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[mattc25]

http://www.mmaweekly.com/absolutenm/...sp?a=11105&z=2

Prior to his UFC 111 title defense against Dan Hardy, welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre spent two weeks in Manhattan working at the Renzo Gracie Academy to help sharpen his skills in preparation for the fight.

St-Pierre has worked with Renzo Gracie black belt John Danaher for several fights now, and always credits the work he does with them for his incredible ground acumen. Much of that skill showed on Saturday night when St-Pierre wrenched Hardy's arm in two different submissions that nearly finished the fight.

But when it was all over, St-Pierre wasn't screaming about how great he did, or how close he came to finishing. He simply said he was disappointed in himself for not finishing. When the fight ended, the first thing the Canadian did before allowing any interviews or post fight celebration was to talk to Gracie and his team about what he did wrong in not finishing the submission.

"Jiu-jitsu is a very, very important part of this style of fighting. If it wasn't, I don't think I'd have Georges St-Pierre for 15 days at my school now training, and after he finished his fight (with Hardy), the first thing he did was to grab us, to go in the back, and says 'show me what I did wrong, why I didn't finish him," Gracie said during a fan question and answer session on Tuesday.

A legend in the sport and in the world of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Gracie explained the technical side of what St-Pierre did wrong, allowing Hardy to survive the submission attempts.

"It was a very simple question. When he was doing the Kimura lock, instead of being at 12 o'clock, he should have been at 9 o'clock," said Gracie. "Like his lower body shouldn't have been here, that would give him the leverage to actually get the guy's arm to break."

Knowing the way that St-Pierre soaks in knowledge, Gracie is confident that if he's ever in that position again, his opponent will tap or the arm will snap.

"Things like that, I know next time he won't make the mistake," Gracie said about St-Pierre.

Regardless of the submission, Gracie was very proud of St-Pierre for his performance, and he showed the dominance of a champion once again.

"That was an unbelievable fight, he didn't stop for a second," Gracie said.

Renzo Gracie himself is now closing out his own fight camp as he prepares for his showdown with former welterweight champion Matt Hughes at UFC 112 on Saturday in Abu Dhabi.

.... Renzo seems pretty cool. I really hope he beats Matt Hughes ass. I enjoyed hearing his insight on the situation with GSP as well.

[mmawolverine]

gsp's persistance in learning adapting and respecting the martial arts is what make him who he is, one of a few truely complete fighters, his mental discipline and dedication is impeccable.
think he did the same thing after the alves fight in regards to alves getting up from his takedowns
most fighters only think about partying after a fight, gsp parties too but thats not all he thinks and does after the fight, quite a few other fighters should follow his example

[stpierrecanada]

^^^^ Rep'd big time. Great post and very well said.

Anyone else would have tapped, but I'll give it to Hardy, he's a warrior. But GSP did kill him in every aspect. he nearly broke hardy's arm twice, and i honestly believe he let go of the kimura because he didnt want to break his shoulder. he also took his back many times but give credit to hardy for defending. one judge had it 50-43...And I thought a few rounds could have been 10-8 because Hardy didn't get a chance to do a thing in the fight. GSP is untouchable, and with some more training and more learning there is no telling what he can accomplish.

[TBEAR]

Originally Posted by mmawolverine

gsp's persistance in learning adapting and respecting the martial arts is what make him who he is, one of a few truely complete fighters, his mental discipline and dedication is impeccable.
think he did the same thing after the alves fight in regards to alves getting up from his takedowns
most fighters only think about partying after a fight, gsp parties too but thats not all he thinks and does after the fight, quite a few other fighters should follow his example

Reped good post

[jaljn]

Good read, thanks.
Plus it shows that unlike many people thought, GSP was unable to finish the fight rather than he is too nice a guy to hurt Hardy - He is an unbelievably nice guy but is also one of the most proffessional and competitive guys in the sport and he wanted to finish that fight; respect to Hardy for not tapping and respect to GSP for never thinking he knows it all even after such a dominant performance - thats why he keeps getting better and better and has cleared out that division.

[lwbrewer]

If anyone could tell the move wouldn't break his arm Hardy should be the one to know. So I'm not given him a lot of credit for not tapping. I will credit him for not letting GSP get into a proper position to tap him. Renzo gave a straight forward answer for the fight.

[KnowledgeKnown]

Could we pick apart GSP's BJJ form? Sure. He crossed his legs at one point on the arm bar, and it didn't look like he was squeezing his knees together either.

This however, would not cause me to question his actual BJJ ability. For those of you who take BJJ, I bet you've heard this a thousand times. Punch a BJJ blackbelt in the face and he becomes a brown belt. Hit him again, and he becomes a purple.

This is MMA. Believe me when I tell you there are instances of lesser BJJ practitioners seeming as though they're schooling a much more skilled BJJ guy on the ground in an MMA fight. It's very different.

[TBEAR]

^^good point

[built1052]

Renzo is a great dude. Would love to see him smash Hughes. As for GSP's BJJ, not too much to question there. The dude made some minor mistakes in an MMA fight, not a BJJ match. Still owned the dude and I bet he won't make those minor mistakes the next time he has someone in an armbar or Kimura.