It has been a different year in the UFC.
In a year that has seen unprecedented injuries and division queue jumping, leave it to champions Georges St-Pierre and Carlos Condit to restore some order to the landscape of the sport.
Trash talking and fight lobbying has been very popular this year and, to the dismay of many, has landed a few fighters some big fights. Chael Sonnen got Jon Jones, Stephan Bonnar got Anderson Silva. It kept Jason Miller in the game long past his due date. The UFC has shown now more than ever that hot air and light hearted disrespect can land you a big fight.
These two, however, have done it the old fashioned way: through integrity, hard work and excellence inside the cage—not so much the ability to entertain outside of it.
Don’t get me wrong, the Jones-Sonnen and Aldo-Edgar fight scenarios are all well and good and are a major part of success in today’s UFC. Those match ups and the way they came about only make me appreciate the integrity of St-Pierre-Condit even more.
In the second episode of UFC Primetime, (Courtesy MMAFighting.com) Carlos Condit says it best.
“It’s not the guy talking the loudest that you’ve got to worry about. It’s the quiet humble guy that’s not saying anything that’s really the dangerous one.”
In the end, did Anderson Silva have to worry much about Chael Sonnen the second time around? Did all of Michael Bisping’s bravado help him against Dan Henderson?
People wonder what the difference is between a fighter and a martial artist? The UFC is becoming more and more filled with “fighters”. Men who love the show, the trash talk, the attention leading up to a fight. Do those guys always lay it on the line when they get in the cage?
This fight is the perfect example of two true martial artists who have done all their talking in the cage throughout their entire careers.
Many great fighters take a different all around approach to the sport. Sonnen can talk with the best of them. Jones is a persona—the young, rising superstar. Bisping is brash and can talk and generate an audience.
I am more afraid of the silent assassin. Anderson Silva, Jose Aldo, Benson Henderson, Dan Henderson, Cain Velasquez, Georges St-Pierre, Carlos Condit. These are men who know and therefore don’t need to speak.
St-Pierre and Condit can just flat out fight. They don’t need talk or words to build heat and interest. They are both the best of the best with uncompromising integrity. They have both spilled blood, sweat and tears and not just breath and hot air to get to this main event title fight.
Saturday night in Montreal, St-Pierre vs Condit is truly the way it should be.
Dwight Wakabayashi is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report MMA and guest blogger for Sportsnet.ca UFC.
Catch him on Facebook and Twitter @wakafightermma.
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