP's legacy is secure, but a fight with Anderson Silva would be monumental for the UFC, and indeed, the sport. Still, with talk of Silva moving up to light heavyweight, the bout is far from a sure-thing.
