Georges St-Pierre appears to be at the top of his game heading into his July 11 bout with American Top Team cohort Thiago “Pitbull” Alves. The French Canadian, 18-2, has demonstrated monstrous improvement since his UFC debut - - which occured over five years ago.
Currently regarded as one of the sports best overall competitors, St-Pierre has merited that claim by dethroning the best welterweights the world has to offer.
That being said, one specific combatant has climbed up the ranks - - defeating the likes of Matt Hughes and Josh Koscheck - - and garnered an opportunity to fight for Georges’ welterweight title.
Thiago Alves (16-3) presents a gargantuan task for the 28-year-old champion. Alves possesses excellent Muay Thai and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu skills - - the likes of which St-Pierre has not been met with inside the octagon.
“Skill wise he’s bringing a lot more problems on the table than everybody that I’ve fought so far,” St-Pierre stated. “Thiago’s got devastating leg kicks, but that’s not the only thing he’s got. He has great knees, a great left hook. And he’s very heavy handed.”
“Rush”, like all fighters, has a very detailed gameplan for Alves. Greg Jackson - - trainer of St-Pierre - - is recognized as one of the very best strategical coaches in the sport. And with Jackson in St-Pierre’s corner, “Rush” is looking to have an abundance of options at UFC 100.
“I’ve been studying a lot of tape and I do have a specific strategy that I will use to take him out of his comfort zone, but it’s like when you play cards you don’t want to show your hand. When I fought BJ Penn I had a strategy but Thiago Alves is a way different fighter than BJ Penn so it’s going to be a different strategy, it’s going to be something else that I’m going to do to him.”
Regardless of St-Pierre’s staggering resume, nobody is unbeatable. The humble welterweight champion is dedicated to withhold his title no matter who his opposition may be. A young, hungry Thiago Silva looms in the balance and he’s striving for another impressive win. In a battle between Greek god-like figures, one man will cement their status as MMA’s welterweight czar.
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I bet GSP cringes everytime he looks at his record and sees that he lost to Matt Serra. Just goes to show that anything can happen in MMA. Although if it wasn’t for that loss, I doubt GSP would be as motivated as he is today.