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[Sakara=Excitement]

FightMetric Takes a Hot and Cold Look at Georges St-Pierre's UFC 111 Performance - Bloody Elbow

FightMetric released their report for Georges St-Pierre's dominance over Dan Hardy at UFC 111. In the victory, St-Pierre reached new highs - and a disturbing low:

While St. Pierre was unable to finish Hardy, the grappling clinic he put on set three new career highs for GSP:

11 takedowns landed (previous high, 10 vs. Alves)
6 submission attempts (previous high, 5 vs. Koscheck)
26 positional improvements (previous high, 14 vs. Miller)

Less impressive was the total number of heavy strikes landed by GSP. After landing a career-high 106 HiPer Strikes against Jon Fitch, St. Pierre's striking tally has declined in each of his last three fights:

49 vs. Penn (in four rounds)
41 vs. Alves
35 vs. Hardy

If Luke Thomas took the glass is half-empty view and Brent Brookhouse the half-full view, I guess that leaves the glass has water in it view to me. St-Pierre couldn't put away an outmatched opponent, but is that really that surprising? Georges has never shown preternatural one strike power, eliminating any kind of notion that he could put Hardy away toe-to-toe. And while he has impressive submission victories in the past, he's no Demian Maia or B.J. Penn either.

Brent made the analogy that B.J. Penn is to Manny Pacquiao as Georges St-Pierre is to Floyd Mayweather. It's not exactly the most eloquent comparison, but I agree with it in at least one aspect: a dominating win is a dominating win whether it ends in a finish or not. Mayweather gets flack for his defensive style of boxing, but the fact is that he makes other professional athletes look like children in the ring with him. The same holds true for St-Pierre.

It's not as if his opponents don't know what to expect either. They know that Georges might stand in front of them for awhile, but it's just a matter of time before he breaks out the wrasslin'. Yet, there's nothing they can do to contain it, let alone stop it completely.

So basically GSP dominated on the ground like he never has before. Didn't want to strike a striker.

[macewen]

smart - yes....Fan friendly - Not so much

[MMA4EVERRR]

gsp doesnt have the one punch ko power and didnt wanna risk the belt by testing his chin against hardy's fist...but yea his grappling clinic was somethin to watch...i was blown away how easily he was taking down hardy, who seemed to b the biggest opponent he faced so far....jus proves that no matter how much strength and mass u put on (mir) and u jus cant matchup to some1 who has far superior wrestling strength.

on a side note, dana said in an interview that he got sooo many tweets saying the fight was boring cuz of gsp taking it to the ground...dana responded that gsp had his game but it was hardy's fault for not workin on his tdd and keep the fight standing. wat do u guys think about that?

[Dr. MMA]

Originally Posted by MMA4EVERRR

on a side note, dana said in an interview that he got sooo many tweets saying the fight was boring cuz of gsp taking it to the ground...dana responded that gsp had his game but it was hardy's fault for not workin on his tdd and keep the fight standing. wat do u guys think about that?

Well the fans who tweeted it may not understand that this is MIXED martial arts which means fights do go to the ground. Plus if the fans wanted a stand-up fight, they must have been cheering for Hardy because you knew GSP's strategy was to put Hardy on his back. It was Hardy's job to implement his gameplan, not GSP's to sway away from his to please those twitter-posting fans.

[Xanatos]

I saw nothing wrong with this fight. The casual fan will find it boring, but I thought it was extremely exciting. I was on the edhge f my seat that whole fight, even if it was a grinder, it could have ended at any time. Plus the submission attempts were quick and surprising. It was a great fight, and I'll be happy if his next ight is the same. I have no problem seeing good fighters come out and execute a gameplan perfectly like he did.

[U shut ur FACE]

I loved the fight, GSP's grappling was extremely entertaining to watch and I applaud him for sticking to his game plan and not doing what's "fan friendly"... I know he did'int finish the fight, but the fight-ending submissions were there; Hardy did'in't tap... Little hard to train for that IMO

[bottlerocks]

The booing towards the end of the fight really got under my skin. I was also watching the PPV with some less educated individuals who were constantly saying things like, "stand and trade blows!" and "quit taking it to the ground!" I love my friends, but ignorance really bugs me.

If you're going to call your self a fan of mixed martial arts, then at least become somewhat educated about it. GSP put on a clinic last night in every aspect of the game. He even outstruck Hardy despite the standup's brevity. I marveled at his ease to pass guard and control Hardy in any posititon.

I'll be the first to admit I'm a GSP nuthugger but aside from that sloppy armbar attempt in the first round, no one should be disappointed in GSP's performance aside from himself and his coaches. /rant

[snakebite]

Originally Posted by U shut ur FACE

I loved the fight, GSP's grappling was extremely entertaining to watch and I applaud him for sticking to his game plan and not doing what's "fan friendly"... I know he did'int finish the fight, but the fight-ending submissions were there; Hardy did'in't tap... Little hard to train for that IMO

Well thats all good he stuck to his game plan but really, if you constantly stay in your comfort zone and refuse to play in to your ooponents strength AT ALL. Is that going to get you a Pound for pound best fighter title? To me the pound for pound best shouldnt be based on victories only. I think you need to show you can strike with the best, grapple with the best and no be afraid to take the fight outside of your comfort zone. The PFP best shouldnt have any area they avoid going. Look at fedor, he will go anywhere the fight goes anytime. He will stand with a striker and grapple with a bjj blackbelt. That fight was uninteresting and i knew it would be like that. Just like the fitch fight smother technique. At least gsp was throwing up submissions. People were saying how good he was at his takedowns were last night, i really really think that hardys HORRIBLE TDD helped ALOT. I know gsp has unstoppable Td's but hardy made them look even better.

[dexter]

I think GSP made a mistake by going all out to sub Hardy - if he's GNP'd with the ferocity he did against Fitch/Serra I'm think he would've stopped Hardy

[BBG]

Originally Posted by Dr. MMA

Well the fans who tweeted it may not understand that this is MIXED martial arts which means fights do go to the ground. Plus if the fans wanted a stand-up fight, they must have been cheering for Hardy because you knew GSP's strategy was to put Hardy on his back. It was Hardy's job to implement his gameplan, not GSP's to sway away from his to please those twitter-posting fans.

Once again you are correct and I agree. It really burdens me to understand how or why people go to some of these events if they truly do not understand what might and will happen. But with that said I also give the human race too much credit more times then none.

Originally Posted by Xanatos

I saw nothing wrong with this fight. The casual fan will find it boring, but I thought it was extremely exciting. I was on the edhge f my seat that whole fight, even if it was a grinder, it could have ended at any time. Plus the submission attempts were quick and surprising. It was a great fight, and I'll be happy if his next ight is the same. I have no problem seeing good fighters come out and execute a gameplan perfectly like he did.

Thats how I felt as well. I enjoyed the fight very much and more so because I like to see a fighter technically control an opponent on the ground. Some parts weren't very pretty, but I like GSP's style regardless of whether it goes the distance or not.

Originally Posted by bottlerocks

He even outstruck Hardy despite the standup's brevity. I marveled at his ease to pass guard and control Hardy in any posititon.

I'll be the first to admit I'm a GSP nuthugger but aside from that sloppy armbar attempt in the first round, no one should be disappointed in GSP's performance aside from himself and his coaches. /rant

Again agreed.
Im glad someone mentioned the brief exchanges on the feet. I can still really only count 2 shots that GSP took to the left side of his chin that didnt back him up in any way. Other minor infractions didnt land cleanly.
GSP had some nice hard jabs that at least got Hardys attention.

After that Hardy didn't have anywhere near the snap to his jab or straight right after a few minutes on the ground with GSP.