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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
The UFC turns 20 years old this November, and they'll be celebrating that milestone with an event in Las Vegas on November 16 on pay-per-view. According to a report from UFC Tonight on Fuel TV, confirming a previous report on the matter, that card will be headlined by a Welterweight Championship bout between Georges St-Pierre and Johny Hendricks.
The sport is a different animal in 2013 than what began as the Ultimate Fighting Championship in 1993, with St-Pierre representing the embodiment of the "mixed" in what became mixed martial arts. He's also the UFC's current top draw on pay-per-view, and hopes to extend his five year, nine fight run as the UFC's reigning Welterweight Champion.
His current 11 fight winning streak dates back to the shocking upset loss he suffered in 2007 to Matt Serra, which he would avenge a year later to begin his current title run. The Champion is 24-2 overall in his MMA career, with a 16-1 run in the post-Ultimate Fighter era of the UFC.
That dominant run will be put to the test against Hendricks, the 15-1 challenger who enters this fight on a six fight winning streak. That has included three first round stoppages totaling two minutes and 33 seconds of in cage time between them.
Penick's Analysis: A GSP fight headlining the UFC's 20th anniversary is a fitting and deserved spot. While a superfight could have been huge to put together for that occasion, the timing once again just didn't work out the way the UFC probably hoped, and GSP-Hendricks is a very good title fight for this card as it is. Given St-Pierre's continued status as the UFC's top pay-per-view draw as well, it's right to have him on top of a card like this, and it's going to be a special evener for the UFC come November.
Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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