The UFC 129 event is almost upon us and the buzz for the event seems to be growing a little louder each day. I can only imagine what it will be like with over 50,000 fans screaming at the top of their lungs with several Canadians will be going to battle on their home turf.  I have five questions for you heading into this event:

GSP is the big favorite here as he should be, because I don’t think Shields poses a significant threat to him anywhere in this fight. That includes if this fight goes to the ground as well. GSP has gone to the judges in three straight fights, albeit dominating all of his opponents who were highly ranked opponents. There are some fans and pundits that think GSP is ‘boring’ since his knockout loss to Matt Serra a few years ago. However, that hasn’t seemed to affect the PPV buys when it comes to events in which GSP participates. He could potentially have a huge fight with Anderson Silva looming on the horizon provided everything falls into place. If he goes to the judges against a one dimensional fighter do you think he’ll start to receive more backlash for not finishing guys, although he’s fighting arguably the toughest slate of fighters out of all the champions in MMA?

  • Can Jose Aldo become a certified star with another spectacular performance at UFC 129?

Jose Aldo is already a star amongst the hardcore fan-base, but he’s still relatively unknown to casual fans since he started destroying guys in the WEC. He’ll be on arguably the biggest stage at UFC 129 against a guy that will try to bring the fight to him in Mark Hominick.All the top fighters have had a moment like this at some point or another where they finally pushed through to that next level of super-stardom. Aldo isn’t even 25 years old yet but could this weekend be the beginning of something special if he performs up to his capabilities?

First of all, I expect Machida to put a beating on Couture(sorry Couture fans). However, if you were going to bet on a huge underdog Couture is the one to put your money on even in his old age. Machida has lost two in a row, the last loss against Rampage Jackson being somewhat controversial. However, he had a controversial win in his first match-up against Shogun Rua. A loss to Couture would certainly be devastating, but I still think Machida is too good of a fighter for Zuffa to let go. But, it would be three losses in a row and we’ve seen guys get the axe at that point on more than one occasion.

  • If Couture pulls off another major upset and beats Machida will he fight in the UFC again?

Couture is saying that this will be his swan song win, lose, or draw. However, he keeps leaving the door open on returning with some of his comments lately. Dana White has stated that he still believes that Couture is still a top ten light heavyweight. If he beats Machida, a former champion, could the UFC offer Couture something so big that he simply couldn’t turn it away? I mean Couture is the king of getting title shots for no reason. So could they give him one more shot against a young killer in Jon Jones with a win at UFC 129?

  • Will UFC 129 surpass the 800,000 PPV buy-rate?

Both of GSP’s past two fights have done near or surpassed the 800,000 PPV buy-rate. We potentially have Couture’s last fight ever on this card and another title fight in Jose Aldo vs. Mark Hominick. Not to mention this will be the first time ALL of the fights will be available to the fans LIVE. Will this one surpass 800,000 as well?

When I really think about this card, it’s going to be awesome to have a record number of fans in attendance and I’m sure the atmosphere will be electric. That in itself could have an affect on the fighters and how they perform. However, I can’t help but look at the 3 ‘big’ fights on this card and see fights that could be really one-sided. There’s a reason why Shields, Hominick, and Couture are huge underdogs. Let’s hope they bring their “A” game and put on a show.

3 thoughts on “5 burning questions heading into UFC 129”
  1. Kelvin – you know I love you…but calling those three guys huge underdogs is insane to me. I think GSP will win but Shields is a huge 170 and can’t be overlooked. Have you ever seen Hominick fight before? I think he might surprise some people. I still think Josie will pull it out but I think this has 5 round war written all over it. As for Couture, I think he can get the fight to the ground where he stands a chance. Plus I can never pick against The Natural! This is the most excited I have ever been for a UFC PPV. Fireworks are sure to fly baby!

  2. Yo…you still wanna debate this? haha…Aldo/Hominick was a ‘war’ only because of the last round…which Aldo said he took off(said in press conference) cause he knew he had won the first 4 rounds…Hominick still has madd heart though.

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