The 10 | The Best Of The UFC In Montreal

The very first UFC fight to ever take place in Montreal makes the list, and not just because it was the inaugural UFC bout in the city, the province of Quebec, or Canada as a whole for that matter, which was the case.

Goulet was an early all-action type most famous for being on the wrong end of Duane Ludwig’s record-setting seven-second knockout win at UFC Fight Night 3 at the start of 2006. Hironaka arrived in the UFC with a 10-2 record and riding a three-fight winning streak, but dropped two of three ahead of this showdown with “The Road Warrior” in his home province.

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Goulet was the aggressor and more successful of the two early, working well on the feet until his Japanese counterpart clipped him late in the first and nearly secured a finish. It was a quintessential Goulet moment — a good start gone bad because of his shaky defensive mechanics — and he got touched up in the opening minute of the second round as well, a left hook causing him to momentarily sit down in place in the center of the Octagon.

But Hironaka got too confident and comfortable with his hands low, and Goulet capitalized, driving home a right hand that dropped him before chasing him down and securing the finish with a short left and straight right to the chin.

Georges St-Pierre defeats Matt Serra by TKO (knees) at 4:45 of Round 2 (UFC 83)

Serra’s title win over St-Pierre at UFC 69 will forever be the biggest upset in UFC history to me because the challenger from Long Island only ended up in that position by winning Season 4 of The Ultimate Fighter. He took full advantage of his opportunity, and did the work to get their first, but still — he beat a bunch of other veterans looking for a second chance and then ended up winning the UFC welterweight title.

So this rematch — which was delayed after Serra suffered a back injury, prompting St-Pierre to face and defeat Matt Hughes in a bout for an interim title — carried a significant amount of buzz and heat, as Serra steered into being the despised villain taking on the beloved hometown boy.

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St-Pierre was all business from the second he pushed through the curtain and made the walk to the Octagon. There was no basking in the massive pop, no playing to the partisan crowd — just a determined march into the cage, where he then set about correcting the mistakes he made in Houston and restoring order to the welterweight ranks.

“Rush” ran through Serra, ultimately finishing him with a series of punishing knees to the midsection; the kind of nasty blows you throw when you’re trying to make a statement and really punish somebody.

After his initial reign ended before it really ever began, this victory kicked off one of the most impressive championship runs we’ve seen in UFC history.

Sam Stout defeats Matt Wiman by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28) (UFC 97)

While these lists are often filled with championship contests and memorable battles, there are instances like there where it’s simply a fun, entertaining clash between a pair of durable, game lightweights that go toe-to-toe on an April night in Montreal.

Stout, a part of the Team Tompkins crew that grew up fighting in Montreal, entered on a two-fight skid, but with a reputation for being a tough out and all-action fighter, thanks to his twin duels with Spencer Fisher earlier in this career. Wiman was coming off a loss to Jim Miller that snapped a quality four-fight winning streak, and came out looking to get things moving in the right direction again straight away.

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This was an all-phases, non-stop scrap that was close heading into the final round and featured ebbs and flows over the final five minutes, with Wiman working to the back, only for Stout to reverse into top position before Wiman ran him back to the ground one more time before they swung on each other to the final horn.

Stout earned the decision win, and the duo took home Fight of the Night honors — the first of three straight times Stout would cash that same bonus check, and the third straight time Wiman was headed to the bank with additional money, as well.

Jeremy Stephens defeats Sam Stout by split decision (30-27, 29-28, 28-29) (UFC113)

The third of Stout’s three-fight run of bangers also came in Montreal, this time against Stephens, who was right in the middle of the lightweight chapter of his UFC career.

This was technique versus power for 15 minutes, with the Canadian utilizing his classic kickboxing approach and Stephens countering with the brute power that was his calling card for much of his career. While there were occasional moments when the two men spilled to the canvas, for the most part, this was an old-fashioned fistfight and a wildly entertaining one at that.

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Stephens won the first with his power, dropping Stout at one point and leaving him bloodied after the opening five minutes before the variety and volume of the Canadian allowed him to claw back into the contest in the second. In the third, the power of Stephens initially gave him an advantage, only for Stout to hurt Stephens with a leg kick and do good damage from top position before the Iowa native got back to his feet and tried throwing big through to the end.

The judges were split, with Stephens coming out ahead, and honestly, it’s one of those fights that if you watch it 10 times, you could very well end up scoring it for either man five times apiece.

Mauricio Rua defeats Lyoto Machida by KO (punches) at 3:35 of Round 1 (UFC 113)

In order to understand why this one makes the list, you have to know how we got here.

Machida and Rua fought a little more than seven months earlier in Los Angeles, with Machida winning one of the most debated and unlikely decisions in memory at the time. I watched it at a bar with some friends, and I distinctly remember a loyal Machida fan stomping out of the joint in a fit, certain — as the rest of us were — that “The Dragon” was about to lose the light heavyweight title.

He came racing back in like everything was great when the decision was announced, but everyone else was caught off guard, as it seemed like Rua had done enough to merit the win. In the rematch, he made sure to take the judges out of it and ensure that he left Montreal with UFC gold in his carry-on.

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After initial periods where Rua was blitzing forward trying to find and flatten the champion, Machida used a couple timely takedowns to slow things down, only for Rua to work back to his feet with relative ease. A little over three minutes into the opening round, Machida looked a little tired, but buried a knee into Rua’s midsection, but as he jumped forward to follow up, “Shogun” clipped him with a right hand to the temple that put Machida on the deck.

Landing straight into mount, Rua landed three more blows and put his compatriot out, seizing the light heavyweight title.

Jim Miller defeats Charles Oliveira by submission (kneebar) at 1:59 of Round 1 (UFC 124)

Let me just start by saying it’s outstanding that these two men continue to compete in the UFC to this day, and are still having success. Hats off, fellas.

This was an early “veteran test” for the Oliveira, who was 21 years old, had won his first two bouts under the UFC banner by submission, and was 14-0 overall. It sounds funny to say now, just a handful of days after Miller served as the “veteran test” for Chase Hooper at UFC 314, but the New Jersey native was already 18-2 and riding a five-fight winning streak that had him trending towards title contention.

The winner was going to take a big step forward in the talent-rich lightweight ranks, and most anticipated it being Oliveira, who was a bundle of electricity and excitement compared to the gritty, workmanlike Miller.

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But the veteran put the impressive youngster on his back less than 30 seconds into the fight, avoided the guillotine choke that Oliveira stayed attached to for a little too long, and roughed him up from inside his guard before recognizing an opportunity to attack a kneebar and drawing out the tap.

One additional fun note about this fight: it was the only time in their careers that both Jim and his older brother Dan fought and won on the same night in the UFC; Dan edged out Canadian veteran Joe Doerksen in the final preliminary card bout.

Georges St-Pierre defeats Josh Koscheck by unanimous decision (50-45, 50-45, 50-45) (UFC 124)

If any coach wants to try to convince one of their charges to put all kinds of effort and focus into developing their jab, this is the first fight they should put on, and it should run on a loop until that athlete recognize just how devastating and controlling an elite jab can be inside the Octagon.

It took less than 60 seconds for St-Pierre to start busting up Koscheck’s right eye; you can see the challenger react to the first clean shot that lands about 45 seconds into the fight, pawing at his eye. St-Pierre likely saw it too, because for the remainder of the fight, he just kept going to work on it, sticking the American Kickboxing Academy representative over and over and over again.

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Sure, he mixed in takedowns, a Superman punch here and there, as well as some kicks, but this was death by a thousand cuts, and the vast majority of those cuts were precision lefts to the right eye.

This was an absolute clinic by one of the all-time greats, and while some may quibble with St-Pierre not pressing to do more when it was clear he was way out ahead and had Koscheck in rough shape, it honestly felt like the champion wanted to make a statement and show the rest of the division that he’d developed another tremendous weapon that they all were going to have to contend with going forward.

Georges St-Pierre defeats Carlos Condit by unanimous decision (49-46, 50-45, 50-45) (UFC 154)

We talk all the time about how scorecards don’t always present an accurate picture of how tense and close a fight actually was, and this is one of those instances, because while two judges awarded St-Pierre a clean sweep of the scorecards, this was anything but an easy fight for the returning French-Canadian icon.

This was St-Pierre’s first fight back after suffering a torn ACL in the latter part of 2011, while Condit came in having claimed the interim title in a contentious, competitive bout with Nick Diaz earlier in the year. It was the first time in some time that there were real doubts about the champion’s ability to retain his title, as he hadn’t fought in more than 18 months and was coming off a major surgery, while Condit was in the midst of a five-fight winning streak.

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St-Pierre controlled the action with his wrestling, but Condit had the biggest individual moment of the fight, dropping the champion with a head kick in the third round that momentarily had everyone (me included) holding their breath, wondering if a new champion was about to be crowned. St-Pierre recovered and resumed his wrestling-based attack, doing well to neutralize the submission attempts and shifty guard of Condit throughout, ultimately securing another victory and successful title defense.

As much as this was another good win for “GSP,” it also was emblematic of who Condit was as a competitor — game ’til the end, right there the whole way, barely a half-step behind the absolute best in the business across multiple eras.

Johny Hendricks defeats Carlos Condit by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28) (UFC 158)

This is one of those fights that would likely be scored differently if it took place now, as the bout hinged on Hendricks’ ability to put Condit on the canvas and keep him there for long stretches.

Here’s why I say that: Hendricks had the most control time of the fight in Round 3, which is the round he lost on all three scorecards. He logged over two minutes of control time in each of the first two frames, which were close in terms of the striking numbers, but saw Condit have the more effective moments, including a front kick to the face and back-take in the first, and several knees to the head in the second.

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Regardless of how it would be scored now, this was an excellent clash of styles between two elite welterweights vying for the opportunity to fight for championship gold, and I would happily take more fights like this as often as the MMA gods want to bestow them upon us.

Chad Laprise defeats Bryan Barberena by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27) (UFC 185)

The best fight from the last time the UFC ventured to Montreal wraps this collection.

Laprise was making his second appearance in the Octagon after winning the welterweight competition on TUF Nations, while Barberena was coming off a win over Joe Ellenberger in his promotional debut and looked far less grizzly than he would in the latter years of his UFC career.

The Canadian started strong, hurting “Bam Bam” to the body and landing with sharp high kicks, cutting angles and using his technical superiority to get ahead on the cards. But Barberena continued to battle, continued to press; his durability and presence slowing down the Ontario native. They both got after it over the final five minutes, Laprise having success when he was able to stay technical and work in space, Barberena doing well creating chaos and working inside.

All three judges scored the fight in favor of Laprise, but all three scorecards were different, illustrating just how close and competitive this one was.

Hopefully we get a couple of these next month when the Octagon finally makes its return to Montreal.