UFC 124: Georges St. Pierre Vs John Koscheck 2 Preview
By Luigi Lizares Yunque
(Managing Editor’s Note: Luigi Lizares Yunque is our newest Feature Writer at RSR and will be covering MMA. I, along with the rest of the team, welcome him aboard!)
This coming Saturday will be the rematch between Josh Koscheck and the reigning and defending UFC Welterweight Champion, Georges “Rush” St. Pierre or GSP. An event that got a lot of media mileage because Josh Koscheck’s consistent trash talk, during the 12th season of The Ultimate Fighter. Both Koscheck and St. Pierre were the coaches for this seasons The Ultimate Fighter (TUF).His purpose was to get into GSP’s skin before they step into the ring next week. In a way, it did get into his head, but it just pushed GSP to train even harder for the upcoming fight.
For those of you who are not familiar with the fighters, I’ll give you a brief background of the both of them.
Josh Koscheck was an NCAA Division 1 Champion with a record of 49-0. He was also one of the original cast members of the first season of The Ultimate Fighter (TUF). Everybody who saw the show hated him with a passion. He is a guy you would love to hate. And he really brought that persona with him when he was working his way up as a welterweight contender. He has a 17-4-0 record as an MMA fighter. He got the title shot by defeating top contender Paul Daley 26-9-2 via unanimous decision during the UFC 113.
Not only did he win that fight, I also give him an award for best actor, after acting like he was hit by an illegal knee. This was not the first time that he put his acting into good use. In his fight against Anthony “Rumble” Johnson, one of the more promising fighters in the welterweight division, Koscheck managed to convince the referee that he was poked in the eye, and managed to poke “Rumble” Johnson twice without the referee knowing. I guess it shows that I’m not one of his fans; but if you put all his antics aside, he is actually a very well rounded fighter. From the day he set foot on The “Ultimate Fighter”, up until today, you can really see how much he has improved as a fighter. He now has very decent stand up skills, with knockout power to boot. Plus his world class wrestling background makes him a very formidable opponent to anyone.
Now let us move on to our defending champion, Georges “Rush” St. Pierre. This guy is pure class, always a gentleman in and outside the ring. He has a record of 20-2-0, but was able to avenge both loses convincingly. In 2009 he was given the accolade “Fighter of the Year” at the World MMA Awards. He is ranked as the worlds #1 fighter in the welterweight division today. Yahoo Sports also ranks him as the #1 Pound for Pound fighter in MMA. During this year’s Spike Awards GSP was given the title “The Most Dangerous Man”. He was up against boxing’s pound for pound king Manny “Pac-Man” Pacquiao.
Right now, GSP is on a 7 fight winning streak and is defending his title for the 5th time in his career. GSP has been dominant in all his recent fights, but he always wants to improve on himself. Seeing that there were holes in his game, especially with his boxing skills he went to the Wild Card Gym in Los Angeles to train under the 4 time Boxing Writers Association of America Trainer of the Year Freddie Roach. On a conference call to the UFC, this is what GSP had to say about his time with Freddie Roach; “Before I knew him (Freddie Roach) I thought that I knew boxing but I found out I didn’t. And he corrected a lot of stuff for me…I feel very confident now and it’s very good.” He also mentioned during the interview, that before he trained with Freddie his punches were mostly set-ups for a take down. After his training, he now throws punches to knock out his opponent. I can’t wait to see him apply what he learned and put it into good use!
The last time these two fighters faced each other was in 2007, during UFC 74. Everybody thought that with Koscheck’s unblemished wrestling background that he would take GSP down easily. To everyone’s surprise, it was the other way around. He outwrestled the 4 time NCAA Division 1 Champion with ease. Dominating Koscheck with everything that was thrown at him, GSP won the fight via unanimous decision.
3 years has passed, and both are even better fighters compared to the last time they fought. During the Finale of The Ultimate Fighter season 12, both fighters were interviewed about their upcoming bout. Josh said he was concentrating more on his striking, and mentioned that compared to their first encounter he was not as well rounded as he is right now. I have to agree with his personal assessment. His striking has definitely improved especially when he decided to train at the American Kickboxing Academy. His biggest mistake during their last fight was that he was too confident with his wrestling skills that he didn’t bother to work on his ground game. He won’t make the same mistake twice.
On the same interview during the TUF Finale, GSP was asked about how he reacted when Koscheck was trying to get under his skin. He said he likes a guy that talks trash, because it brings out the 3 elements that would make him win.
-The Best Training Camp.
– He is at his Best when fighting a re-match.
– He is the Best at fighting Trash Talkers.
I also have to agree with what he said. With his training camp now, he practically covered all aspects of his fight game. With regard to fighting a re-match, he dominated all of his re-matches. And when it came to trash talkers, GSP TKO’d the former UFC welterweight champion Matt Serra on UFC 83.
I think this fight if kept standing, has a slight edge on GSP. He is a lot more technical compared to Koscheck. But like I said earlier, Josh Koscheck has that overhand right that can Knock GSP out. If he follows Freddie Roach’s advice to the letter, he would be very effective on his feet. When it comes to wrestling, again I give GSP the edge. I saw the improvement of Koscheck with regard to his wrestling but I don’t think it will be an equalizer in this match. Whoever takes this to the ground more often will be the one who wins this fight. I predict this bout will end the same way it did 3 years ago.
Georges “Rush” St. Pierre, by (Unanimous) Decision.