THE BEST GEORGES ST. PIERRE WE'VE EVER SEEN

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THE BEST GEORGES ST. PIERRE WE'VE EVER SEEN
Friday, August 16, 2008 - by Damon Martin - MMAWeekly.com

When Georges St. Pierre stepped into the Octagon last Saturday night, he understood that Jon Fitch could possibly end up being the toughest opponent he had ever faced. The end result lived up to the hype as Fitch stuck around for five rounds, but ultimately it was the champion who defended his title and once again proved why he is considered one of the best fighters to ever compete in the sport of mixed martial arts.

St. Pierre came after Fitch with an onslaught of weaponry throughout the fight. From takedowns to strikes, he battered his opponent for 25 minutes en route to his championship victory, but he was very impressed with Fitch’s ability to keep coming back in every minute of the fight.

“Everything went perfect. The only thing that surprised me is I was not able to finish him,” said St. Pierre on MMAWeekly Radio Tuesday night. “He was like The Terminator, always came back to life. It was crazy. It was discouraging at one point, but I kept working hard until the end.”

During the opening round of the fight, St. Pierre was once again able to display his dominant wrestling game by taking Fitch, a former NCAA Division I wrestler, to the ground and impose his will.

In the second round, St. Pierre seemed more than content to stand and trade shots with Fitch while showing his well rounded skills by once again being one step quicker than his opponent.

“I wanted to make him believe that I wanted to shoot more so that he would have been more careful in his attack standing up because he would respect my takedown,” St. Pierre commented about his strategy in the fight. “That’s part of the gameplan. My gameplan was to beat him with the strikes standing up, because I knew on the ground he was very hard to submit.”

Following a hard fought fourth round, St. Pierre went to his corner as everyone noticed a large gash over the Canadian’s left eye. While it eventually took seven stitches to close the cut, St. Pierre says it was like it was never there.

“It was nothing. When I came back in the corner, I had a cut. I think it was a knee. I got cut with a knee to the face,” said St. Pierre. “When I came back to the corner to give my confidence, my cornermen said, ‘oh, it’s just a little scratch.’ It didn’t mess me up at all.”

Ultimately, the entire gameplan and strategy to beat Jon Fitch worked and St. Pierre said that style of attack is something he does in every fight.

“To break my opponent down and to make him accept my dominance,” said the UFC welterweight champion about his fight strategy.

While he will never forget the first time he attempted to defend his welterweight title, which resulted in a loss to Matt Serra, it’s St. Pierre now that is on top of the world and the best in the business.

“That’s exactly where I failed last time. So I had the opportunity to succeed where I failed last time,” St. Pierre stated about the title defense. “The guy you saw fight Saturday was the best Georges St. Pierre you have seen.”