LAS VEGAS - Georges St. Pierre and Matt Hughes had the unenviable task of trying to follow Chuck Liddell and Wanderlei Silva, who staged one of the most memorable fights in UFC history at UFC 79 on Saturday night in front of 11,000 at Mandalay Bay Events Center.

St. Pierre did his best with an electrifying armbar submission to beat Hughes for the interim UFC welterweight title.

But nothing could compare to Liddell vs. Silva. It took more than four years for the dream match between Liddell (21-5) and Silva (31-8-1) to become a reality, and the two fighters put on the kind of all-out slugfest befitting their legendary status in mixed martial arts.

Liddell came away with a three-round unanimous decision victory, winning by scores of 29-28, 30-27 and 30-27.

"He had a rock hard chin," Liddell said. "I hit him with a lot of stuff.

"I had him hurt, but he recovers quick."

Silva did nothing to tarnish his reputation as one of the great 205-pounders with his valiant effort in defeat.

"He is a very tough guy," Silva said. "I give my best. I lose to him, but I give all my best."

Liddell and Silva have been considered two of the best light-heavyweights of this era. Liddell made his mark in the UFC and Silva did it in Japan's PRIDE Fighting Championships. But both fighters came into the fight with back-to-back losses, so some of the luster of the showdown had been lost.

Liddell and Silva made sure nobody cared about their recent losses because of the explosive action they put together in the octagon from the opening bell.

The first round belonged to Liddell, who dazed Silva with a right hand. Silva did what he always does when he gets into danger, he fought back with ferocity.

Silva stunned with a barrage of punches to start the second round. Silva used his aggressive combinations to take the first four minutes of the round. Liddell mounted a comeback in the final minute as both fighters exchanged vicious punches. Silva came away from one exchange with a nasty cut above his right eye.

Liddell delivered some of his most potent right hands to start the third and he went in for the finish. But Silva fought back on instinct, refusing to be stopped. After 2 minutes and 30 seconds of furious action both fighters barely had anything left for the final half of the third round. The crowd gave both fighters a standing ovation when the final bell sounded.

St. Pierre was in control of the main event from the start. He stuffed every takedown attempt by Hughes, dominated the standup and when he took down Hughes, he mounted him and had the fight on the verge of being stopped as the first round ended.

St. Pierre mounted Hughes again in the second round, but Hughes was able to escape to his feet. St. Pierre hip-tossed him to the canvas into the side mount. It wasn't long before St. Pierre got the armbar and Hughes verbally submitted at 4:54 of the second round.

St. Pierre (15-2), of Montreal, Canada, lost the UFC 170-pound title to Matt Serra in April. He was able to get the third fight against Hughes when Serra injured his back during training on Thanksgiving.

"I'm going to take off this belt," St. Pierre said after being presented with the interim title. "It doesn't mean anything to me. Matt Serra is the real champion. Until I beat him I'm not the champion."

Hughes (43-6), of Hillsboro, Ill., said he was going to take some time before deciding if he would continue to fight.

Team Quest's Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou (4-2) of Temecula came into his UFC debut with a lot of hype after scoring back-to-back first-round TKOs over highly regarded Antonio Rogerio Nigueira and Ricardo Arona. Sokoudjou's opponent, Lyoto Machida (12-0) of Belem, Brazil, came into the fight with an unblemished record but a reputation for being a safety-first fighter.

Machida put the UFC's light-heavyweight division on notice with a dominating second-round submission victory over Sokoudjou.

Machida controlled the fight when they were on their feet and won the position battle on the ground. In the second round, Sokoudjou attempted a lunging punch and Machida dropped him with a left hand to the jaw. Machida proceeded to unload a series of punches and elbows.

Machida eventually got an arm triangle choke in and forced Sokoudjou to tap out at 4:20 of the second round.

A couple of bitter Bayou rivals squared off in the opening bout of the pay-per-view telecast. After some exciting back-and-forth standup action, Rich Clementi (38-12-1) of Slidell, La., was able to take down Melvin Guillard (39-8-3) of New Orleans, La., get his back and submit him with a rear-naked choke at 4:40 of the first round.

Clementi stood over Guillard and taunted him after the fight. Guillard tried to get at Clementi, but was restrained by referee Herb Dean.

"He still ain't learned his lesson," Clementi said. "Look at him. Get the (heck) out of here. ... Go practice Jiu-Jitsu Melvin.

"The bottom line is I showed what Melvin has known for six years ... that I'm the better all around fighter. I'm glad that I can finally put the bad blood to rest while putting on a great show for the fans. I can't wait to get back in the octagon with whoever the UFC wants."

In a heavyweight fight, Eddie Sanchez (10-1) of Temecula landed a barrage of uppercuts in the clinch that busted up the nose of Soa Palelei (8-2) of Temecula, forcing referee Mario Yamasaki to stop the fight at 3:24 of thethird round.

To check out UFC 79 undercard results, click here.

CARLOS ARIAS/The Register

carias@ocregister.com

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