UFC 129: St-Pierre vs. Shields and the UFC's 10 Most Disappointing Title Fights

After UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre defeated Jake Shields this weekend at UFC 129, many fans were confused as to why the pound-for-pound star had fought so cautiously for five rounds. In a fight that had a lot of intriguing talking points, it had the makings to be a fight to remember. So why wasn't it?

UFC title fights can be disappointing for one of many reasons. The expectation going into the bout are promoted by the UFC staff and the fans to be something better than it may really turn out to be. We always want to see the best fight possible, but it's sometimes too good to be true.

Other times, a freak injury occurs and puts the fight on hold for another time; the worst of all scenarios.

Last but not least, fights that have no expectations can still end up being majorly disappointing, but it's a rare case in a sport filled with such dynamic and skilled fighters that this happens.

These are the 10 most disappointing title fights in the history of the UFC.

No. 10 Georges St-Pierre vs. Jake Shields

The buildup: Former Strikeforce middleweight champion Jake Shields was on a 15-fight win streak, including wins over some of the top welterweights and middleweights in the sport. He had been unbeaten since 2005 and was the most dangerous submission specialist to fight Georges St-Pierre.

The Canadian superstar had defended his title five times and had wins over Thiago Alves, Jon Fitch, B.J. Penn, Dan Hardy and Josh Koscheck. None of them had the grappling pedigree that Shields had, and it was an intriguing challenge for the pound-for-pound star.

The letdown: Everyone expects so much from the welterweight champion, but it doesn't seem to matter. Even in front of 55,000 hometown fans, St-Pierre couldn't get the big finish and didn't really look for it.

Everyone knew Shields' stand up was far from good, yet he stood with St-Pierre for all five rounds and even managed to steal two of the rounds on two judges' scorecards. It was more confusing than it was bad, but it was a disappointment none the less.

It had the makings to be a very good fight, the type of fight that defined a fighter's career, but it turned out to be a giant dud.

No. 9 B.J. Penn vs. Caol Uno II- UFC 41

The buildup: B.J. Penn was looking to capture his first UFC title when he lost to Jens Pulver a year earlier. He rebounded with two wins, including one in a lightweight title semifinal matchup with Matt Serra.

His opponent, Caol Uno, defeated Din Thomas to earn a spot in the finals as well. It would be a rematch of a fight that he lost in 11 seconds. Could Penn really live up to that kind of spectacular knockout again? Could Penn, who sometimes lacks motivation, motivate himself to train for an opponent he had just destroyed two fights previously?

The letdown: Not only was the fight 136 times as long as the first meeting, but it also resulted in a draw, leaving the UFC lightweight division without a champion. To add to it, nobody wanted to see a third fight between the two, and Penn left the UFC to go fight at Rumble in the Rock.

Thanks to the draw, there wouldn't be a real lightweight champion in the UFC till Sean Sherk took on Kenny Florian at UFC 64.

No. 8 Anderson Silva vs. Patrick Cote- UFC 90

The buildup: Canadian fighter Patrick Cote was on a five-fight win streak with victories over Drew Mcfederies, Ricardo Almeida, Kendall Grove, Scott Smith and Jason Day. He had earned his title shot versus the very dangerous striker Anderson Silva, who had been finishing opponents left and right. He had finished his last eight opponents, seven of which were in the UFC.

The letdown: It was the first fight to spark the discussion of whether or not Silva was bored with the opposition in his division. After two rounds, it was clear Cote was overmatched, but Silva still decided to stand on the outside and attack moderately.

The end came in the opening minute of the third round when Cote fell to the canvas after he tore his ACL. A disappointed Silva was mad at the ultimate result, but it saved him from going to a decision, which was probably on his mind anyway.

No. 7 Tim Sylvia vs. Andrei Arlovski III-UFC 61

The buildup: Both were UFC heavyweight champions, and they both were 1-1 against each other. Andrei Arlovski had won the first fight by heel-hook while Sylvia won the second by knockout. A score had to be settled, and the rubber match was scheduled for UFC 61: Bitter Rivals.

The letdown: With two fast and exciting fights already in their trilogy, the third one couldn't have been expected to be bad, right? What resulted was a five-round boxing match with two fighters who couldn't live up to the expectations that had been placed in them to live up to the first two fights.

There have been worse championships fights than this that didn't make the list, but in comparison to the first two fights, this should have been a war. It wasn't even close.

No. 6 Tito Ortiz vs. Vladimir Matyushenko- UFC 33

The buildup: UFC light-heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz had defended the title three times in a row and had defeated Evan Tanner, Elvis Sinosic and Yuki Kondo. He also had a victory over Wanderlei Silva. Belarusian-fighter Vladimir Matyushenko had just beaten Yuki Kondo at the previous event and was 10-1 in MMA

The letdown: "Victory in Vegas" turned out to be anything but that after three of the title fights on the card went the distance in very uneventful fights. This was the worst of the three, and it was a slow, plodding fight with Ortiz out-wrestling and overpowering "The Janitor." After five rounds, Ortiz retained his title by unanimous decision.

Fightmetric measured the total number of strikes landed in the fight to be 47. At a little under 10 strikes landed per round, it may have been the worst fight ever.

No. 5 Kevin Randleman vs. Pedro Rizzo

The buildup: Dangerous kick-boxer Pedro Rizzo was 9-0 in MMA, and NCAA Division I wrestler Kevin Randleman was 8-3. It would be for the heavyweight championship, which was a title Randleman had fought for previously against Bas Rutten.

The letdown: Whatever expectations people had going into this bout, it had the potential to be good.

You could count the amount of strikes thrown by each fighter in each round with your own 10 fingers. After five rounds of a 25-minute staredown, Randleman was awarded the unanimous decision and the heavyweight title.

The Brazilian would go on to put on some of the best fights in the UFC and in MMA, but this was not one of them.

At least Randleman's title reign only lasted till his first defense against Randy Couture, saving fans from any more of his snoozefests.

No. 4 Anderson Silva vs. Thales Leites- UFC 97

The buildup: Middleweight contender Thales Leites was on a five-fight win streak with victories over Drew Mcfederies, Nate Marquardt, Ryan Jensen, Pete Sell and Floyd Sword. Anderson Silva had left his mark in the sport but was coming off of a disappointing title defense against Cote at UFC 90.

It was the classic striker vs. grappler matchup; one that fans usually anticipate in hoping to see two of the very best at what they do have a clash of styles.

The letdown: Everyone knew where both fighters' strengths were, but there was a problem; neither fighter wanted to engage in the other's offensive position. Leites repeatedly fell to the ground in hope of drawing the "Spider" into his guard where he could showcase his impressive Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt skills.

Silva had none of it but did not engage enough on the feet to show desperation to erase any of the faults he had displayed in his previous fight.

After five rounds, Silva won a unanimous decision.

No. 3 Dan Severn vs. Ken Shamrock II- UFC 9

The buildup: Dan Severn had won the UFC 5 tournament while Ken Shamrock had an extensive career fighting in UFC tournaments but never winning a finals match. He had defeated Severn at UFC 6 by guillotine choke two minutes into the first round to win the Superfight Championship. It was a good sign that maybe something like that would happen again in the rematch.

Severn rebounded from the loss to win the Ultimate Ultimate 1996 tournament and earned himself another title shot against "The World's Most Dangerous Man" at UFC 9.

The letdown: Shamrock is no stranger to under-performing in bouts so maybe it's not as disappointing as it was made out to be.  Still, the two heavyweights rarely exchanged throughout the 30-minute time frame.

It doesn't matter how boring a fighter may be, 30 minutes is long enough to score a good amount of strikes. Severn got several takedowns during the bout to lay-and-pray his way to a split-decision victory.

No. 2 Anderson Silva vs. Demian Maia- UFC 112

The buildup: Demian Maia was a late replacement for Vitor Belfort. He was supposed to be the toughest test to date for Silva if the fight was to hit the ground. His Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu skills are some of the very best in MMA. Match that up with Anderson Silva's lethal striking ability and we have ourselves another striker vs. grappler matchup.

The letdown: In the UFC's debut show in Abu Dhabi, Silva put on the worst performance of his career. In a wild and odd fight, Silva mocked Maia with facial expressions, insults and strange movements for the better part of five rounds. It was his idea of embarrassing his opponent, and he definitely accomplished that. The bad thing is he also embarrassed himself, the fans, Dana White and the sport.

No. 1 Randy Couture vs. Vitor Belfort 2- UFC 46

The buildup: Randy Couture was the light-heavyweight champion and the first man to beat the "Phenom" Vitor Belfort in 1997. When Couture defeated contenders Tito Ortiz and Chuck Liddell in 2003, there was only one man left at 205.

The Brazilian had gone 7-2 since their first meeting and was coming off a 67-second knockout win over Marvin "The Beastman" Eastman. The rematch was set for the main event of UFC 46: Supernatural.

The letdown: 49 seconds into Round 1, Belfort landed a glazing blow that cut the eyelid of the Hall of Famer. After a brief clinch against the cage, Couture waved in the referee to check his eye. The doctor came in to inspect the former heavyweight champion and called off the bout.

The worst types of fights are those that end by something as simple as a glazing blow, and with no definitive winner, the only thing the two fighters could do was meet for a third time.