Their trilogy marked a moment in time in which one all-time great
passed the torch two another.
Georges St.
Pierre and
Matt Hughes
locked horns three times between Oct. 22, 2004 and Dec. 29, 2007
and determined the direction of the
Ultimate Fighting Championship welterweight division. St.
Pierre won two of the three encounters, all of which ended in
decisive fashion. Nearly 15 years removed from their final
encounter, the two men remain interminably linked by what took
place between them inside the cage.
As their exploits continue to drift into the rearview mirror, a
by-the-numbers look at the unforgettable St. Pierre-Hughes
rivalry:
1,163: Days between the first and third St. Pierre-Hughes meetings.
Hughes put away “Rush” with a first-round armbar at UFC 50 in
October 2004 before losing their two subsequent encounters,
succumbing to second-round blows from St. Pierre at UFC 65 in
November 2006 and bowing to a second-round armbar from the Canadian
at UFC 79 in December 2007.
1,150,000: Pay-per-view buys for the two events headlined by St.
Pierre-Hughes. UFC 65 drew 500,000 buys, while UFC 79 earned
650,000. Their first encounter at UFC 50 played third fiddle to
Tito
Ortiz-
Patrick Cote
and
Rich
Franklin-
Jorge
Rivera.
14,666: Fans to witness the second installment of the St.
Pierre-Hughes rivalry in the UFC 65 main event at ARCO Arena in
Sacramento, California. It was the highest attendance figure of the
trilogy and resulted in a $2,138,020 gate.
1,278: Seconds of fight time in the St. Pierre-Hughes series. They
faced one another inside the Octagon for a total of 21:18—the
equivalent of a little more than four rounds.
186: Combined total strikes landed by St. Pierre and Hughes in
their trilogy. More than half of those (107) were landed in their
second encounter.
7: Submission attempts between St. Pierre and Hughes in their three
bouts, two of which ended with tapouts.
60: Significant strikes by which St. Pierre outlanded Hughes in
their rivalry. The Canadian connected with 79 such strikes while
absorbing only 19 in return.
5: Takedowns completed by St. Pierre at Hughes’ expense, and he did
so with a takedown accuracy rate of 100%. Hughes, by comparison,
converted only two of his 13 attempts (15%).
2: Knockdowns credited to St. Pierre in the series. The second led
to a stoppage at UFC 65, where “Rush” buried Hughes with a head
kick and follow-up punches to capture the undisputed welterweight
crown for the first time.
.778: Cumulative winning percentage between the two men following
the completion of their trilogy. St. Pierre compiled a remarkable
11-1 record and established himself as arguably the greatest
fighter of all-time, with wins over
Matt Serra,
Jon
Fitch,
B.J. Penn,
Thiago
Alves,
Josh
Koscheck,
Dan Hardy,
Jake
Shields,
Carlos
Condit,
Nick Diaz,
Johny
Hendricks and
Michael
Bisping. Hughes, meanwhile, went 3-3, with victories over
Serra,
Renzo Gracie
and
Ricardo
Almeida.