Tag: Georges St. Pierre

UFC Fight Night 25 Results: It Doesn’t Matter If Georges St-Pierre Finishes

Following Jake Ellenberger’s recent knockout of Jake Shields, criticism of welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre has reached an all-time high. Since regaining the welterweight title from Matt Serra in 2008, GSP has won five of his six fights by …

Following Jake Ellenberger’s recent knockout of Jake Shields, criticism of welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre has reached an all-time high. 

Since regaining the welterweight title from Matt Serra in 2008, GSP has won five of his six fights by way of unanimous decision, a streak that has garnered much criticism.

Given his goal of being the best mixed martial artist ever, as discussed by MMA Nation’s Luke Thomas, GSP’s risk-averse performances have been deemed lackluster and boring.

This criticism has now intensified following Carlos Condit’s knockout, Chris Lytle’s submission of Dan Hardy and Jake Ellenberger’s knockout of Jake Shields. Condit, Lytle and Ellenberger were able to do what GSP couldn’t: Finish the fight.

Logical observers do not believe that GSP isn’t capable of finishing fights, they simply believe—with good reason, I should add—that he doesn’t try to finish fights. For that, they admonish him.

My response?

Big deal.

In a fight against the incumbent champion, the onus is on the challenger to win the belt, whereas the champ must solely defend it, not go out and win it time and again. The fight is called a title defense, after all.

If GSP’s competition isn’t capable of going out and putting him in danger, there is no reason that GSP should take undo risk and leave himself open to getting caught. He is capable of utilizing his significant skill set and unparalleled athleticism to completely dictate the pace and flow of a fight, so why shouldn’t he?

Much like you wouldn’t expect Garry Kasparov to sit in a park and challenge passersby to checkers, we shouldn’t realistically expect GSP to give the Dan Hardys and Josh Koschecks of the world a chance to get off their backs or into the pocket and put their hands on him.

Furthermore, should the UFC want to make the jump to the mainstream, MMA as a sport will have to embrace the dominant decision as a legitimate and worthwhile victory.

Do football fans yell and scream if their favorite team abandons the passing game if they are up in the fourth quarter? Must they constantly throw a Hail Mary against a porous run defense? Or constantly run against a weak pass defense?

My point is that the current state of MMA places more emphasis on entertainment than it does on sport. That’s fine by many, but to ever really become a mainstream sport, the actual sporting aspect must eventually come first.

However you cut it, Georges St-Pierre has been one of the most dominant champions, in perhaps the most challenging weight class, in all of MMA.

Call him boring, anemic or any other number of negative adjectives you might, but GSP knows how to win time and time again—and that’s enough for me.   

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Jake Ellenberger Confident He Can Beat GSP, Says His Game Has Holes

Fresh off a massive TKO win over Jake Shields at the UFC’s 25th annual Fight Night event, Jake Ellenberger had a lot of interesting things to say on Ariel Helwani’s the MMA Hour. MMA Fighting transcribed some of the juiciest details.Ellenberger, o…

Fresh off a massive TKO win over Jake Shields at the UFC’s 25th annual Fight Night event, Jake Ellenberger had a lot of interesting things to say on Ariel Helwani’s the MMA Hour. 

MMA Fighting transcribed some of the juiciest details.

Ellenberger, only the second fighter to stop Shields and the first man to do so in nearly an 11-year span, still hasn’t really had the win sink in yet.

“It’s something I’m still definitely trying to wrap my head around,” Ellenberger said. “It happened quick, and Jake’s definitely one of the best guys I’ve ever fought so it feels great. It’s definitely a big win for me.”

Despite the surprise surround his victory, Ellenberger stated that he knew he could do it all along.

“I know he was looking to take me down and I really wasn’t that worried about it,” Ellenberger stated. “I saw openings and I knew I definitely had the potential to knock him out. But happening the way it did is still kind of surreal.”

Shields came in as a consensus top five welterweight despite a UFC 129 loss to Georges St-Pierre, so Ellenberger has immediately catapulted his name into the title conversation with his most recent victory.

“The Juggernaut” is 26-5 in his professional MMA career, winning five straight in the UFC after debuting with a tightly contested split decision loss to Carlos Condit back in September of 2009.

Ellenberger made it clear that he would like another fight before 2011 comes to a close and that he already has thought about a fight with reigning welterweight king, Georges St-Pierre.

The heavy handed wrestler said he feels good about the way his style matches up with GSP in the cage, and while he is one of the sport’s best, he is not invincible.

“GSP is phenomenal, if not the best fighter in world,” Ellenberger admitted. “He’s someone you have to pressure. You definitely have to pressure him. You can’t stay back on him and let him control the distance and the range. He’s definitely beatable.”

While Ellenberger did not go into detail, he claimed that he has some some weaknesses in GSP’s game, weaknesses he can exploit if the two ever meet in the Octagon.

“Him and Jake Shields had a great fight. He’s proven. I don’t know how many times he defended his title, but anyone can be beat. I’m confident I can beat him. Like I said, anyone can be beat, and to beat a guy like GSP, you’d have to keep pressure and look for some holes.”

“He may not have very many, but they’re there,” Ellenberger said confidently.

St-Pierre has defended his belt six times in a row and has not lost since the he was upset by Matt Serra, all the way back in April of 2007. 

Interestingly, Ellenberger said that Condit has a great chance against GSP due to his “fearlessness and power,” and also later proclaimed that St-Pierre likes to “play it safe a little bit.”

St-Pierre’s next title defense comes against Carlos Condit at UFC 137.  The event takes place at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada on October 29. 

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Josh Koscheck Talks Matt Hughes: ‘Fans Deserved This Fight a Long Time Ago’

Filed under: UFCWhen Josh Koscheck first heard that there might be an opportunity to finally get a fight with former UFC welterweight champ Matt Hughes after he’d long since given up lobbying for it, he didn’t have to think too hard about his answer.

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When Josh Koscheck first heard that there might be an opportunity to finally get a fight with former UFC welterweight champ Matt Hughes after he’d long since given up lobbying for it, he didn’t have to think too hard about his answer.

“Diego Sanchez broke his hand and I eventually got a phone call from [manager] ‘Crazy’ Bob Cook and he’s like, ‘Hey, you want to fight Matt Hughes?'” Koscheck said on Monday’s UFC 135 media call. “I didn’t even hesitate. I was like, when are we fighting him?”


What Koscheck didn’t realize, he said, was that this was a late replacement fight. He’d been “so out of the loop” after coming back from a long layoff following an eye injury he suffered against Georges St-Pierre that he didn’t realize Hughes was supposed to fight Sanchez on September 24 in Denver, so he wasn’t expecting to hear Cook tell him that the bout was just three weeks away.

But, Koscheck said, he’d taken enough time off already. For the man who considers himself “always two or three weeks away from being ready to fight,” it was an offer he couldn’t refuse.

“I was like, yep, let’s do it,” Koscheck said. “I’m in shape, let’s go. I didn’t hesitate to take the fight.”

Koscheck hasn’t set foot in the Octagon since losing a unanimous decision to St-Pierre in their five-round title fight at UFC 124. He suffered a broken orbital bone in that fight, thanks to an early jab from GSP, and the pain was even worse than when he’d accidentally severed his own toe at four years of age while “doing something I wasn’t supposed to be doing with a hatchet,” Koscheck said.

The pain of that experience “didn’t compare to the eye injury,” according to Koscheck, who added that he “got through it via pain pills and morphine that night.”

“It was a fun experience, needless to say, that I don’t want to go through ever again,” he quipped.

That was a little over nine months ago, but Koscheck could have come back sooner, he said. He took a little extra time off to “focus on some other areas outside of fighting,” and was planning to return at UFC 139 in San Jose, possibly at middleweight in a rematch with Chris Leben or even a bout against recent Leben knockout victim Wanderlei Silva.

“I was just looking for a big fight, and things happen for a reason,” he said. “I texted Dana White the day of all the confusion with Diego breaking his hand and I said hey, it’s your favorite son, Kos. Make sure I get that fight with Matt Hughes.”

White did just that, apparently. After Hughes agreed to it, the fight that Koscheck had given up on was finally his, albeit after a long layoff from the sport and a short training camp to prepare.

If the timing is of any concern to Koscheck, however, you sure wouldn’t know it.

“Fighting Matt Hughes is a good comeback fight for me,” he said. “I think the fans deserved this fight a long time ago, and now we’re getting the opportunity to do it.”

Better late than never, perhaps. And after what he went through following the GSP fight — not to mention the vague horror of the hatchet incident — how much can there really be left for him to fear?

 

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Fresh Off Biggest Win, Jake Ellenberger Starts Thinking of Georges St-Pierre

Filed under: UFC, NewsLess than 48 hours after the signature win of his career thus far, Jake Ellenberger hasn’t quite fully digested his knockout of Jake Shields at Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 25. It’s not that Ellenberger is surprised he won. After al…

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Less than 48 hours after the signature win of his career thus far, Jake Ellenberger hasn’t quite fully digested his knockout of Jake Shields at Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 25. It’s not that Ellenberger is surprised he won. After all, it’s a fight he asked for, and he basically predicted the result.

But the manner in which he won — becoming the first man to finish Shields in 11 years, and doing it in just 53 seconds — seems a little surreal, even to him.

“It’s something I’m still definitely trying to wrap my head around,” Ellenberger said on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour. “It happened quick, and Jake’s definitely one of the best guys I’ve ever fought so it feels great. It’s definitely a big win for me.”

Ellenberger says that from studying Shields’ past fights, he always felt that his own style would match up well. Couple that with what he perceived to be a speed advantage along with his wrestling skills, and it was a recipe for the upset.

“I know he was looking to take me down and I really wasn’t that worried about it,” he said. “I saw openings and I knew I definitely had the potential to knock him out. But happening the way it did is still kind of surreal.”

The win rocketed him into the conversation of welterweight title contenders. Ellenberger is now 26-5 overall and has won five straight in the UFC, with four of those coming via stoppage.

He said that he hopes to face a highly ranked opponent and would like to fight again before the end of 2011. Ellenberger said that though he’s aware he probably opened a few eyes over the weekend, that takes a backseat to his goal of fighting for the UFC title.

“I’m not really looking for attention,” he said. “I’m not in the sport for attention. My goal is a world title and that’s what it’s been since day 1. The more attention the better, but I’m blessed to be where I’m at and do what I love and be part of the UFC. It’s been great.”

Though he called out Shields dating back to last year, Ellenberger says he’s not asking for anyone specific this time around. His goal is the title, and he’ll continue to work towards that. As he waits for his next matchup, Ellenberger will keep an eye on the welterweight title picture, where he says Carlos Condit has a “great chance” of upsetting Georges St-Pierre in October because of his fearlessness and power.

Those are some of the same traits that Ellenberger believes could eventually help him should he ever earn a chance to fight GSP. Like any top fighter, he’d like to beat the best, and likes his chances against the division’s current king. Citing St-Pierre’s tendency to “play it safe a little bit,” along with his own strengths, Ellenberger thinks he might just be the man to surprise the MMA world again.

“GSP is phenomenal, if not the best fighter in world,” he said. “He’s someone you have to pressure. You definitely have to pressure him. You can’t stay back on him and let him control the distance and the range. He’s definitely beatable. Him and Jake Shields had a great fight. He’s proven. I don’t know how many times he defended his title, but anyone can be beat. I’m confident I can beat him. Like I said, anyone can be beat, and to beat a guy like GSP, you’d have to keep pressure and look for some holes. He may not have very many, but they’re there.”

 

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Anderson Silva and Georges St-Pierre Won’t Pull off That Mayweather Jr. Punch

Neither Anderson “The Spider” Silva nor Georges “Rush” St-Pierre, whoever of the two is MMA’s equivalent of Floyd “Money” Mayweather Jr., won’t resort to any infamous legal-but-cheap shots at an opponent.Our MMA greats have too …

Neither Anderson “The Spider” Silva nor Georges “Rush” St-Pierre, whoever of the two is MMA‘s equivalent of Floyd “Money” Mayweather Jr., won’t resort to any infamous legal-but-cheap shots at an opponent.

Our MMA greats have too much class and ethics to stoop down for a victory that has “crass” written all over it.

Last Saturday night, the fight world witnessed two kinds of KOs in two different arenas: one that left an indefinite and murky impression on its fans (Mayweather’s vs. Victor Ortiz), and one that was definitely clean and drew nothing but admiration for its executioner (Jake Ellenberger’s vs. Jake Shields).

St-Pierre won’t commit that sin, being the consummate fighter and gentleman. He is also a labor activist; he fights to ensure that judges will always have a job to do in his every fight to justify their hiring. (I’m not saying that they always do a good job, it’s just that they “have a job to do.”)

Silva may exude that supreme confidence inside and outside of the Octagon. He comports himself as if he is way above all other fighters when in fact he really is.

Still, he has consistently shown respect not only for the rules of the fight game, but also to the sensibilities of the fans.

He may have been disqualified in his first match versus Yushin Okami for an illegal up-kick, but that was—and is—the only “blemish” in his otherwise esteemed reputation and record as a clean fighter.

 

He didn’t inflict that blow with malice; he was simply ignorant of that rule against that particular strike on that particular night. (As redemption, he finally disposed of Okami in his last title defense in an impeccable and “un-Mayweather-like” fashion.)

In contrast, it is Mayweather who has an acute spider-sense, ironically, of what is legal and when to exploit it in every opportunity—ethics be damned.

But the most significant difference is this: Mayweather needed a jab-straight combination to finish off Ortiz; Silva could’ve done the job with just one jab.

 

Here is my article Mayweather vs. Ortiz: Boxing Means Never Having to Say You’re Sorry Twice.

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UFC 137 Fight Card: Updated Main Card Betting Odds and Predictions

The UFC goes to Mandalay Bay for their Oct. 29 show, and it features two welterweight match ups that will have the MMA world watching very closely.”The Champion vs. The Killer” will be the headline event, and it features UFC welterweight champion Georg…

The UFC goes to Mandalay Bay for their Oct. 29 show, and it features two welterweight match ups that will have the MMA world watching very closely.

“The Champion vs. The Killer” will be the headline event, and it features UFC welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre going up against “The Natural Born Killer” Carlos Condit. St. Pierre’s nine-fight win streak has placed him among the best pound-for-pound fighters, and he has looked flawless in getting there.

Condit brings a four-fight win streak into the Octagon with a 27-5 record with 26 of those victories coming by knockout or submission.

In the co-main event, former UFC welterweight and lightweight champion B.J. Penn takes on former Strikeforce welterweight champion Nick Diaz. Diaz was given the fight after being pulled out of the main event due to missing two pre-fight press conferences. Some fans are more interested in this fight than the main event.

Other main card bouts include Matt Mitrione vs. Cheick Kongo, Hatsu Hioki vs. George Roop and Mirko Cro Cop vs. Roy Nelson.

These are the odds and my predictions for the event.

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