UFC 129 Weekend: Georges St-Pierre, Anderson Silva and the Super Seven
UFC 129 is upon us and one of the most historical weekends in mixed martial arts history is well underway.
Along with the Fan Expo, the UFC managed to put all seven of its champions together for a question-and-answer session with Joe Rogan as a lead up to the weigh-ins for yet another unique fan experience.
Unfortunately, welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre and featherweight champion Jose Aldo were gone by the time the group photos were taken, but it didn't stop them from answering a few questions to the media and the general public in the company of the other champs.
Georges St-Pierre Shows His Love and Respect for the Fans and His Homeland
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St-Pierre addressed the crowd by making a point to thank the fans of the sport everywhere.
"First of all I want to thank my fans to come here, but not only my fans I want to thank also Jake Shields' fans and all the other fighter fans that come from all around the world for this historical event here in Toronto in my country."
St-Pierre went on to say how honored he was to be fighting on the card.
"It's a great honor to be headlining this card and it's the first time, but it's not the last time, I promise; thank you very much."
St-Pierre once again showed why he is one of the more admirable professional athletes in all of sport.
Although fans and media have predicted that Jake Shields doesn't have a chance at taking St-Pierre's championship belt come this Saturday, the champ certainly considers Shields to be his most difficult challenge to date.
"I consider him [Shields] the best, I want to be the one that stops the great Jake Shields." St-Pierre said.
He went on to talk about the title "So tomorrow it's for the UFC title, this belt doesn't no longer belong to me, it's gonna be there [for] the winner of this fight. Jake Shields or myself will take the belt back home."
Jose Aldo, the Favorite Against Mark Hominick, Looked out of It Today
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Jose Aldo is regarded as the heavy favourite against Canada's own Mark Hominick, but at the weigh-ins, particularly during the Super Seven Aldo looked tired.
It looked as if Aldo had a difficult weight cut and Joe Rogan certainly didn't miss it.
"Mr. Aldo, you look very serious, I know you are drained out from the weigh-ins right now, and you are getting ready," said Rogan.
Even though Aldo was maybe a little bit tired, it didn't stop him from answering at least one question.
Rogan asked Aldo on his thoughts about fighting Hominick in front of a crowd of 55 000 fans.
"He feels great; he is hoping that he is going to see a packed house tomorrow night and he hopes that all the events in the future are just as packed as tomorrow." Aldo responded through his translator.
Realising how unrealistic Aldo's comment actually was, Rogan responded "I don't know about that, that's a tall order, right? This [UFC 129] is the biggest ever."
Of course, the Rogers Center is going to be packed with 55 000 people, but the UFC isn't going to be filling up stadiums on a regular basis. The majority of the UFC's events will still be in arena's and casinos capable of seating a maximum of around 20,000.
Maybe having Aldo sit down and talk in front of everyone was a little bit too much to ask of the champion, considering he had just finished all his weight cutting for the weigh-in.
In any case, he was only out for one question before going backstage along with welterweight champion St-Pierre.
Dominick Cruz Pays HIs Repect to the Fans
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Dominick Cruz started out much like St-Pierre, paying all kinds of respect to the fans of the UFC, particularly the Canadian ones.
"... I get to fight in front of all these awesome fans, UFC has the best fans in the world," he said. Cruz went on to say "Canada has been great to me; you know, I am recognized here more than I am in the States sometimes, it has been awesome and everybody has been great."
Cruz came across as well-spoken and a great representative of the sport.
Cruz will be facing former WEC featherweight champion Urijah Faber in a grudge match at UFC 132: Cruz vs Faber.
Both fighters don't have much respect for one another, and Cruz will be looking to retain his title and exact revenge on Faber, who submitted him with a guillotine choke in their first meeting.
Frankie Edgar Reflects on His Fight with Gray Maynard
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Frankie Edgar recently fought in one of mixed martial arts' most memorable fights ever.
Edgar was set to defend his UFC lightweight title against the man who handed him his only loss in his career thus far, Gray Maynard.
During the fight things didn't go as planned for Edgar as Maynard had him wobbled and knocked him down on numerous occasions in the first round.
Not only did Edgar come back from a devastating first round against Maynard, but he fought on valiantly for four more rounds to a draw, retaining his title.
Rogan took the time to ask Edgar whether he was amazed by the fact that he came back despite having such a tough first round.
" When I was in there, obviously you take those big shots in the first round, I really didn't realize what I went through. I didn't realize how I came back, my team was like dude wait until you see the fight, wait until you see the fight."
Edgar went on to say "So I went home watched the fight, you know I was proud of my performance, proud of my perseverance. It just goes to show that no matter what's thrown at me, I feel I can get through it."
Rogan asked Edgar if he was able to remember what happened going in to the second round and Edgar responded by saying "I was fighting on instinct, I am lucky I have a good corner, cause they really got me through the fight."
Edgar will have the chance to finally erase the lone loss marring his perfect record come May 28 at UFC 130: Edgar vs Maynard 3 as he once again puts his lightweight title on the line.
Anderson Silva Proves Chael Sonnen Isn't a Liar and Speaks English
5 of 7Anderson Silva once again shocked the world, maybe not in the same way he shocked the world with the front kick knockout of Vitor Belfort, but he shocked people nonetheless.
Not known for using English in public, Anderson Silva sat in front of thousands of UFC fans today and put his English skills on display for all to see.
It is kind of funny because Chael Sonnen called Anderson Silva out on his English in the past when interviewed by MMA Weekly Radio.
"You want me to let you in on a secret, Anderson Silva speaks perfect English. He just has such a low amount of respect for you and all the rest of the media that he pretends he doesn't," Sonnen said.
Even though I was missing my tripod, I figured I would post a clip of Silva speaking English just so that people can hear how good he really is try to ignore the shakiness and listen to Silva's English.
Despite speaking English so well for a second language, Silva's ideas of who are the best fighters in the world seemed a little bit off.
Placing BJ Penn as the No. 1 fighter in front of himself and placing Georges St-Pierre in second place behind Penn? Silva saying he shouldn't be considered the best anymore? These were maybe Silva's opinions, but they are hard to believe nonetheless.
To put things in perspective, Silva has defended his title a record eight times, St-Pierre has defended his five times, but Penn has dropped two of his last four and fought to a controversial draw against Jon Fitch in his last fight.
Even Penn would probably have trouble agreeing with Silva's assessment about who the best fighters are today.
In addition to speaking English, Silva discussed the possibility of nearing the end of his career as a professional fighter when Rogan asked him whether we were witnessing his last few fights.
Silva sighed, "Maybe, I dunno."
Silva went on to talk about his next fight "My next fight, my next opponent is Yushin Okami. It's the great opportunity for me in Brazil, it's the great opportunity for Okami. This time, all the people in Japan is have problems, it's the great opportunity for Japan."
Vitor Belfort recently made the claim that the front kick landed by Silva against him was lucky and Rogan asked Silva to respond.
"I train hard for long time. I train hard for long time. I train for all the fights, for all my fighters. I respect all the fighters in the world. I respect these guys in here. I stay here for long time, Vitor don't respect me. Vitor don't respect nothing."
Obviously, Silva and Belfort won't be best friends any time soon and fans might get to see this rematch happen again down the road.
It was funny to note that Silva was saying he might be nearing retirement, but said later on that he would stay for a long time, which one is it?
Finally, Silva touched on the idea of moving up to light heavyweight to fight Jon Jones.
"I dunno, I am so happy in my category, but one day I dunno. This is not my decision, this is Dana's decision, this is not mine."
Silva re-opening the idea of moving back up to light heavyweight to fight Jones comes as a surprise.
Just a few short weeks ago he was pretty adamant that he would not move up and that he would not fight Jon Jones. One has to wonder what happened during this time.
Jon Jones Maybe the "Swagger Jacker," but He Has Some Swagger of His Own
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Jon "Bones" Jones, the newly minted light heavyweight champion, was present today and he certainly was a crowd pleaser.
Jones started off by saying how he got to where he is and what it feels like. Jon Jones asked the crowd, "Is this real, guys?" after Rogan asked him if he felt that his meteoric rise felt real or not.
He addressed his injury and apologised to the crowd, but did say "Trust me, I will make it worth your guys while, the wait, I promise." when referring to his next title defense.
On lighter note, Rogan asked Jones what a swagger jacker was. Apparently the story goes like this "Swagger is basically what makes you sexy, what makes you you. Anyways, we have a stylist and whenever we have big events going on they send us to look good, to look our best and I think I was sent to the same exact stylist and I ended up wearing the same shirt, the same suit and the same tie Rashad wore a year earlier.
"So I show up on Jay Leno with this suit on and he [Rashad Evans] is like, oh, you're copying my style and all that."
Jones went on to tell the crowd he had his own swagger and asked the crowd if they liked "The Jonny "Bones" Swag" and the crowd responded with cheers.
It was a fun question-and-answer session, and one can really see why this young star has a bright future.
Cain Velasquez Discusses His Injury and Return
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Cain Velasquez snatched the heavyweight title from Brock Lesnar in devastating fashion this past October. Unfortunately, Velasquez injured his shoulder in the process.
Velasquez explained that the shoulder injury is a tough one.
"I had a torn labrum and they had to reattach it, it takes so long cause not a lot of blood gets to the shoulder so it takes a while for it to heal."
Rogan went on to ask Velasquez about the Strikeforce heavyweights and what he thought about them. "All those guys are great, you know top level guys, I am glad the UFC can finally lay down the road to mesh everyone together, so the fans and me and you can have a true No. 1 champion."
Despite being pleased with the fact that a number one heavyweight champion will eventually be figured out, Velasquez is keeping his eyes on Brock Lesnar and Junior Dos Santos for now.
Although Velaquez is a devastating force inside of the cage, he comes across as a pretty low-key guy in real life.
There you have it, seven champions all in one place, it was a unique experience for fans and media alike and hopefully this is something that will be able to happen again in the future as well.
Leon Horne is live on site covering UFC 129 this weekend, please follow him on Twitter for updates as the weekend goes on: 
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