MONTREAL — Welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre outpointed trash-talking Josh Koscheck on Saturday night at UFC 124, winning 50-45 on all three judges' cards in front of 23,152 fans at Bell Centre — a North American record for a UFC crowd.
The 29-year-old Montrealer (21-2) carved up Koscheck's face with his jab and punished his legs with kicks in his fifth successful title defense.
"I didn't reach my goal tonight. My goal was to take him out, but he was very tough," St-Pierre said.
In the co-main event, 6-foot-11 Dutch heavyweight Stefan Struve stopped 6-foot-7 Sean McCorkle at 3:55 of the first round to improve to 10-1. Also, welterweight Thiago Alves won a unanimous decision over John Howard, Mac Danzig knocked out Joe Stevenson, and Jim Miller upset rising lightweight star Charles Oliveira.
Canadian fighters dominated the opening fights. John Makdessi and Sean Pierson won in their debuts, Jesse Bongfeldt had a draw in his first fight, and Mark Boceck also won.
Makdessi unanimously outpointed Pat Audinwood, Pierson won a slugfest with Matt Riddle, Bongfeldt fought to a draw with Rafael Natal, and Boceck topped Dustin Hazelett.
Canadians T.J. Grant and Joe Doerksen lost. Ricardo Almeida edged Grant, and Dan Miller beat Doerksen.