The final UFC fight of 2010 may well be the most heated, with the Montreal crowd eager to see hometown hero and World Welterweight Champion Georges St. Pierre make an example out the seemingly arrogant, brash challenger Josh Koscheck. The two of them have been seen verbally sparring for the past three months on The Ultimate Fighter but on Saturday night the talking stops and there can only be one winner.
Georges St. Pierre (20-2; 8KO, 5Sub) will be looking to make an emphatic statement in front of his fellow French Canadians, particularly after the criticism he recieved for failing to finish Dan Hardy at UFC 111. While St. Pierre dominated virtually all of the fight and came very close to submitting Hardy the fans in attendance grew restless at what had became something of a bloodless contest by the final bell. In many ways the fight against Hardy was symbolic of a wider issue with St. Pierre, who despite having finished 65% of his fights has seen three out of his last four fights go the distance. This decline in his finishing ratio led some to criticise the champion as being overly cautious and too focused on his wrestling.
That focus on his wrestling first emerged against Josh Koscheck (15-4; 4KO, 5Sub) himself, with St. Pierre shocking everyone when he repeatedly took down the former NCAA champion wrestler when they met at UFC 74. Koscheck was however the last fighter to successful take a round against St. Pierre and believes he can bridge the gap in quality that was evident in their first match. He has repeatedly claimed that his wrestling was below his usual standards because he had been focusing on improving his striking and that he has the power to test St. Pierre’s supposedly suspect chin. He talks big, but can he back it up?
Staff Predictions
Chris’ Pick: While the buildup to the GSP/Koscheck fight, played out over the most recent season of The Ultimate Fighter, had moments of greatness (see: Koscheck’s arrival at UFC 121) it has all too often been nothing more than less than educated fans debating whether or not Kos has gotten inside the mind of GSP. Blame that on the reality show which is more and more starting to look like a safe place for the UFC to home their old school WWF-type feuds. The downside is that lost in debates over “Kos” and his ability, or lack thereof, to successfully employ mind games against his opponent is the fact that he is a phenomenal mixed martial artists being given the opportunity of a lifetime. He’s also bringing into the cage a right had with knockout capabilities and a wrestling game that is good though not quite on par with the one that he is squaring off against. His only real problems seems to be that he is taking on the best pound for pound fighter in the world. Still, expect a long, close fight that sees Koscheck steal a round or two and manage to keep GSP glued to the mat for far longer than anybody thought possible. Some amongst us are going with the upset here (and it would be a massive one) but I’m not quite that crazy. I’ll go ahead and stick with GSP to win and finish the fight, most likely in the fifth and final round (a la Anderson Silva).
Pick: GSP via 5th round submission
Will’s Pick: George St. Pierre should defeat Josh Koscheck with relative ease. The wrestling advantage he had in 2007 should be even greater now that St. Pierre is even more experienced and comfortable at leading with it. Whatever he says about how he trained for the last fight, the facts are that Koscheck has repeatedly failed to overwhelm any fighter with genuine takedown defense. And on the ground Koscheck’s poor submission offense and defense will leave him vunerable to GSP’s ever improving jiu-jitsu game. In many ways Koscheck’s best route to victory is to sprawl and brawl, using his wrestling to keep the fight standing and hope that he has the power to hurt St. Pierre standing. However as his AKA teammate Jon Fitch learnt, that is also unlikely to work given St. Pierre’s superior technical striking. There is no obvious route to victory for Koscheck, as unless St. Pierre has an off night the champion should comfortably retain within the distance.
Prediction: Georges St. Pierre via fourth round TKO
