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ST-PIERRE LOOKING SHARP IN TRAINING

MMAWeekly.com was on location to observe a traditional Friday sparring session at the Tri-Star gym in Montreal, Canada. On hand were Georges St-Pierre, Rashad Evans, Denis Kang, Patrick Cote, Jonathan Goulet, David Loiseau, David Pariseau, Jacob MacDonald, Steve Claveau and more.

Coaches Greg Jackson and Mike Van Arsdale were also there to supervise the proceedings. From an on-lookers vantage point, it seemed clear that Jackson is St-Pierre’s closest advisor these days.

The initial pairings as directed by Coach Jackson included Evans versus St-Pierre and Loiseau versus Kang. The fighters began by working mainly their striking and occasionally shooting in for a takedown attempt. Every five minutes they would take a short rest and find a new partner for the next round.

Of note, not one fighter (including Evans) was able to take down St-Pierre and it definitely wasn’t because of a lack of effort. On the other hand, it looked as though St-Pierre took everyone down almost at will with probably a 95% success ratio.

St-Pierre’s standup also looked crisp. Although he doesn't throw a lot of combinations, the strikes he does throw land clean and often. Perhaps one minor note of criticism is that his feet are not always grounded thus reducing the amount of weight behind his strikes.

There was also some speculation around the gym, although St-Pierre did not confirm this, that he had actually been anticipating the possibility of Serra pulling out of the fight and thus had been going through his regular intensive training rituals for 12 weeks leading up to the fight. This is interesting because his Dec. 29 opponent, Matt Hughes has repeatedly stated that one of the factors he chose to take the fight was that because he felt St-Pierre may not have had sufficient time to prepare. If what St-Pierre’s teammates are saying is true, Hughes may be in for a bit of a surprise.

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I'm glad to hear that GSP is doing so well in training. And if he had been training as much as they are saying then I think Hughes is going to have a frustrating night. Well, actually I think it will be a bad night for him regardless.

GSP has probably the best takedown defense in MMA, and if Rashad isn't able to take him down, I don't see Hughes having much more success.

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MATT E

When they talk of him in this report, it just makes me think more and more about how unbeatable GSP is. When you have world class wrestlers like Rashad Evans, who weighs nearly 25-30 pounds more than him not take him down that speaks louder than words.

This just shows that Hughes is in a world of trouble. Not that this interview didn't teach us anything new(cause IMO, i never thought Hughes would take him down) but it reasures us that GSP is training very hard and will be in tip top shape when he faces Hughes.

Robert_Lake

What a great group of guys to train with, and Greg Jackson and Mike VanArsdale are his coaches. That is an amazing camp to train in for a fight like this.

Unless Hughes can catch St. Pierre with a punch or kick while standing and GSP drops i dont see thisfight going well for Matt Hughes.

Hopefully they still have Serra vs. Hughes after this fight happens. I was lookingforward to that fight, was an interesting match up.

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RIP Rick James