MONTREAL — Despite all the trash talk, the hype, the “wolf tickets,” or the promises to give Nick Diaz “the biggest beating you’ve ever seen in the Octagon,” UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre was his classic self on Saturday night.
For some, that is disappointing – another five rounds of dominance with jabs in the standup and controlling his opponent with wrestling on the ground but lacking any explosiveness. Yet for this writer, UFC 158’s main event was a display of cerebral, sublime mixed martial arts.
No, it didn’t come with the finish that many had hoped for or even expected may finally come – which included myself. But let’s not forget how extremely difficult it was to stop his opponent.
Diaz, who originally told UFC president Dana White he wasn’t coming to the post-fight press conference but later arrived and put on a show that rivalled his performance on the microphone at Thursday’s pre-fight press conference, said he felt that St-Pierre “hit like a girl.” Indeed, Diaz showed St-Pierre very little respect in the standup, keeping his hands dropped and often inviting the champ to hit him, at one point mouthing, “What you got?”
What GSP gave him was a steady stream of quick, strong jabs that Diaz may feel weren’t hard but still marked up his face quite colourfully. And when he took him down – repeatedly, I might add – Diaz had very little answer.
Diaz complained that St-Pierre never tried to gain a stronger position for a finish, but did he need to? He is so strong technically and you could see it with every one of his moves as he controlled Diaz’ body and inflicted clinical even if not deadly ground-and-pound. He stuck to the game plan and always kept his body in the safe position.
His whole athletic approach is geared toward not making any mistakes. He’s got a title to defend, which is much more important than “defending” his pride by doing something silly in the pursuit of giving Diaz a “beatdown.”
Diaz admitted that his numerous attempts to confront St-Pierre after the bell sounded at the end of the first four rounds – including one time when he appeared to take a swing at him – were part of his ongoing mind games, which continued right into fight night.
“I wasn’t actually trying to hit him, but swing my hand in his face,” Diaz said. “I was just trying to be mean, because I wanted him to try to finish me.”
Many wondered if Diaz had actually gotten into St-Pierre’s head and whether it would affect his performance. All such worries proved to be unnecessary. If there’s a more professional fighter in the UFC, we don’t know who it is.
And dominating Diaz, even if it didn’t come with an emphatic finish, was a pleasure for the hometown fans at the Bell Centre, who gave him a standing ovation at the end of the fight.
Earlier, the fans did the same for the co-main event between Carlos Condit and Johny Hendricks, which was rightfully awarded a Fight of the Night bonus. But nobody gave either of those fighters flack for not finishing the fight, so why does GSP get it?
The answer is because there are much higher expectations – or should I say, wishful thoughts? – of the longtime UFC champion, who has now gone to decisions in six straight fights. But at his level, his opponents are so tough to stop, and arguably nobody more so than Diaz.
Not to mention the irony of Diaz himself calling out GSP’s striking. He criticizes GSP for not finishing him, but why not point the finger right back at himself, as the man that St-Pierre says is the best boxer in MMA couldn’t finish him either. It’s nothing to be ashamed of.
“I thought GSP fought a great fight tonight. He stood with him and got the better of the standup,” White said.
Granted, it’s White’s job to promote his No. 1 pay-per-view draw. But can you really argue with that statement? Even if you’re of the same opinion as Diaz and take issue with wrestling in MMA, if you take that out of Saturday’s UFC 158 main event, St-Pierre still wins the fight.
Diaz said the only reason he eventually came to the press conference was because he wanted a rematch, and then said to St-Pierre: “I think I can beat you.”
Unfortunately, he had his chance, and he didn’t do it, and despite his excuses – he didn’t get enough sleep, he didn’t have enough help from the guys at his gym, he didn’t have a good first round – why would anyone think St-Pierre vs. Diaz 2 would turn out any differently?
St-Pierre will face Hendricks next, another ultra-tough guy who has never been stopped. Fans should probably stop hoping for stoppages from GSP, and be just satisfied with fantastic displays of pugilistic poetry – all 25-minutes of them.
