Georges St. Pierre Successfully Defends Against B.J. Penn

One of the biggest fights in the history of mixed martial arts is now in the books, as Georges St. Pierre successfully defended his Welterweight title against B.J. Penn.

St. Pierre didn't just beat B.J. Penn - he absolutely smashed him.

The fight was stopped after the fourth round after the doctor and B.J.'s corner both decided that he couldn't continue. Barring an absolute miracle knockout in the fifth round, B.J. would have lost the fight decisively anyways. At the time of the stoppage, the judges had St. Pierre ahead 40-34, 40-34 and 40-35. That means that two judges thought that St. Pierre won TWO of the four rounds 10-8 - that is an absolute ass-kicking.

With this victory, St. Pierre HAS to be included in the discussions for the title of top pound-for-pound fighter in the world. Most people have Fedor and Silva at #1 and #2, while St. Pierre is anywhere between #3 and #5, depending on who you ask.

With this thrashing of Penn, St. Pierre has to be given serious consideration as the top pound-for-pound fighter in the world. In his last two fights, he has destroyed the #2 Welterweight in the world (Fitch) and one of the top pound-for-pound fighters in the world (B.J. Penn).

People will point to Fedor's devastating knockouts of Arlovski and Sylvia as proof that he should be the number-one ranked fighter in the world, but were St. Pierre's victories any less one-sided and convincing?

What's next for St. Pierre? A title defense against Thiago Alves, which is likely to take place sometime in the summer.

What's next for B.J. Penn? He will now drop back down to lightweight and defend his title against Kenny Florian.

It should be interesting to see how St. Pierre and Penn fare in their next fights. Will there be a letdown after this "mega" fight? Both are facing tough opponents, and need to be very careful.

Some are speculating that St. Pierre might square off against Anderson Silva at UFC 100. Let me say this - there is ZERO chance of this fight happening at UFC 100. Silva is squaring off against Thales Leites at UFC 97, which is less than three months before UFC 100. Silva is not taking a fight against St. Pierre with only two months to train for it, so you can get that idea out of your head right now.

Dana White has already gone on the record and said that St. Pierre / Silva might happen in 2010.

UFC 100 will likely look like UFC 92 did, with three or four main-event quality fights. I wouldn't be surprised to see Penn vs Florian, St. Pierre vs Alves and Forrest Griffin as a part of this card.

Anyways, back to UFC 94.

Lyoto Machida absolutely dominated Thiago Silva, and has emphatically forced himself into the Light Heavyweight title picture.

Here is Machida's situation now: if Quinton Jackson beats Keith Jardine at UFC 96, then Jackson will receive the next title shot.

If Jackson loses, then Machida will get the next crack at Evans.

If Jackson wins, then Machida will very likely get the winner of the Evans/Jackson fight. Dana White has stated that Machida will "likely" get a shot at the title in 2009.

Assuming that Jackson wins against Jardine, then you have to wonder who Machida will fight in the interim. I think that Machida/Griffin is a fight that many people want to see, however I am not sure if this will happen. Machida/Griffin would be an awesome addition to the UFC 100 card .. just saying..

Other Notes:

1. It will be interesting to see just how good Jon Jones can become over the next 4-5 years - don't forget that he is only 21 years old.

2. Who might be next up for Bonnar? I have no clue - any ideas?

3. Parisyan vs Kim fight was a disappointment.

4. Fitch dominated Gono - I hope that Fitch makes it back to the main card in his next fight, as he certainly deserves to be there.

5. I went 4-0 on my picks last night (Guida, Jones, Machida, St. Pierre) and am now 14-2 overall on this site.

All in all, another great card from the UFC.

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