UFC 167: St-Pierre ekes out split over Hendricks, ‘steps away’ from MMA

LAS VEGAS – Georges St-Pierre said Johny Hendricks would provide the biggest threat yet to his welterweight title, and he proved to be right.

Even St-Pierre may have been surprised at the outcome, though, as many in attendance were when the longtime UFC champion was announced as the split-decision winner. Immediately after the fight, St-Pierre could be seen mouthing, “You did it” to Hendricks.

The welterweight title bout was the main event of today’s UFC 167 event at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. It aired on pay-per-view following prelims on FOX Sports 1 and MMAjunkie.

Hendricks came out swinging early, and landed often en route to what he and his cornermen thought was a victory. But St-Pierre took a pair of 48-47 scores to one 48-47 for Hendricks.

Then St-Pierre dropped a bombshell, telling Joe Rogan that he needs to “step away” from fighting for a while to focus on some personal issues in his life. When asked by Rogan if he was indeed retiring, the champion said he just needed to take some time away.

St-Pierre kicked early, and when Hendricks threw a big punch, St-Pierre dove in and took him down. He latched onto a guillotine, but Hendricks slipped it. The two went to work wrestling on the feet, with Hendricks bullying the champion to the cage. But after a short stalemate, referee Mario Yamasaki split them up. The challenger just missed with a big left uppercut, but landed some punches in tight as the two clinched. Then he rained down with elbows as St-Pierre held on to a takedown.

St-Pierre’s face was marked up midway through the round, and Hendricks took him down. But St-Pierre was back up quickly and finally broke off. It was the kind of back-and-forth that would be the hallmark of the entire fight.

Hendricks had the champion in trouble several times in the fight, even though he appeared to wane slightly in the fourth. St-Pierre stayed in the fight with jabs and a Superman punch, hoping he had survived the challenger’s onslaught each time it came.

The two touched gloves for the fifth round, and St-Pierre may have known he had to go into desperation mode to get a finish. He shot early for a takedown and held on to a single. But he couldn’t get the challenger to the canvas as Hendricks kept his balance. St-Pierre hurt Hendricks with a kick to the body, though, and came right after him with more than three minutes left in the fight, getting him to the ground. Hendricks tried to sneak out and back to his feet and did so, then reversed position. With two minutes left, he worked knees to the body, but Yamasaki split them up. St-Pierre got his third takedown of the fight with 30 seconds left, but Hendricks popped right back to his feet to close things out.

“I thought I clearly won the fight,” Hendricks said. “But Georges is a great competitor. It sucks, but I’m coming back. I’ll get that belt. It’s mine.”

St-Pierre (25-2 MMA, 19-2 UFC) stretched his winning streak to 12 fights. Hendricks (15-2 MMA, 10-2 UFC), who fought in the championship rounds for the first time, had his six-fight streak snapped.

Up-to-the-minute UFC 167 results include:

• Georges St-Pierre def. Johny Hendricks via split decision (48-47, 47-48, 48-47)
• Rashad Evans def. Chael Sonnen via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 4:05
• Robbie Lawler def. Rory MacDonald via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
• Tyron Woodley def. Josh Koscheck via KO (punches) – Round 1, 4:38
• Ali Bagautinov def. Timothy Elliott via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
• Donald Cerrone def. Evan Dunham via submission (triangle choke) – Round 2, 3:49
• Thales Leites def. Ed Herman via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
• Rick Story def. Brian Ebersole via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
• Erik Perez def. Edwin Figueroa via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
• Jason High def. Anthony Lapsley via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
• Sergio Pettis def. Will Campuzano via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
• Gian Villante def. Cody Donovan via TKO (punches) – Round 2, 1:22

For complete coverage of UFC 167, stay tuned to the UFC Events section of the site.

John Morgan contributed to this report on-site in Las Vegas.