St. Pierre Ready to Put an End to the Questions
Andy Cotterill Apr 17, 2008
When you talk to Georges
St. Pierre (Pictures) these days you get the impression
that words are the last thing he wants to deal in now.
And although the polite young man from St. Isidore, Quebec, asserts that the media's claim on his time leading up to his rematch with Matt Serra (Pictures) this weekend doesn't bug him, there is an underlying tone of weariness that creeps into his voice, as if to say, "C'mon already, let's get this show on the road."
One year ago this month the affable French-Canadian lost his UFC
welterweight title in shocking fashion to Serra, an unlikely
challenger from Long Island, N.Y., via "The Ultimate Fighter
4."
With the exception of the confident Serra and his camp, nobody dared to think there was more than a slim chance of that happening.
The questions started immediately and didn't seem to stop.
Why did you lose? How could this happen? How do you feel?
For what seemed like forever, St. Pierre, 26, remained steadfast in his assertion that Serra was a better fighter that night and deserved to win. But after months of persistent and relentless questioning from fans and media in which he was continually asked the same few questions, he finally let slip that he hadn't trained very much leading up to the fight.
Why not you ask? Because he was going to fight Matt Serra (Pictures) of course, and everyone agreed that it would be an easy win. Unfortunately for St. Pierre he believed them, and even more unfortunately, Serra didn't.
When Serra, 33, heard the news that St. Pierre stated he hadn't taken him seriously enough to train hard, the loud welterweight was understandably upset. He then made a few retaliatory comments about St. Pierre, which could have started a war of words -- but to have a war you need two sides.
After his initial comment the penitent St. Pierre has been fairly quiet, while Serra's words have flowed north like water from an open faucet.
"A lot of things have been said and I never answered him," St. Pierre told Sherdog.com. "But I'm going to answer him with my fists the night of the fight."
The night of the fight will be a special one for St. Pierre -- because of his opponent as well as the fact that UFC 83 will be the first Zuffa-promoted card in Rush's home country of Canada. Moreover, his home city of Montreal will host the event.
"That's the best scenario for me," St. Pierre said when asked about the logistics of this match. "I'm fighting in Montreal, in my backyard, against the guy who beat me last time for the world title -- that's amazing."
So how does St. Pierre, now 15-2 following two victories after the loss to Serra, plan on changing the outcome of the rematch? Maybe not how you might think. The physical training has remained largely the same, as St. Pierre continued his well-publicized regimen of style-specific training with world-class athletes.
He boxed with pro boxers; he did Brazilian jiu-jitsu with black belts; and he wrestled with Olympic wrestlers. (In fact, he was getting so good at wrestling that he was planning on trying out for the Canadian Olympic wrestling team -- a plan that ended prematurely when a match with Matt Hughes (Pictures) fell into his lap last December.)
With the exception of adding Roger Huerta (Pictures) into the mix, St. Pierre was assisted by the same group of high-caliber mixed martial artists that helped him prepare for his last several fights. They include Denis Kang (Pictures), David Loiseau (Pictures), and the crew from Greg Jackson's camp in New Mexico: Rashad Evans (Pictures), Keith Jardine (Pictures), and Nathan Marquardt (Pictures).
Offering an honest laugh, St. Pierre didn't know if his training partners would venture to the Bell Centre.
"If they're not there, I know they helped me train," he said. "So they're with me in spirit."
While having these great training partners is a boon, they're not the main reason St. Pierre is confident he'll win the rematch. He'll win, he said, because he'll fight the better fight.
What does this mean?
"The best fighter doesn't always win," explained Brian Cain, who works to fine-tune the mental factors athletes deal with in competition. "The fighter who fights the best wins."
A pretty simple concept really, but it makes sense.
Cain and St. Pierre have spent a fair bit of time on the phone together since they met before St. Pierre's fight with Josh Koscheck (Pictures).
"Training is 90 percent physical and 10 percent mental," he said. "But as soon as you step inside the Octagon those numbers reverse. So how much time should a fighter put into the mental game?
"If you ask all of the elite mixed martial artists what percentage of fighting in the cage is mental they'll probably all say at least 80 percent. Well if it's at least 80 percent then why do we work on it less than 20 percent of the time?"
It's this rationale that has driven St. Pierre, whom Cain called "one of the most committed athletes I've ever worked with," to spend a portion of each day devoted to training his mind for success. The first step was getting the current UFC interim welterweight champion -- so earned by defeating Matt Hughes (Pictures) in December as Serra sat on the sidelines with a badly-injured back -- to admit that he actually lost.
"I fought Serra on Saturday, and the Monday after I was in the gym training just to get my revenge," said St. Pierre.
Cain knew the fallen champion needed to let go of the loss if he was going to move forward. "He took this brick and wrote ‘Matt Serra (Pictures)' on it," said the trainer who worked with Keith Jardine (Pictures) before his upset win over Chuck Liddell (Pictures). "And he told me when I was ready to throw the brick in the river."
"I felt it -- it was heavy," recalled St. Pierre. "It seems weird, but it helped me a lot. After a couple of days I decided that it was over and I just threw it and I felt way better."
St. Pierre has been encouraged by Cain to avoid worrying about the things he can't control -- whether or not the fans like him, or if he's going to get a title belt, or even about what his opponent is doing before the fight.
To that end he explained why it doesn't matter if Serra, 9-4, plans to come at him with fists flying.
"I don't care what he's going to do," St. Pierre exclaimed forcefully. "I know his strengths and what he's good at. I focus on what I'm going to do to him, not what he's going to do to me. I'm at the top of my game right now, and it's going to be a different story this time."
And with that, St. Pierre hopes he isn't all talk.
And although the polite young man from St. Isidore, Quebec, asserts that the media's claim on his time leading up to his rematch with Matt Serra (Pictures) this weekend doesn't bug him, there is an underlying tone of weariness that creeps into his voice, as if to say, "C'mon already, let's get this show on the road."
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With the exception of the confident Serra and his camp, nobody dared to think there was more than a slim chance of that happening.
As much as the mixed martial arts world was stunned by the outcome,
it was St. Pierre himself who suffered the most. Everyone agreed
that he was one of the top pound-for-pound fighters in the world.
He had incredible cardio; his striking and kicks were crisp and
powerful; he could dominate anyone on the ground. He wasn't
supposed to lose -- but he did.
The questions started immediately and didn't seem to stop.
Why did you lose? How could this happen? How do you feel?
For what seemed like forever, St. Pierre, 26, remained steadfast in his assertion that Serra was a better fighter that night and deserved to win. But after months of persistent and relentless questioning from fans and media in which he was continually asked the same few questions, he finally let slip that he hadn't trained very much leading up to the fight.
Why not you ask? Because he was going to fight Matt Serra (Pictures) of course, and everyone agreed that it would be an easy win. Unfortunately for St. Pierre he believed them, and even more unfortunately, Serra didn't.
When Serra, 33, heard the news that St. Pierre stated he hadn't taken him seriously enough to train hard, the loud welterweight was understandably upset. He then made a few retaliatory comments about St. Pierre, which could have started a war of words -- but to have a war you need two sides.
After his initial comment the penitent St. Pierre has been fairly quiet, while Serra's words have flowed north like water from an open faucet.
"A lot of things have been said and I never answered him," St. Pierre told Sherdog.com. "But I'm going to answer him with my fists the night of the fight."
The night of the fight will be a special one for St. Pierre -- because of his opponent as well as the fact that UFC 83 will be the first Zuffa-promoted card in Rush's home country of Canada. Moreover, his home city of Montreal will host the event.
"That's the best scenario for me," St. Pierre said when asked about the logistics of this match. "I'm fighting in Montreal, in my backyard, against the guy who beat me last time for the world title -- that's amazing."
So how does St. Pierre, now 15-2 following two victories after the loss to Serra, plan on changing the outcome of the rematch? Maybe not how you might think. The physical training has remained largely the same, as St. Pierre continued his well-publicized regimen of style-specific training with world-class athletes.
He boxed with pro boxers; he did Brazilian jiu-jitsu with black belts; and he wrestled with Olympic wrestlers. (In fact, he was getting so good at wrestling that he was planning on trying out for the Canadian Olympic wrestling team -- a plan that ended prematurely when a match with Matt Hughes (Pictures) fell into his lap last December.)
With the exception of adding Roger Huerta (Pictures) into the mix, St. Pierre was assisted by the same group of high-caliber mixed martial artists that helped him prepare for his last several fights. They include Denis Kang (Pictures), David Loiseau (Pictures), and the crew from Greg Jackson's camp in New Mexico: Rashad Evans (Pictures), Keith Jardine (Pictures), and Nathan Marquardt (Pictures).
Offering an honest laugh, St. Pierre didn't know if his training partners would venture to the Bell Centre.
"If they're not there, I know they helped me train," he said. "So they're with me in spirit."
While having these great training partners is a boon, they're not the main reason St. Pierre is confident he'll win the rematch. He'll win, he said, because he'll fight the better fight.
What does this mean?
"The best fighter doesn't always win," explained Brian Cain, who works to fine-tune the mental factors athletes deal with in competition. "The fighter who fights the best wins."
A pretty simple concept really, but it makes sense.
Cain and St. Pierre have spent a fair bit of time on the phone together since they met before St. Pierre's fight with Josh Koscheck (Pictures).
"Training is 90 percent physical and 10 percent mental," he said. "But as soon as you step inside the Octagon those numbers reverse. So how much time should a fighter put into the mental game?
"If you ask all of the elite mixed martial artists what percentage of fighting in the cage is mental they'll probably all say at least 80 percent. Well if it's at least 80 percent then why do we work on it less than 20 percent of the time?"
It's this rationale that has driven St. Pierre, whom Cain called "one of the most committed athletes I've ever worked with," to spend a portion of each day devoted to training his mind for success. The first step was getting the current UFC interim welterweight champion -- so earned by defeating Matt Hughes (Pictures) in December as Serra sat on the sidelines with a badly-injured back -- to admit that he actually lost.
"I fought Serra on Saturday, and the Monday after I was in the gym training just to get my revenge," said St. Pierre.
Cain knew the fallen champion needed to let go of the loss if he was going to move forward. "He took this brick and wrote ‘Matt Serra (Pictures)' on it," said the trainer who worked with Keith Jardine (Pictures) before his upset win over Chuck Liddell (Pictures). "And he told me when I was ready to throw the brick in the river."
"I felt it -- it was heavy," recalled St. Pierre. "It seems weird, but it helped me a lot. After a couple of days I decided that it was over and I just threw it and I felt way better."
St. Pierre has been encouraged by Cain to avoid worrying about the things he can't control -- whether or not the fans like him, or if he's going to get a title belt, or even about what his opponent is doing before the fight.
To that end he explained why it doesn't matter if Serra, 9-4, plans to come at him with fists flying.
"I don't care what he's going to do," St. Pierre exclaimed forcefully. "I know his strengths and what he's good at. I focus on what I'm going to do to him, not what he's going to do to me. I'm at the top of my game right now, and it's going to be a different story this time."
And with that, St. Pierre hopes he isn't all talk.
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