UFC 129: What happened when Randy Couture competed in his final fight inside the Octagon?

UFC 129 took place on April 30, 2011, and was one of the most hyped shows in company history and for good reason. It was stacked with the legendary Randy Couture and Lyota Machida competing in a Light-Heavyweight clash, a Welterweight Championship bout between George St. Pierre and Jake Shields and a Featherweight Title match-up between Jose Aldo and Mark Hominick.

UFC Hall of Famer, Couture had been on a three-fight winning streak entering UFC 129, but that run was snapped by a phenomenal crane kick which knocked the veteran out cold. Like that, Couture's long MMA career was over. Couture announced his retirement following the contest. Machida paid tribute to him also, in a moving moment.

Lyota

Machida (r) pays tribute to Randy Couture (l)

The card was headlined by a highly anticipated main event of George St. Pierre and Jake Shields with the Welterweight Championship at stake. Atypically, for a GSP fight, the headline clash was unremittingly dull.

The collision was largely bereft of action and Shields, unbeaten in the previous six years was expected to be the Canadian's toughest test. Unfortunately, that didn't prove to be the case and GSP would retain the strap.

UFC 129 was significant also, for hosting the first Featherweight Championship bout in UFC history. The encounter more than lived up to the hype. Jose Aldo and Mark Hominick delivered one of the greatest fights of the year in an all-action encounter that was made all the more memorable for a gigantic swelling Hominick sustained to his forehead.

Mark Hominick braves a hideous head injury to mount Jose Aldo

Aldo, however, proved too much for his challenger and won a Unanimous Decision.

UFC veteran, Vladimir Matyushenko crushed Jason Brilz with a terrifying flurry of punches for a brutal 20-second knockout. What a performance.

Finally, Benson Henderson's UFC debut was worth the wait as he beat Mark Bocek in another massively entertaining fight. Bendo delivered exciting flurry after flurry en route to a decision victory.

UFC 129 was the card that had everything except an exciting main event. GSP would bounce back in style in his next fight at UFC 154, the following year.

UFC officials were not complaining about GSP's pulling power after the show, however. The card drew an impressive 800,000 buys.