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[thesincrusade]

Mind game: Penn jabs at GSP
Thursday, January 22, 2009


THE CANADIAN PRESS


UFC 94 is a week away but B.J. Penn is already taking shots at Georges St. Pierre, mocking the Canadian for using a sports psychologist.

"It's good to hear that Georges has a psychologist that he has to go to. A sports psychologist," Penn said mischievously during a media conference call Thursday in advance of their Jan. 31 mixed martial arts main event in Las Vegas.

"Does that help you out Georges? You got psychological problems or what?"

St. Pierre chuckled.

"Not at all my friend," he replied. "I don't have any psychological problems. It just helps me to perform better."

"Fighting is not all about strength and technique ... I think it's very underrated. The mental part is very, very important," he said later.

Penn, 30, likes a little niggle in the leadup to his fights, poking away at his opponents to see if he can strike a nerve. In contrast, St. Pierre prefers to do his talking in the ring.

St. Pierre, 27, turned to a sports psychologist after losing his welterweight title first time out to Matt Serra at UFC 69 in April 2007. Beset by family issues and injuries, he trained poorly for the fight and knew it as he walked to the cage.

The shocking upset led some to question St. Pierre's mental toughness.

The Canadian changed his entourage and added a sports psychologist. Part of his advice was to write Serra's name on a brick and throw it into the waters off Montreal's South Shore. St. Pierre did and hasn't lost since.

St. Pierre (17-2) won a split decision over Penn when the two met at welterweight (170 pounds) at UFC 58 in March 2006.

Penn, a former welterweight champion, subsequently dropped down to 155 pounds and won the lightweight title. St. Pierre bounced back to beat Serra handily and reclaim the welterweight championship at UFC 83 last April in GSP's hometown of Montreal.

The two meet at 170 pounds at UFC 94, with St. Pierre's welterweight crown on the line. Penn (13-4-1) has said if he wins, he will defend both the lightweight and welterweight titles.

"This is a massive fight," said UFC president Dana White.

Big enough that the UFC boss believes it will exceed the record pay-per-view numbers from the Brock Lesnar-Randy Couture fight card at UFC 91 in November and the even bigger numbers for the Forrest Griffin-Rashad Evans UFC 92 card in December.

St. Pierre expects to walk into the cage at 185 to 187 pounds, a little over 24 hours after stepping on the scales at 170. Penn expects to be at 170 fight night.

In mid-November when the two fighters held their first news conference to publicize the bout, St. Pierre said he weighed 185 to 186 pounds at the time. Penn weighed 175 pounds back then. Neither fighter had started his training.

The Hawaiian fighter has taken exception to the St. Pierre camp reportedly saying the Canadian is superior to Penn in every aspect.

"That's the disrespectful stuff. To me, I might say some stuff on the side but they're disrespecting my skills and that's a big mistake what they're doing, by thinking they're going to walk through me. ... He's tough and he's all these things. But once I get through, he's going to be empty on the inside and that's how I'm going to finish him."

"Well, I never said I was going to walk through B.J. Penn," St. Pierre responded. "He's a very skilled fighter ... It's not going to be easy. It's going to be very hard. It's going to cost me a lot of things. But at the end, I'll be the victor and my goal is to finish him."

MENTAL VS. SPIRITUAL: When Penn was asked about his presumed dislike for former lightweight champion Sean Sherk, whom Penn constantly referred to as a "cheater" ahead of their last bout, Penn replied:

"I never disliked Sean as a person, he just got in trouble for steroids. I have a strong dislike for steroids and for cheating, especially in a sport like MMA, where the spiritual side is so important."

St. Pierre passed on the opportunity to ask Penn if he used a sports guru.

CREATIVE LICENCE: On an appearance earlier on Tapout Radio, Penn said he was not happy with how he was being portrayed during the filming of the UFC's Primetime show chronicling the two fighters' preparation for their fight, particularly about how he was coming off as a slacker. While he admitted he kicked out the camera crew, on Thursday's conference call Penn said everything was fine again and he was happy with the show.

St. Pierre, who has been portrayed as more focused than ever in his training, had no complaints.

[sandywh]

If GSP thinks he can play mind games with Penn, that contest won't last long.

[Fedorlei Gomipierre]

How is GSP playing mind games, when all Penn's doing is being an arrogant, disrespectful prick?

GSP is a full, well rounded athete, and is the superior athlete to Penn, who's a stoner/sufer who happens to be a BJJ freak.

I think Penn has basically written cheques with his mouth that his ass can't cash, and he's mentally freaking out, which is why he's spent all of the UFC PRIMETIME series obsessed with GSP beating him and then kicking the crew out all together.

I think Penn walks in there afraid of GSP's sound abilities, makes a mistake and gets tko'd.

I'd respect and enjoy Penn alot better if the brudda just kept his mouth shut a bit and just fought.

[thesincrusade]

Heh that reply is pretty funny coming from someone who has Tito listed as one of his favorite fighters. He's the king of shit talking.

[Fedorlei Gomipierre]

yes, I agree, but the difference is, Tito is doing it to draw ratings, hype and is doing it as a showman and his foe just sees it as Tito being a douche to draw a buyrate and it's all basically, tongue in check. He's not being yoo disrepectful, because Tito's so outlandish and has never moulded himself as what Penn is.

I think the difference is, Tito does it with a sense of showmanship, whereas BJ does it out of ignorance and claim's he's gonna kill GSP and that GSP's a bitch, and it's all based off his mindless babble. I have GSP hands down.

[deadstealth]

I always thought BJ was the one doing the all talking in this fight?

GSP is not the fighter to play mind games with. He has been in so many big matches, and been so successful, nothing Bj says should be able to change GSP's game plan. That is the goal in these mind games, to disrupt or change what GSP's plan is.

Bj could want GSP to be more aggressive so Bj can counter, similar to rashad/chuck. He might think GSP will be more easily frustrated if he decides to play mind games in the ring. Maybe he is just desperate to do anything he can to throw GSP off his game. IMO, in this case, it shows weakness, not showmanship.

[tbones]

Hopefully, GSP and the sports psychologist will have some new issues to explore. I love Penn's desire to fight the best, regardless of weight.