CompuNate Breakdown: These Breakdowns are something I do with my free time as a fan of the sport, with the goal to improve the level of debate and knowledge on the boards. It is not my intention or proclamation that these Breakdowns are the end of discussion about these competitive bouts. Rather, it is my hope that by providing easily accessible and accurate information that my breakdowns will be used as a tool in these debates.
It should not be a surprise to any martial arts fan that judging is very subjective. As such, I cannot deny that anyone can have a legitimate argument against my numbers. However, I create these breakdowns without a bias towards any fighter, so I do not believe that my interpretation of strikes (Provided after the official fight tallies) gives an advantage to any fighter.
*This is the 1st official CompuNate Breakdown.
CompuNateBreakdown 2: Keith Jardine vs. Stephan Bonnnar -
CompuNate Breakdown: Bonnar/Jardine
First Sherdog breakdown: Georges St. Pierre vs. BJ Penn
Extensive Breakdown: GSP vs. BJ (long)
**I picked Hughes/GSP I due to the hype and discussions that will arise leading up to their rematch. While generally I will reserve my Breakdowns for fights that reach a decision, there is debate as to who was truly winning the fight before the beautiful last second arm-bar by Matt Hughes. Hopefully by providing this analysis, there will be less subjective and repetitive threads with no legitimate basis for arguments.**
***Breakdown was performed using an official UFC 50 DVD, on a DVD player w/ slo-motion play abilities.***
Event: UFC 50: The War of ‘04
Match: UFC Welterweight (170 lbs) Championship: Matt Hughes vs. Georges St. Pierre
Date: October 22nd, 2004
Location: Boardwalk Hall, Atlantic City, New Jersey
Referee: John McCarthy
Commentators: Mike Goldberg, Frank Mir
ROUND 1:
Hughes stand-up punches thrown: L,L,R,L,R,L,R,L,L,L (10)
GSP stand-up punches thrown: L,L,L,L,R,L,R,L,L,R,L,R (12)
Hughes jabs: L (1)
GSP jabs: L,L (2)
Hughes hooks/’power’ punches: L (1)
GSP hooks/’power’ punches: L (1)
Hughes body shots: (0)
GSP body shots: R (1)
Hughes kicks: (1 high missed), (0)
GSP kicks: (1 high missed), Solid spinning back kick to midsection(1:58) (1)
Hughes clinch knees: R (1)
GSP clinch knees: R (1)
Hughes takedowns: (3:08) (1:13) (2)
GSP takedowns: (4:31) (1)
Hughes takedown attempts: (4:11), (1:55) (2)
GSP takedown attempts: (0)
Hughes submission attempts: Guillotine (4:30), Armbar (0:01)
GSP submission attempts: Kimura (2:55)
Ground – Hughes shots thrown: L,L,R,L,R,R,R,R (8)
Ground – GSP shots thrown: R,R,R,R,R,R,R (7)
Ground – Hughes headshots: R(elbow),R,R,R (3)
Ground – GSP headshots: R,R,R,R,R (5)
Ground – Hughes bodyshots: L, L (2)
Ground – GSP bodyshots: R,R,R,R (4)
(Times given are by official UFC clock unless noted otherwise)
*All tally categories are described as the Fighter making the attempt/strike. Ex: “Hughes jabs” are jabs that Matt Hughes landed in the fight. All strike categories are shots that landed. The “______ punches thrown” categories include all punches attempted, including landed and missed strikes.*
4:31 – First takedown of the fight. GSP follows up a left jab w/ a single-leg (right) shoot. Hughes does not defend the takedown, but accepts it and attempts a guillotine. The takedown lands in a Hughes’ half-butterfly guard. GSP escapes the guillotine after 5 seconds.
4:19 – Hughes wraps his arms around GSP’s body attempting to hold him close. He does not attempt any offense while on the bottom. While GSP throws rights, Hughes attempts to sweep out from GSP’s left side, leading to a mutual sprawl. Hughes attempts a takedown but is stuffed by GSP.
3:08 – Hughes follows up a RLR combination w/ a takedown. Total time it took for the takedown was about 19 seconds. Hughes worked the fence to gain leverage to get a ‘Hughes Slam’. Takedown lands in GSP’s full guard, close to the fence. Hughes tries to skip out the guard, lands in a half-guard/side-control position. GSP gives a solid attempt for a kimura on Hughes’ right arm, but Matt pins his hand under their bodies until GSP gives up the attempt. During this period of ground control, Matt’s only attempt at offense are two (strong) body shots.
2:23 – GSP kicks off of the fence to sweep out from under Hughes, leading to a clinch on/near the fence with GSP’s back to the fence.
*Shortly after this clinch, I independently noticed Hughes’ left eye appeared red, although there doesn’t appear to be any open cut. Goldberg announces that Hughes’ right eye appeared bloodied, but I didn’t notice this. He might have confused his Rights and Lefts again. It didn’t appear that any strike caused the bleeding in/around the eye, and Hughes did not show any significant problems with his sight or being bothered by the eye.
1:13 – Hughes gets his 2nd takedown. Total attempt time was about 6 seconds. Hughes attempt followed the stiff jab by GSP, which sprawled it’s way to GSP being backup against the fence. The takedown initially lands in a quasi-side control position. GSP’s back is up against the fence w/ knees bent up, and Hughes has both legs to the side and is basically laying onto his lap/chest. Hughes eventually sort of pushes GSP over and maintains true side position away from the fence. GSP wraps up Hughes head but mostly just to hold him down it appears. It’s unclear what Hughes initially is attempting – I can’t tell if he was truly going for a submission, but he wraps his right bicep up against GSP’s neck while clenching GSP’s upper body to try and move him closer to the fence.
0:40 - Hughes passes by the head and GSP’s arms to a full cross-body position. GSP attempts a sweep away from Hughes’ body when Matt hits an elbow to the head, but Hughes maintains body control. I don’t consider this an additional takedown because it never leaves the knees, but as Hughes attempts to drive GSP back down to the ground again GSP does attempt to roll both fighters over unsuccessfully. Lands in a full guard. GSP doesn’t try much from the bottom at this point – he mostly holds Hughes in close and throws some light head punches. Hughes does transition to either a half guard or side control (unclear due to angle). GSP clearly panics at the :09 mark. He goes from holding Hughes safely in towards him, then Matt is able to pull away and GSP attempts to push Matt’s right shoulder away as a means of blocking his punches. GSP basically rolls onto his left side while Hughes drops big punches, then transitions 270 degrees around into an arm bar. As the commentator Frank Mir points out, GSP does attempt a kimura which prompts Hughes going for the armbar, but Matt’s arm was never in danger, it was simply GSP wrapping up his arm in the form of a kimura. Also, I do want to note that GSP doesn’t tap ‘before it’s fully locked in’ as many claim he did. Hughes simply lands it perfectly and it’s fully extended when he finally finishes the transition.
OFFICIAL RESULT:
Matt Hughes wins the UFC Welterweight Championship 4:59 into round 1 with a (left) armbar.
Hardest punch landed: A left jab by GSP connects right on the jaw at 1:20 remaining.
Best submission: (Left) Armbar by Matt Hughes at 0:01 remaining.
*Random notes on fight: GSP was the more active/mobile fighter of the two. He was very active moving around in the stand-up, using lots of angles, while Hughes controlled the center of the Octagon. Hughes’ takedowns were always related to punches – Either following up a combination thrown by him or as a response to a strike landed by GSP. *
*If there are other notes/categories that users would like to see included in breakdowns, all constructive criticism is allowed. If there is any dispute about any of my notes or tallies, they’re subject to change. I’d rather my breakdowns be accurate and correct than be one biased opinion.*
Edit: Fixed math error, typos, introduction.
