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LAS VEGAS — Canadian Georges St. Pierre dominated Matt Hughes to win their rubber match and the UFC interim welterweight title Saturday night at UFC 79: Nemesis.
The 26-year-old from Montrealer won in style, ending the bout with a slick move, taking Hughes down with a nifty judo throw and then slapping on an armbar. Hughes (43-6) submitted verbally at 4:54 of the second round.
St. Pierre (15-2) will now meet Matt Serra to decide the 170-pound title for good in 2008. If Serra recovers from a back injury, the fight could take place April 19 in Montreal in the UFC's debut north of the border.
In the co-main event, Chuck (The Iceman) Liddell outslugged Wanderlei (The Axe Murderer) Silva to win their light-heavyweight showdown by unanimous decision.
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It was a no-holds-barred, not-for-the-weak-of-heart bloody battle and it did not disappoint. Two judges scored it 30-27 for Liddell while the third had it 29-28.
Hughes submitted St. Pierre at UFC 50 in October 2004 to win the vacant title. St. Pierre took it away from him in November 2006 at UFC 65, only to lose to Serra in a shocking upset in his first title defence at UFC 69 in April.
St. Pierre dominated the first round this time, stuffing a Hughes takedown attempt and then taking Hughes down two minutes in. The Canadian spent the rest of the round on top, taking the mount position as the round ended. Hughes came out fighting southpaw, but it did not help.
There was another St. Pierre takedown to open the second as the Canadian continued to beat Hughes at his own wrestling game.
"No excuses here, I came in 120 per cent for this fight ... Georges was just a better fighter," Hughes said, adding he would have to think about his fighting future given the loss.
St. Pierre, who sported the fleur-de-lis on his blue trunks, matching the tattoo on his calf, celebrated by breakdancing in the middle of the ring.
Liddell (21-5) and Silva (31-8-1) came into the cage having each lost their last two fights. But after six years of waiting to see the former UFC and Pride champions go at it, the soldout crowd at the Mandalay Bay Events Center was still hungry for the fight.
The fight started slowly but Liddell made contact at the two-minute mark, backing Silva into the cage with a flurry of punches that took a toll. Later in the round, Liddell started connecting again but this time caught some counter-punches in return from the shorter, stockier Brazilian.
Silva was bleeding from his ear in a second round that was more of the same. Liddell fell, but it was a slip and he quickly got up. But a punch seemed to sent him down soon after, although once again he got up without delay. Silva was cut in the round and almost went down when he absorbed a huge right late in the round.
Liddell changed things up by taking Silva down to open the third round. He also pulled out a spinning back fist before tagging Silva midway through the round and punishing him with one blow after another on the fence. Somehow a battered Silva survived.
The Iceman took Silva down as the fight ended, then raised his arms in victory.
Liddell earned a purse of US$500,000 while Silva picked up $150,000, according to the Nevada State Athletic Commission. Those figures do not take into account any contract bonuses from the UFC, which does not disclose such details.
Hughes' purse was $100,000 compared to $80,000 for St. Pierre with both fighters doubling their pay in event of a win. There were no win bonuses for Liddell or Silva, according to the commission.
Earlier, unbeaten Brazilian Lyoto Machida put on a show in spoiling Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou's UFC debut by submitting the highly touted light-heavyweight from Cameroon.
The 23-year-old Sokoudjou, who came out wearing a mask from the "Predator" movies, earned a reputation on the Pride circuit where he demolished Antonio Rogerio Nogueira in 23 seconds and Ricardo Arona in 1:59.
But Machida (12-0 and 4-0 in the UFC) schooled him, dominating him on the ground, before winning by arm triangle at 4:20 of the second round. Sokoudjou fell to 4-2.
Machida, 29, came into the fight having already beaten B.J. Penn, Rich Franklin and Stephan Bonnar. He leaves deserving consideration for a title shot.
Machida earned a purse of $60,000, including a $30,000 win bonus, while Sokoudjou collected $40,000.
Earlier Toronto lightweight Mark Bocek (5-1) notched his first UFC win, scoring a unanimous decision over Doug Evans.
There was bad blood after lightweight Rich (No Love) Clementi choked out Melvin (The Young Assassin) Guillard at 4:40 of the first round. The two fighters had trash-talked prior to the bout and Clementi rubbed in his win by standing over Guillard after the tapout as if trumpeting his win.
Guillard, who had not fought since April after a positive cocaine test, had to be held back by referee Herb Dean and others.
In other preliminary bouts, Manny (The Anvil) Gamburyan made short work of Nate Mohr, ending the fight via an ankle lock that left Mohr screaming in pain as he tapped out at 1:33 of the first round. It was the first outing for Gamburyan since losing to Nate Diaz in the finale of Season 5 of "The Ultimate Fighter" when he separated a shoulder.
There was pain too for James (The Sandman) Irvin who was stunned by an illegal knee to the head when he was down from Brazilian Luis (Banha) Cane during the first round. Cane had a point deducted by referee Steve Mazzagatti and was disqualified when Irvine, who had trouble getting to his feet, was unable to continue. The hard-hitting fight, which had drawn oohs and aahs from the crowd, was called at 1:51 of the first round.
Cane, making a hash of his UFC debut, tried to apologize for his error but got nothing but boos in return.
A dazed Irvin, who also needed help getting back to the dressing room, lost his last bout when he suffered torn knee ligaments against Thiago Silva in May at UFC 71. The hard-luck fighter was out seven months from the ensuing surgery.
Heavyweight Eddie (The Manic Hispanic) Sanchez pounded out a TKO over UFC newcomer Soa Palelei at 3:24 of the third round. Middleweight Dean (The Boogeyman) Lister won a unanimous decision over Jordan Radev in a fight that fizzled. And welterweight Roan Carneiro pounded out a TKO over Tony DeSouza at 3:33 of the second round.
