In 2011, the UFC held a press conference promoting their seven UFC champions, describing the elite bunch as ‘Super 7’. 14 years on, what happened to them?
UFC brought a mega event to Toronto, Ontario, Canada, back in April 2011, staging the event at the Rogers Centre – home to MLB side the Toronto Blue Jays.
Over 55,000 spectators filled the world-famous stadium as Canadian icon Georges St-Pierre and Brazil star Jose Aldo defended their UFC titles against Jake Shields and Mark Hominick respectively.
Ahead of UFC 129, St-Pierre and Aldo took part in a press conference as they fielded questions from the media and fans.
They were joined by the other five UFC champions, including Jon Jones, who recently retired from MMA, Cain Velasquez and Anderson Silva.
So, what happened to them? Well, SPORTbible take a look at the seven fighters paraded by the UFC that day.
Cain Velasquez, Jon Jones, Anderson Silva, Frankie Edgar and Dominick Cruz during UFC’s ‘Super 7’ press conference. Image: Getty
Cain Velasquez (Heavyweight)
Velasquez attended the presser fresh off stopping Brock Lesnar to capture the UFC heavyweight title. The UFC promoted him as the first fighter of Mexican descent to win a heavyweight title in combat sports history. He received a big push and headlined the UFC’s debut show on TV network FOX against No.1 contender Junior dos Santos.
But the Mexican-American star succumbed to Dos Santos, losing the UFC heavyweight championship in his first title defence. However, he went onto reclaim the title against Dos Santos in a dominant performance. He made two successful defences, including another victory over Dos Santos before surrendering the title to Fabricio Werdum.
Velasquez, plagued by injuries, went 1-1 in his next two fights before walking away from the sport, embarking on a professional wrestling career, where he later signed for the WWE.
But his life took a drastic turn when he was charged with attempted murder, additional gun assault charges and allegedly shooting at a man who was alleged to have molested his four-year son.
He was sentenced to five years in prison and four years of supervised probation last March.
Jon Jones (Light-heavyweight)
Jones participated in the UFC 129 presser just weeks after winning the UFC light-heavyweight title, becoming the youngest champion in UFC history in the process – aged 23 years and 243 days.
‘Bones’ fought a murderer’s row of fighters, including Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson, Lyoto Machida, Rashad Evans, Vitor Belfort and Chael Sonnen. He made light work of all his opponents before running into Sweden’s Alexander Gustafsson. They slugged it out in a five-round war, with Jones eking out a points victory.
He continued to dominate at light-heavyweight and faced the biggest test of his career when he fought Daniel Cormier on two occasions. He beat him twice, but his second victory was overturned after he tested positive for a prohibited substance.
Jones reclaimed the 205lbs strap when he returned to the promotion and bagged a second UFC title in a second weight when he won the vacant UFC heavyweight championship against Ciryl Gane. He defended it against Stipe Miocic before refusing to fight Tom Aspinall, calling time on his career. Just hours after announcing his retirement, he was hit with a criminal charge.
Anderson Silva (Middleweight)
Considered by many fans and critics alike as the MMA GOAT, Silva, who was coming off a front-kick KO of arch-rival Belfort, beat Chael Sonnen – another nemesis of his UFC career – shortly after UFC 129.
He lost his UFC middleweight title in 2013 when he suffered a shock defeat to Chris Weidman before losing the rematch after breaking his leg.
Anderson Silva still owns one of the most legendary knockouts in UFC history. Image: Getty
Post-injury, ‘The Spider’ only recorded one legitimate win as a result of positive doping test, beating Derek Brunson. He lost to Uriah Hall in his final Octagon outing.
After walking away from the UFC, Silva pursued a career in boxing, beating former world champion boxer Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. and Tito Ortiz, setting up a fight against Jake Paul, who recorded a win over the Brazilian.
Georges St-Pierre (Welterweight)
As mentioned, St-Pierre topped the bill at UFC 129, defending his UFC welterweight title on home soil in front of a raucous crowd. He enhanced his legacy further with wins over Carlos Condit, Nick Diaz and Johny Hendricks before stepping away from the sport, citing personal issues.
Four years later, St-Pierre made his comeback and challenged Michael Bisping for his UFC middleweight title. ‘GSP’ delivered a sensational outing, submitting Bisping to become a two-weight UFC champion.
At the top his game, St-Pierre made the surprise decision to retire from MMA for good. He is in the MMA GOAT conversation following his distinguished career.
Frankie Edgar (Lightweight)
Edgar arguably registered the biggest win of his career after UFC 129. He fought Gray Maynard in what was his third meeting with ‘The Bully’, having previously lost one and drawn one.
But he put an exclamation point on their epic rivalry, stopping Maynard in the fourth round of their trilogy bout.
However, Edgar lost his title in his next bout, losing back-to-back fights to Benson Henderson. ‘The Answer’, regarded as one of the best lightweights in UFC history, failed to get his hands on another UFC title and dropped as low as bantamweight towards the end of his stellar career.
Jose Aldo (Featherweight)
Like St-Pierre, Aldo, who was coming over from World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC) following their merger with the UFC, also fought at UFC 129, beating Hominick to defend his UFC featherweight title. He made an impressive seven title defences before facing Conor McGregor in a blockbuster showdown that ended just 13 seconds into the first round.
McGregor ended Aldo’s illustrious and long-standing reign in emphatic fashion with a single shot.
Jose Aldo surrendered the UFC featherweight title to Conor McGregor in 2015. Image: Getty
The Brazilian, however, regained the 145lbs championship after McGregor vacated the title. But he was unable to hold onto the belt, losing consecutive fights to Max Holloway.
Aldo moved down a weight class and fought for the UFC bantamweight title in 2020 in an unsuccessful attempt to become a two-weight champion. The former WEC king retired from MMA after his loss to Aiemann Zahabi last May, having dabbled in boxing.
Dominick Cruz (Bantamweight)
Cruz was also coming over from WEC and beat long-time rival Urijah Faber in his UFC debut after claiming the inaugural UFC bantamweight title in his last-ever WEC outing.
But he was forced to give up the title due to recurring injuries.
Over three years after vacating the UFC bantamweight title, Cruz beat TJ Dillashaw in 2016 to become a two-time UFC bantamweight champion.
He then lost back-to-back UFC title fights to Cody Garbrandt and Henry Cejudo, retiring earlier this year. But he is still with the UFC, working as a colour commentator.
