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Georges "Rush" St. Pierre (-185) vs. BJ "The Prodigy" Penn (+155)

by Stan Leung
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UFC 94 St Pierre vs Penn 2
January 31th, 2009 8 PM
Georges St. Pierre vs. BJ Penn
UFC Betting Pick: Georges St Pierre -170

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UFC Welterweight Fight: Georges St. Pierre vs. BJ Penn

Two of mixed martial arts top pound for pound fighter that are in their fighting prime will square off in the most anticipated and talked about fight in MMA history. The winner will either lose his 170 pound UFC welterweight tile or will be the simultaneous 155 and 170 UFC welterweight and lightweight champion.

In my opinion BJ “The Prodigy” Penn (13-4-1) won the first fight with Georges “Rush” St Pierre (19-2) at UFC 58: USA vs. Canada. He should have won the decision. But that fight was almost 4 years ago and Georges St Pierre is not that same fighter he once was. He is constantly seeking out ways to become a better all round fighter. He travels around the world to seek the best people to train him. BJ Penn, on the other hand is a fighter that has so much talent and seeks people to help him train and get in better shape. That is a big and glaring difference between the two.

There are two major factors that will win this fight for Georges St Pierre. It will be coaching and his reach. If you are a Greg Jackson trained fighter you will come into the fight well prepared. Mixed martial arts and the UFC was originally about which fighting style would prevailed in a fight, then it switched to cross training learning multiple disciplines and now it has shifted to a more designed fight plan. The emergence of the super trainers and clubs first started with Pat Miletich and Miletich Martial Arts and now has evolved even further with American Top Team and Jackson Fighting Submission.

Plain and simple, Greg Jackson prepares his fighters not only to become prepared for the fight physically but he also has great game plan for his fighters to follow. MMA is becoming more and more like the NFL and Greg Jackson is mixed martial arts version of Bill Belichick. He has his fighters prepared and has his fighters listening to everything he says when they enter the octagon. Just look at how disciplined Rashad Evans was when he fights. Just look at both his fights with Forrest Griffin at UFC 92 - The Ultimate 2008 and Chuck Liddell at UFC 88 - Breakthrough. He was not dominating in those fights but he came into the fight well prepared and won those fights with a great game plan and attacked when the time was right.

Greg Jackson is a mastermind and he will have GSP prepared for BJ Penn. St Pierre will be rotating and having a number of pro MMA fighters to help him prepare for the fight. He had gone to Brazil to train jujitsu, he has wrestled with the Canadian national wresting team and he will rotating fighting Rashad Evans, Denis Kang, Keith Jardine, David Loiseau, and Nate Marquardt to help him prepare. Going into this fight GSP and Jackson will have a game plan that will break down Penn’s game.

BJ Penn was never person that trained hard but recently he has stepped up his game and began to take mixed martial arts seriously by training and getting in shape. Yes, BJ Penn will be in great shape coming into this fight but he will not have a game plan like GSP will have. BJ Penn may work hard in this fight but he will not be prepared. Yes he has a lot of talent and yes he will be in shape but he will not formulate a plan once he steps in the octagon. Penn has not surrounded himself with people that can push him and make him better as a fighter. Penn knows he is talented and knows he has to work hard but what he does not know how to let someone tell him what to do. Penn is a rich kid that has never worked a day in his life. He is surrounds himself with yes men that are helping to prepare for the fight but not helping him to come up with a way to fight. That is the biggest difference in this fight.

The second biggest factor in this fight will be the reach. GSP is taller and has longer limbs that can back off Penn with striking; especially the long reach of GSP’s legs. St Pierre will be able to use his striking reach to back off and jab out Penn in striking. He will also use his superior striking reach to pepper and soften up Penn. Penn was able to dominate Sean Sherk in striking but Sherk’s does not have the striking St Pierre does. First Sherk has itty bitty T-Rex arms and his reach was not be able to hit BJ, so Penn was able use his striking to win that fight.

GSP has a way longer reach and will push off Penn on the stand up and he will be able to do what Penn did to Sherk. Secondly, everyone was talking about how good Penn’s striking has become. Has it? Sherk is not a great striker and neither have been the last couple of fighters Penn has faced. Joe Stevenson is not a good striker, Jens Pulver’s reach is not what GSP’s is and Matt Hughes is not a great striker either. It might be more marketing and hype rather than fact when describing Penn’s striker comparable to St Pierre’s striking.

When it comes to wrestling St Pierre is much better. He is bigger, stronger and has the wrestling training background that Penn does not have. If you don’t know Brazilian jiu-jitsu, BJJ fighters are not the greatest takedown specialist. GSP will be able to wizard out and take top control. He has good enough base and strength to not let Penn control the ground game.

Grappling wise Penn is much better. His flexibility is out of this world and but if GSP is in Penn guard he will use his long reach to land punches on Penn with a good ground and pound game. In guard Penn has never submitting anyone with an arm bar or triangle choke. In a closed guard game GSP will try to trap Penn’s hips and is a better ground and pound fighter. Penn likes to work from his back in guard to use his flexibility to sweep and take fighters back. Once Penn has back control he finishes his fight. But will he be able to do so in this fight? GSP is too strong and will not be let Penn dominate him because of his reach and strength. I don’t see grappling as a decided factor in this fight for two reasons. First BJ Penn will think he can out strike GSP and let his pride get the better of him and secondly is the issue of reach once again.

Bottom Line: GSP is a better all round fighter and at 170 pounds he is he bigger, stronger and has a better skill set. He knows what he has to work on and seeks out the best people in helping him becoming better. He goes to Brazil to fight the best jiu-jitsu fighters, he goes to the Canadian National wrestling team to become a better wrestler and he trains with Greg Jackson to be coached. Penn on the other hand, seeks out people to train with to become in better shape in Hawaii. Both fighters are training for this fight for difference reasons. GSP is a fighter that seeks out to become a better fighter while Penn is more arrogant and is just enhancing what he thinks is enough to win the fight. Yes Penn will be in shape for this fight but he will not be an improved fighter just one that is in shape.

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