GSP's Supercamp

leedogg900 · 12-22-2007, 01:18 AM

source: mmaweekly

ST-PIERRE LOOKING SHARP IN TRAINING

MMAWeekly.com was on location to observe a traditional Friday sparring session at the Tri-Star gym in Montreal, Canada. On hand were Georges St-Pierre, Rashad Evans, Denis Kang, Patrick Cote, Jonathan Goulet, David Loiseau, David Pariseau, Jacob MacDonald, Steve Claveau and more.

Coaches Greg Jackson and Mike Van Arsdale were also there to supervise the proceedings. From an on-lookers vantage point, it seemed clear that Jackson is St-Pierre’s closest advisor these days.

The initial pairings as directed by Coach Jackson included Evans versus St-Pierre and Loiseau versus Kang. The fighters began by working mainly their striking and occasionally shooting in for a takedown attempt. Every five minutes they would take a short rest and find a new partner for the next round.

Of note, not one fighter (including Evans) was able to take down St-Pierre and it definitely wasn’t because of a lack of effort. On the other hand, it looked as though St-Pierre took everyone down almost at will with probably a 95% success ratio.

St-Pierre’s standup also looked crisp. Although he doesn't throw a lot of combinations, the strikes he does throw land clean and often. Perhaps one minor note of criticism is that his feet are not always grounded thus reducing the amount of weight behind his strikes.

There was also some speculation around the gym, although St-Pierre did not confirm this, that he had actually been anticipating the possibility of Serra pulling out of the fight and thus had been going through his regular intensive training rituals for 12 weeks leading up to the fight. This is interesting because his Dec. 29 opponent, Matt Hughes has repeatedly stated that one of the factors he chose to take the fight was that because he felt St-Pierre may not have had sufficient time to prepare. If what St-Pierre’s teammates are saying is true, Hughes may be in for a bit of a surprise.

interesting that no1 could take gsp down, including rashad who has great takedowns and is much bigger then gsp. also that gsp is able to take them down with ease.

nhenry87 · 12-22-2007, 02:42 AM

If all that is stated true, then I feel sorry for Hughes

johngeorge · 12-22-2007, 03:00 AM

if gsp can take down rashad and kos and cant be taken down by them, then I cant see hughes having any chance. WAR GSP

slikguy · 12-22-2007, 03:05 AM

could be propaganda or it could be real.

he was saying the same crap b4 the Serra fight

we'll see which GSP shows up on the 29th

Grapplepit28 · 12-22-2007, 05:15 AM

I wouldn't put too much confidence in the hype machine here... He did say exactly these same things before the Serra fight. GSP does have great wrestling and takedown D; everybody knows that, but no fighter is invincible. And all fighters look great when they're in their own training camp getting ready for a fight. As I've said before, GSP knew who his next opponent would be and he has been training for him all this time, not just the six weeks leading up to the fight. There won't be any surprises on either side in this fight; it should be very competitive and entertaining.