Georges St. Pierre vs. Jon Fitch: An Obession With Wrestling
by Luke Thomas on Aug 6, 2008 2:59 PM EDT
in MMA News
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PrintTodd Martin talks to Fitch about his training and game plan for his fight with GSP in light of Koscheck's preparation and performance:
St. Pierre dominated high level wrestlers like Matt Hughes, Frank Trigg and Koscheck. St. Pierre's victory over Koscheck was particularly notable, since Koscheck and Fitch are former collegiate wrestling stars who train together at the American Kickboxing Academy.
Fitch distinguishes his fight with St. Pierre from Koscheck's by noting their contrasting approaches.
"(Koscheck) is very stubborn," Fitch notes. "He didn't want to listen to anyone when we told him to practice wrestling. He had it in his head that nobody could take him down if he didn't want them to. I don't think he drilled a single takedown that entire training camp. It was basically all standup and even very little jiu jitsu. I haven't taken that approach for this fight. I always train everything."
I'm not suggesting there won't be some takedown battles in this fight, but I would be very surprised if the ground game was the domain where the fight ended. St. Pierre is customarily a smart gameplanner and is adept at making adjustments on the fly. If Fitch has shown any acumen, it's not in trading hands to finish opponents standing. St. Pierre, while he hasn't been willing to overly engage in fisticuffs in recent fights, has shown an ability to stop opponents standing. Go back and watch St. Pierre's fight with IFL standout Jay Hieron for proof. Once Hieron was rocked St. Pierre followed him down, but it was during the punching exchanges that St. Pierre asserted himself with better angles, solid power and aggressive maneuvering.
We all know the professional boxers St. Pierre trains with swear by his stand-up and I believe the notion of GSP being gun shy are grossly overstated. I don't think this will be a walk in the park for either fighter, but I do believe St. Pierre will force Fitch into engaging him on the feet. He will force Fitch into making mistakes by doing what St. Pierre does best: removing fighters from their comfort zones.
We shall see.
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Exactly...
what I’ve been saying. If you look at Fitch’s fight with Chris Wilson you can see where he can be busted up on the feet. And GSP has some very good stand-up. He hasn’t used it lately because it hasn’t NEEDED to be used. This fight it will make more sense for him to keep it on the feet, bust Fitch up and only go to the ground when he is good and ready.
Contributing Editor - BloodyElbow.com - SBNation's mixed martial arts headquarters.
by Brent Brookhouse on Aug 6, 2008 2:03 PM EDT reply actions
Ditto. Fitch’s stand-up is adequate at best, so I figure GSP will engage him on the feet. I wouldn’t be surprised if he does what he did with Serra, in that he shifts levels a lot, pushing the pace and keeping Fitch guessing as to where this will end up. Chances are, he knocks Fitch out. He hasn’t stopped anyone with strikes since he headkicked Hughes in their second meeting. He’s about due I figure.
i concur
i think the majority of the fight will be fought on the feet. i don’t see it going to ground much unless gsp wants work gnp. i believe fitch has good standup but gsp is more dynamic/explosive. he also does a good job keeping his opponents off balance. i think gsp will try to pick him apart by beating him to the punch/kick and moving back out to avoid trading in the pocket. fitch is the taller fighter, but i don’t think he’ll have a reach advantage. i’m fan of both fighters so i hope it’s an entertaining, back-and-forth fight. however, i think gsp will be the agressor and will be providing most of the fireworks in this fight. fitch will try to use the clinch and dirty boxing to slow/control the pace but, if gsp doesn’t stop him early, i see gsp winning by ud.
Fitch sat Burkman down with a one-two, dropped Carniero against the fence, almost had Joslin out, grounded and pounded Alves unconscious, and I believe knocked down Hironaka.
Joslin worked Fitch in the standup.
Fitch did nothing on the feet against Alves.
Fitch didn’t knock Hironaka down. He did land a nice head kick, however. OTOH, Hironaka landed a punch that had Fitch bleeding very badly in Rd 3.
as for the topic, GSP mixes his strikes and TD attempts seamlessly. That’s what makes him so good. He’s so elusive and quick and it’s hard to judge what he’s going to do.
As for wrestling accumen, Fitch was actually about a .500 wrestler in college at Purdue. He didn’t even make the NCAA championships in his Sr. season. FWIW.
Joslin is a hittable fighter and Fitch landed on him. I never said he dominated Jeff or even had the upper hand in terms of skill.
Alves did nothing on the feet against Fitch either, so saying Fitch didn’t without saying Alves didn’t shows some bias.
I sincerely doubt GSP will trade at all; he will feign interest in striking for a moment here and there, perhaps, but only to lull Fitch into a takedown. St. Pierre has essentially become Matt Hughes 2.0, if he is unwilling to exchange with someone like Matt Serra, I doubt he will be looking to do so with Fitch
I agree, if GSP has a standup fight with Fitch I’ll be very surprised. He’ll feint with some striking and go for the takedown where he’ll GnP or look for a submission. I thought I read that GSP said that striking is risky and ends up with too much luck on who lands the lucky shot. He’s proven that once on the ground that people have a difficult time dealing with him so why break the trend.
As much as I’d like to see him and Fitch bang it out I will be very surprised if that is anywhere in GSP’s gameplan.
Once bitten, twice shy....
GSP is not going to want a slugfest. Anyone can land a lucky punch. He dosen’t want a repeat of the first fight with Serra. He’s going to try and hurt Fitch while taking as little damage as he can, which is always a good idea.
We all know the professional boxers St. Pierre trains with swear by his stand-up and I believe the notion of GSP being gun shy are grossly overstated
Can’t say I disagree. I think GSP just realised that wrestling and ground control is a far safer way of exerting your superiority over an opponent, as opposed to the ‘puncher’s chance’ element of a stand up exchange – there’s just a lot more variables on the feet.
Yeah, there’s a difference between being scared and being smart. If St. Pierre has Fitch in trouble standing, he’s not going to go for a takedown just to get away from the standup; he’s going to intelligently push, change angles, change levels, inflict damage and stay out of the way of any counters. Then if Fitch recovers, maybe it’s time to take it down and go for the g’n’p.
by AJB on Aug 6, 2008 6:12 PM EDT up reply actions
Tell that to Anderson Silva
This excuse of a puncher’s chance is just GSP saving face. If punching only involves luck, then Anderson Silva should’ve lost by now. GSP is getting one dimensional and he’s gun shy due to his weak chin. If he has a chin, then one lucky punch shouldn’t matter.
Half of MMA is the stand up game. To say that the stand up is all based on luck tells me that GSP is no longer the GSP of old. No, I would dare say that Koscheck could take him in the stand up.
Where did anyone say that stand up is all luck? Enough with the hyperbole just to ram home your point. The point is that the margin for error is smaller, and the consequences thereafter are potentially more damaging, in a stand up exchange. Now that’s not to say the ground game is completely safe, it’s not, but it’s can be viewed as a percentage game. The risk in the stand up, for GSP at least, is a little bit higher. He knows he’s better than Serra standing and on the ground, but which gameplan limits the chances of an upset – the one that used in the second fight clearly.
Really? On the ground, you can get submitted any time as well. It really depends on the fighter, right? No one wants to get to the ground with Big Nog. No one wants to stand up with Anderson Silva.
If GSP doesn’t want to stand up because he feels that the ground is safer, that means that he doesn’t believe in his stand up. If GSP is better than Serra standing or on the ground, then it really doesn’t matter where the fight ends up. If he takes it to the ground, then obviously he respects Serra’s stand up. Spinning anyway you want, GSP is afraid of the stand up.
Please reference any fight where GSP has shown a weak chin. And please dont’ mention the Serra fight, where it was a punch to the back of the head/neck that did him in (And he then took a bunch of clean shots right on the chin that never put him out). Is GSP’s chin now located right by his brain stem?
GSP took a bunch of shots from Penn, who has heavy hands, and was never hurt, staggered, or dropped.
What St. Pierre showed in the Koscheck fight and the second Serra fight was a willingness to trade after tiring the other guy out with his top game. He picked apart Koscheck for over half the third round before Kos went for the takedown, and definitely got the better of the standup after being on top of Serra for the first 4 minutes or so of the first round.
Anything can happen when two guys are fresh, but I think GSP likes his chances on the feet after he’s worn out his opponent.
not scared
GSP wasnt scared to stand up with Serra the last match it just wasnt smart, and not his game plan. Serra is vertically challenged (short), and in an interview ,GSP said he was not going to trade with him, because of the hieght gap, GSP would be vulurable..it makes perfect sense. GSP WILL stand up with Fitch and I predict an overwhelming victory.,
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