By Carlin Bardsley
MONTREAL — The UFC World Tour continued Thursday at Complexe Desjardins in Montreal and was distinctly Canadian in flavour. Not just because the event was attended by welterweight champ Georges St-Pierre and a host of other Canadian MMA luminaries including Patrick Cote, David Loiseau and Mike Ricci, but it was distinctly different in tone.
The tour has been highlighted by UFC women’s champ Ronda Rousey and Miesha Tate butting heads and Rousey’s adoption of Nick Diaz’s favourite one-finger salute, but the lone Canadian stop on the tour featured GSP and No. 1 contender Johny Hendricks being polite, courteous and respectful, while at the same time promising victory.
The hotly anticipated clash will occur at UFC 167 in Las Vegas, in an event that will mark the UFC’s 20th anniversary. The card is probably the most important in terms of historical value since UFC 100, and the company’s faith in GSP to headline an event of this magnitude speaks volumes of his place in the sport. GSP called being chosen for the event “an honour and a privilege.”
The trash talk was in absentia for the crowd of fans who gathered for the event, but that didn’t seem to bother anyone. The chance to see Montreal’s favourite son, GSP, was the most important factor in their attendance, and Hendricks was far from a villain as he received a warm reception and stuck around for almost an hour after the event concluded to sign autographs and pose for pictures.
“He’s a really great guy. We’ve had fun together whenever we’ve had to be around each other. That’s what the sport’s about. It’s all business but in the back, we can be friends,” Hendricks said. “That’s what I enjoy about this. I can have a beer with him, I can go hang out with him. But we do have to fight and that’s the way it goes. But he’s a great guy.”
GSP also heaped praise upon his opponent, saying: “He’s a gentleman, he represents the sport very well. He’s a role model. When training camp starts, I’ll be a little more distant. He’s in Texas, I’m in Montreal. It doesn’t mean because we’re nice to each other that it’s going to be a bad fight. It’ll be an even better fight. It’s a great style matchup and I’m looking forward to it.”
The closest the dialogue came to conflict was when GSP was asked to respond to an interview Hendricks gave where the challenger promised to “make GSP exciting.”
The champion appeared to take it in stride, saying, “I’m going to make him exciting too. It’s going to be a good fight. If you look at the pay-per-views, the people that buy the pay-per-views, I’m one of the highest if not the highest in the UFC. If I wasn’t exciting, people wouldn’t buy the fight. So I don’t focus on that. I focus on the job I need to do. That’s what matters to me.”
The mutual admiration society continued when the topic turned to drug testing. Both fighters readily signalled their willingness to partake in a Voluntary Anti-Doping Agency (VADA) testing program, complete with random blood and urine tests. For both fighters, it seemed like the issue was about setting an example for both the sport and the people watching it.
“A reporter asked me about (VADA), if I would be ready one day to do it, I said yes I am. I’ve never taken drugs in my life. I’ve been accused many times in the past of drugs and steroids but I always took it as a compliment about my athletic ability,” St-Pierre explained.
“Right now I can make a point and prove to people that you can become a champion without using drugs. VADA is the best anti-doping agency and I’m ready to do the tests. Johny’s a legit guy and honest person as well. Because I’m champion I can afford to pay for the tests.”
Hendricks was open to the test and accepted GSP’s invitation immediately.
“Today, tomorrow, next week. It doesn’t matter to me. You don’t look like I look on steroids,” Hendricks added with a wry smile.
This fight and all the 20th anniversary hype surrounding UFC 167 could push it to be the highest-grossing event of 2013 for the UFC. Yet there is next to no conflict existing between the two participants beyond both of them wanting to be recognized as the best fighter in 170-pound division.
After all the trash-talk between GSP’s training partner Rory MacDonald and Jake Ellenberger resulted in a fight that was panned by fans and Dana White alike, perhaps the fact that both GSP and Hendricks are coming into this fight riding a wave of pleasantries isn’t a bad thing at all.
