Throughout the years, the biggest fight cards in the world were those of world championship boxing fights which features some of the greatest boxers to grace the planet. Matches such as Muhammad Ali vs. Joe Frazier, Evander Holyfield vs. Mike Tyson and Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Oscar De La Hoya were fights that not only whet the appetite of boxing fans and also the mass public, but also the appetite of promoters, sponsors, TV networks and PPV companies. Yes there is no doubt that fights like these generate a lot of revenue and buyrates are usually very high when the results of the event's success finally make its way not only to the promoters, but to the public.
The world of mixed martial arts also have had major superfights of their own, many of which have been headlines for several big MMA events. Matches such as Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Royce Gracie, Tito Ortiz vs. Ken Shamrock, Masakatsu Funaki vs. Rickson Gracie, Chuck Liddell vs. Randy Couture and most recently, Fedor Emelianenko vs. Andrei Arlovski have all proven that MMA possess strong drawing power of their own, especially with fights like those mentioned being spotlighted on the marquee.
January has been the month where MMA fans were spoiled for choice. Big matches such as Jorge Santiago vs. Kazuo Misaki and Satoru Kitaoka vs. Takanori Gomi at WVR Sengoku no Ran 2009, Rich Franklin vs. Dan Henderson at UFC 93 and Fedor Emelianenko vs. Andrei Arlovski at Affliction: Day of Reckoning were the ones that headline these events. Even with a strong undercard as seen at Affliction's recent event and also at UFC 93, it is usually the main events that will carry the weight of the show as they are the ones that most fans would mainly tune in to watch. The main events are usually the main course, while the undercard serves as the entree and in the UFC's case, the extra matches being shown on PPV after the conclusion of the main event in the event of quick stoppages in the PPV bouts leaving more PPV time remaining are the desserts.
Then we have UFC 94.
It doesn't get any more bigger than what fans will bear witness to on Superbowl weekend, a superfight that has been almost three years in the making and quite possibly, the biggest rematch in the MMA world for a very long time. Without further ado, it is time to look at a match which the world will be watching very very soon.
UFC Welterweight Title: Georges St-Pierre (c) (17-2) vs. B.J. Penn (13-4)
Georges St-Pierre maybe the Number One welterweight fighter in the world, but despite that, is a very humble and modest fighter who would rather do his talking in the ring. Much like several other MMA fighters, St-Pierre has had a pretty tough childhood dating back to when he was still a young child with bullies stealing his clothes and money. His life took a turn when he was seven as he started picking up Kyokushin karate, quite possibly recognized as the most brutal art in the popular martial art and from there, he was able to defend himself with ease. St-Pierre also took up wrestling, boxing and also Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu after his karate teacher passed away and at that point, it seemed like the legend of the man known as Rush would begin. After watching Royce Gracie win the first UFC Tournament in 1993, St-Pierre realized that he would love to become an MMA fighter. His first amateur fight came when he was only 16 and he defeated a boxer who was 25, using his Kyokushin karate skills to win the fight. He would then make his professional debut against fellow Canadian and former HERO'S contender, Ivan Menjivar. When he came to the UFC, he made a statement, defeating Karo Parisyan at UFC 46, then beating Jay Hieron at UFC 48. He would then compete against grizzled UFC veteran Matt Hughes for the vacant UFC Welterweight Title which Hughes wounded up winning, giving St-Pierre his first loss. St-Pierre admittedly regretted that he did not give it his all against Hughes as he had idolized Hughes up till that point and was awestruck by having to face one of his heroes in MMA. The loss didn't deter from his quest to become UFC Welterweight Champion as he then pulled a string of victories against the likes of Jason Miller, Frank Trigg and Sean Sherk. Eventually, he would have a rematch against the man who gave him his first loss, Matt Hughes, for the UFC Welterweight Title at UFC 65. This time around, a high left kick followed by a barrage of punches and elbows in the second round were enough to stop Hughes, thus giving St-Pierre his first UFC Welterweight Title reign. Unable to focus due to personal problems and later, stating that his opponent was the better fighter, St-Pierre would then lose his title to Matt Serra at UFC 69. After defeating Josh Koscheck at UFC 74, St-Pierre would be the next fighter in line after Matt Hughes to get another shot at the UFC Welterweight Title. Unfortunately, the champion Matt Serra was injured during a training session and was thus replaced by St-Pierre, who at UFC 79, made the best out of the opportunity and submitted Hughes with a kimura followed by an armbar to become the UFC Interim Welterweight Champion. St-Pierre would then use the momentum to head on to his challenge for the title when he would face Matt Serra at UFC 83. As if the title being on the line wasn't enough, the event would take place for the very first time in Canada at the Bell Center in St-Pierre's hometown of Montreal, Quebec Canada. A brutal TKO victory over Serra only solidified St-Pierre further, not only as a hometown hero, but also as one of the greatest MMA fighters of this era as he would become the UFC Welterweight Champion for the second time in his career. Another brutal, yet grueling win followed when St-Pierre defended his title against Jon Fitch at UFC 87, winning the match via unanimous decision. Despite only having two fights in 2008, the world had their eyes' on St-Pierre and would only look forward to more action from the popular French-Canadian fighter.
On the other side of the Octagon is B.J. Penn. Penn is pretty much the opposite of St-Pierre. While St-Pierre is humble, modest and gracious, Penn is arrogant, brash and outspoken. Penn's biggest strength is his Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu background, training in the art when he was 17 and becoming the first non-Brazilian to win the black belt division of the World Jiu-Jitsu Championship held in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil in 2000. Penn's illustrious BJJ career and fighting style caught the attention of the UFC, who later signed him to a UFC contract. Wins over the likes of Din Thomas and Caol Uno made Penn a tough contender and he would then challenge Jens Pulver for the UFC Lightweight Title, but would unfortunately lose to the champion. Penn then started putting on weight and compete as a welterweight, defeating the former Number One ranked welterweight fighter in the world, Takanori Gomi, at Rumble on the Rocks in his native Hawaii, an MMA event promoted by Penn's brother. At UFC 46, Penn used his newly-acquired welterweight bulk to challenge for the UFC Welterweight Title, at that time held by Matt Hughes. Penn became successful, submitting Hughes with a rear naked choke to win his first UFC Title in the welterweight division. Tension suddenly arose when Penn decided to sign with FEG to which the UFC would then strip him off the UFC Welterweight Title due to a breach in his contract. Penn would later sue the UFC by saying that his contract had already expired by then and filed a motion to prevent from a new Welterweight Champion being crowned, but the motion was dropped. Penn would only fight four fights under FEG, defeating Duane Ludwig at the ill-fated K-1 ROMANEX event, going over to Rumble in the Rocks and move up to the middleweight division by defeating Rodrigo Gracie, suffering a loss to eventual UFC light heavyweight contender Lyoto Machida at the inaugural HERO'S event in 2005 and defeating Renzo Grace at the K-1 WORLD GP 2005 in HONOLULU event. Penn would then return to the UFC after the fight and was then placed as a top contender for the UFC Welterweight Title. He was given another shot at Matt Hughes, who by then had already regained his title and at UFC 63, the two men fought, only this time it was Penn who lost to Hughes via TKO, a loss which Penn attributed to his lack of stamina. Penn would later serve as a coach on The Ultimate Fighter 5 and would later compete against the opposing coach, Jens Pulver, in a rematch of their subsequent bout back in 2002. This time around, Penn won by making Pulver submit to a rear naked choke. After this bout, Penn would then drop to the lightweight division. While originally scheduled to face UFC Lightweight Champion Sean Sherk, Sherk was suspended by the California State Athletic Commission after testing positive for several performance-enhancing drugs. With Sherk eventually being stripped off his title, Penn would then have to wait until January 2008 to challenge for the title when the UFC make their way over to the UK. It was at UFC 80 where Penn would make history by defeating Joe Stevenson for the UFC Lightweight Title in a brutal showing and become the second fighter after Randy Couture to win two UFC Titles in different weight classes. Like his opponent, Georges St-Pierre, Penn also fought in only two matches in 2008, his second fight being a defense of the UFC Lightweight Title at UFC 84 against the former champion, Sean Sherk. This was another brutal showing by the champion, who was relentless against Sherk and rendered him being unable to continue before the fourth round, allowing Penn to retain his UFC Lightweight Title.
A rematch that transcends the history and legacy of mixed martial arts for a very long time to come.
The first time both of these legendary fighters met was way back in UFC 58 back in 2006. The theme of the event was the best of the USA going up against Canada's finest. This would be B.J. Penn's first match since coming back to the UFC after an unmemorable stint under FEG in Japan. At stake was a title shot against the UFC Welterweight Champion Matt Hughes and Georges St-Pierre would end up winning a hard-fought battle via a close split decision, which till this day, have been debated over and over again over the way the match went. Despite that, fans were clamoring for more and crossed their fingers, hoping that someday both of these amazing fighters would meet again in an epic rematch.
At the conclusion of his UFC Lightweight Title defense against Sean Sherk, Penn asked the fans if they would like to see a rematch between Penn and St-Pierre. A resounding ovation from the fans in attendance clearly signaled that a rematch between the two would take place sometime in the future. After St-Pierre defeated Jon Fitch in his UFC Welterweight Title defense, he officially challenged Penn to a future bout, to which Penn, who was in attendance that evening, came into the Octagon, shook his rival's hand and formally accepted the challenge, much to the delight of the UFC President Dana White who was also present in the Octagon at that time. The fight was officially made and the two will now clash at UFC 94 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
This fight is quite possibly the most important fight in MMA today. More often than not, most big MMA events have always been promoted by using big heavyweights as drawing power. Such is the case with Brock Lesnar and Kimbo Slice being two of the biggest MMA draws in 2008 due to their sheer size and charisma alone. The problem with fighters like them is that no matter how marketable they were, they were never the most technically sound fighters in the ring. Japan as of late have been using middleweight and lightweight fighters to be their drawing power not only due to charisma and presence, but also taking into account their amazing skills as fighters with the likes of Yoshihiro Akiyama, Shinya Aoki, Kazushi Sakuraba and even flyweight Norifumi Yamamoto headlining huge New Year's Eve shows in the last few years. Smaller fighters such as St-Pierre and Penn have been known to be overlooked and not be considered major draws due to their size alone, yet they have both garnered major support from fans due to their technical skills and their class act.
This rematch could not have taken place at a better time. St-Pierre is 28, Penn is 30, both fighters are still young and at the top of their game. St-Pierre is the Number One ranked welterweight fighter in the world, Penn is the Number One ranked lightweight fighter in the world. St-Pierre is the UFC Welterweight Champion, Penn is the UFC Lightweight Champion. Both men know what is at stake in this match. For St-Pierre, he would want to hold on to the UFC Welterweight Title so he could defend it against Thiago Alves and possibly, face Anderson Silva in a dream openweight bout in the near future. For Penn, he could take the history he had made when he became the UFC Lightweight Champion and rewrite it all over again by becoming the first UFC fighter to ever hold two UFC Titles in different weight classes at the same time.
For MMA as a whole, this is a fight that would make every fighter, fan and promoter be glued to their TV sets or attend UFC 94 in person to witness history being made. Many would say that the future of MMA lie in the hands of both St-Pierre and Penn as both are to showcase the power of MMA to the world through this rematch. UFC 94 is widely tipped to be the UFC's biggest PPV event yet and with two of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world headlining the event, it doesn't get anymore bigger than that.
On January 31st, the world will soon bear witness to one of the greatest rematches to ever take place in the history of fight sports. The UFC Welterweight Title will be on the line, but only one man will walk away as the champion. Will it be Georges St-Pierre or will it be B.J. Penn? History will be made at UFC 94: St-Pierre vs. Penn 2!
