My Only Complaint About Georges St. Pierre's Performance Against Dan Hardy
by Kelvin Hunt on Mar 29, 2010 2:00 PM EDT
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PrintI've been debating about writing about this since it's almost like beating a dead horse now even though we are only one day removed from the fight. However, I've read quite a bit of negative backlash about GSP's performance at UFC 111. He fought too safe, he did this or he didn't do that. So I thought I'd give my take on it with this post.
First of all, GSP absolutely dominated that fight and to say otherwise is absurd.
I thought GSP really tried to finish that fight and the armbar attempt in the first round as well as the multiple kimura attempts in the latter part of the fight are proof of that. However, the finish not happening is a direct result of two things. Dan Hardy must be given credit where it's due and lesser men would have tap on BOTH of those submission attempts. The other half is that GSP is simply too nice and didn't want to break Hardy's arm. However, that's another can of worms we won't tackle today. Imagine the ridiculous stuff that the New York media and politicians of that state would have came up with as a result of that happening. Not to mention that Rousimar Palhares tried to take home Tomasz Drwal's leg home with him earlier in the nights broadcast.
Anyways.
My only complaint about GSP's performance was that I thought he should have attempted to do more damage while on the ground. While watching the fight, it seemed as though he was playing more of the position game and looking for submissions instead of trying to inflict damage in this one. Had he had offered more ground and pound, the likely hood of submissions becoming available would have increased. However, once you look at the fightmetric numbers from the fight, the guy did land 164 strikes(49 of those were considered power shots) while on the ground. GSP even admitted as much in his post fight interview that can be found here. That's the same interview where he said that Dan Hardy was in the same league as Jon Fitch and Thiago Alves.
Now, don't necessarily agree with that statement, but Hardy did take a lot less damage than both Fitch and Alves. That could be a direct result of GSP's game plan or maybe Hardy is better at avoiding punishment on the ground than Fitch and Alves?
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- Jorge Gurgel in the UFC often appeared to focus on gaining that exact-perfect position but neglected to throw bombs on his opponent. FAIL. When GSP postured up, he was able to land some but not enough to damage Hardy.
- Direct result of both. GSP was definitely sticking to the game plan AND Hardy was able to minimize most of GSP efforts to hurt him from the top.
Fight Stats:
People can cite all the numbers from the GSP-Hardy fight till they’re blue in the face . . . Hardy emerged like he lost a long grappling or wrestling tournament not a fight.
GSP often likes to say how much he’s grown as a fighter. Going back to GSP’s post-conference analogy, it has to be disheartening on a personal level if you’re the best runner in the world but you’re never able to beat your personal best time in competition when you’re improving so much in training. As a competitor that’s real. Just like Machida, he was tired of hearing all the “boring” talk and wanted to put on a show just like his friends, he wanted to be a better MMA fighter. GSP is realizing that’s he’s not good as he imagine BUT-don’t get it twisted- he is still that dude.
- The next guy to fight Dan Hardy is going to feel it.
- If Daley defeats Koscheck and gets the next title shot – because we know Fitch will not get the next shot – I expect GSP to finish Daley on the ground in the 3rd or 4th. I just hope Daley is drilling takedown defense, submission defense and all that regularly.
"There's nothing cool about taking punishment" - Floyd Mayweather Jr.
GSP often likes to say how much he’s grown as a fighter. Going back to GSP’s post-conference analogy, it has to be disheartening on a personal level if you’re the best runner in the world but you’re never able to beat your personal best time in competition when you’re improving so much in training. As a competitor that’s real. Just like Machida, he was tired of hearing all the "boring" talk and wanted to put on a show just like his friends, he wanted to be a better MMA fighter. GSP is realizing that’s he’s not good as he imagine BUT-don’t get it twisted- he is still that dude.
You do realize that it’s VERY difficult to best yourself without anyone pushing you…
Like..can you imagine how fast Ussain Bolt would run if he had someone that was almost as fast as him?
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yeah that’s true because we’re going to see if Machida is really good soon enough.
Keep in mind, GSP made the analogy. But I would figure at this point he would know the subtle-technical-mathematical-intricate detailed nuances to rip Hardy’s arm off a-la-Aoki. I think Hardy clearly pushed him and tested his submission skills on the floor. We all remember when GSP cranked the crap out of Hughes arms, Matt Hughes was QUICK to tap via SCREAMing in excrutiating pain. It had to frustrating for GSP to be unable to submit Hardy via armbars. He went up to Hardy after the fight . . . “Yo, wassup, that was amazing. Are you human? You’re arms should be broken, I even broke a sweat and I’m GSP.”
"There's nothing cool about taking punishment" - Floyd Mayweather Jr.
by VeeisAnimated on Mar 29, 2010 3:50 PM EDT up reply actions
Dan Hardy must be given credit where it’s due and lesser men would have tap on BOTH of those submission attempts. The other half is that GSP is simply too nice and didn’t want to break Hardy’s arm. However, that’s another can of worms we won’t tackle today.
I think those are the two big points from the match. Hardy clearly has some heart/toughness/whatever that vastly outshines most anyone else nowadays. Is it a problem that GSP didn’t snap his arm? I’m not sure. I’d like to think if I were him that I could do it, but I’m kindof a prick like that. Looking back, maybe we shouldn’t label him as a “nice guy”, as much as “a professional”. Would a professional fighter that’s #1 (with a distant, distant #2) really feel the need to put a guy out of action for a year, if not end his career?
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I dunno
I say nice….because Carwin is ‘professional’….yet continued to drop those anvils on the Mir’s head even when it was clear he was limp…lol.
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Well..
I’d say there’s a bit of a difference between pounding a loudmouth who will get over it, and breaking bones on some Brit.
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breaking bones on some Brit
who’s also a loudmouth…lol.
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I don’t think GSP was holding back at all.
"There's nothing cool about taking punishment" - Floyd Mayweather Jr.
by VeeisAnimated on Mar 29, 2010 6:06 PM EDT up reply actions
I wonder if GSP’s game plan was to use more positional dominance and go for the submissions in response to his last fight against Thiago Alves. Once GSP postured up to work some GNP, Thiago was able to take advantage of the space created and get back to his feet a lot. It would have been smart for GSP to avoid giving Hardy those same opportunities and minimize the chance of a Hardy KO.
probably had something to do with it.
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by Kelvin Hunt on Mar 29, 2010 11:25 PM EDT up reply actions
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