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03-28-2010 12:05 PM:You know there's something askew in the world of mixed martial arts when Cagewriter has to step up and serve as "Mr. Glass Half-Full" concerning Georges St. Pierre's win over Dan Hardy last night at UFC 111.
St. Pierre rolled to a unanimous decision win over the Brit. It was his 13th win in 14 tries. It was no contest on the scorecards, 50-45, 50-44 and 50-43. In four out of five rounds, it took the Canadian less than 24 seconds from the start of the stanza to dump Hardy on his back. St. Pierre nearly broke Hardy's arm in the first with an armbar and it looked like he shredded his shoulder in the fourth with a kimura. Most welterweights around the world would've tapped but not Hardy. So why not give Hardy credit?
Instead Twitter blew up with complaints about it being a lousy fight, the postfight press conference felt like a funeral and St. Pierre was super critical of his performance.
One media member even asked St. Pierre if he gave full effort on his submission attempts (1:30 mark).
"No I held back, I wanted him to stand up," said a sarcastic St. Pierre. "Of course not. I wanted to go 100 percent. I tried to break it."
Gareth Davies from The Telegraph compared St. Pierre's decision win to some of the recent slower-paced Floyd Mayweather decisions.
"Listen every Floyd Mayweather fight is like that," said White. "Not every fight on this card is going to be the greatest fight in the world."
Even though that sounded like he was admitting GSP wasn't very good, White defended the contest by saying his champ had a strategy to score takedowns and avoid Hardy on the feet. He did so and rolled.
St. Pierre said he watched video right after the fight and had a pow wow with his coaches to see "what he did wrong."
"I'm not happy with my performance," said St. Pierre judging the fight like a sprinter would his 100 meter time from race-to-race. "I won but I didn't beat my performance of last time. I wanted to have a clean win."
St. Pierre said he was too focused on submissions. When he did get into position for a finish, GSP said he tried to muscle his way to the finish instead of relying on technique.
SI.com's Josh Gross asked if St. Pierre's more conservative fighting style will affect his legacy.
More...
Yahoo! Sports.
Cagewriter is an MMA blog edited by Steve Cofield.
St. Pierre rolled to a unanimous decision win over the Brit. It was his 13th win in 14 tries. It was no contest on the scorecards, 50-45, 50-44 and 50-43. In four out of five rounds, it took the Canadian less than 24 seconds from the start of the stanza to dump Hardy on his back. St. Pierre nearly broke Hardy's arm in the first with an armbar and it looked like he shredded his shoulder in the fourth with a kimura. Most welterweights around the world would've tapped but not Hardy. So why not give Hardy credit?
Instead Twitter blew up with complaints about it being a lousy fight, the postfight press conference felt like a funeral and St. Pierre was super critical of his performance.
One media member even asked St. Pierre if he gave full effort on his submission attempts (1:30 mark).
"No I held back, I wanted him to stand up," said a sarcastic St. Pierre. "Of course not. I wanted to go 100 percent. I tried to break it."
Gareth Davies from The Telegraph compared St. Pierre's decision win to some of the recent slower-paced Floyd Mayweather decisions.
"Listen every Floyd Mayweather fight is like that," said White. "Not every fight on this card is going to be the greatest fight in the world."
Even though that sounded like he was admitting GSP wasn't very good, White defended the contest by saying his champ had a strategy to score takedowns and avoid Hardy on the feet. He did so and rolled.
St. Pierre said he watched video right after the fight and had a pow wow with his coaches to see "what he did wrong."
"I'm not happy with my performance," said St. Pierre judging the fight like a sprinter would his 100 meter time from race-to-race. "I won but I didn't beat my performance of last time. I wanted to have a clean win."
St. Pierre said he was too focused on submissions. When he did get into position for a finish, GSP said he tried to muscle his way to the finish instead of relying on technique.
SI.com's Josh Gross asked if St. Pierre's more conservative fighting style will affect his legacy.
In a sense, St. Pierre is very much like Mayweather, who's earned a reputation as a fighter that doesn't mind slowing things down, playing only to his advantages, and winning in a way that can bore the audience. Mayweather seems to believe he's the best in boxing history. Should St. Pierre keep winning, I don't doubt he'd feel the same. What everyone else will conclude, that's tough to say.
Bloody Elbow went even further actually saying the performance was disappointing. Everyone's entitled to their opinion, the great thing about St. Pierre is that he's hard on himself and deals with the criticism like a pro. He didn't snap back at the media even if it was being overly critical. Thankfully he didn't scowl or stop talking like Anderson Silva has done several times in the past when criticized.
This is some standard St. Pierre now has to live up to. This almost feels like Tiger Woods, when he "flops" and only wins one major in a given year. GSP was overly aggressive in trying to land a submission but still avoided all danger for 25 minutes. Win and fight another day. Mission accomplished.
This is some standard St. Pierre now has to live up to. This almost feels like Tiger Woods, when he "flops" and only wins one major in a given year. GSP was overly aggressive in trying to land a submission but still avoided all danger for 25 minutes. Win and fight another day. Mission accomplished.
More...
Yahoo! Sports.
Cagewriter is an MMA blog edited by Steve Cofield.
