THE CANADIAN PRESS
MONTREAL — Georges St-Pierre and Josh Koscheck agree on one thing going into UFC 124 on Saturday night — someone is going down.
"The goal for this fight for me is being able to finish Josh Koscheck," the UFC welterweight champion told reporters Wednesday. "Last time I fought him, I won a decision (at UFC 74). Now I want to take him out, either by knockout or submission."
Koscheck has his own plans.
"I plan on pissing 23,000-plus people off on Saturday night by knocking his ass out," said the brash 170-pounder from Fresno, Calif.
"It’s going to be a beautiful day on Saturday, even though there’s a foot of snow out there and this place is cold as hell. I’m going to warm it up on Saturday night," he added.
St-Pierre (20-2) looked relaxed as he was surrounded by a scrum of French and then English media. Koscheck (17-4) seemed a little more tense, rarely making eye contact with his questioners.
Takedowns proved to be the key when the two met in August 2007. St-Pierre, in his first fight since losing the 170-pound title to Matt Serra, outwrestled the former NCAA wrestling champion en route to a convincing decision over Koscheck.
St-Pierre has not lost a round since then, winning all six fights, regaining his title from Serra and defending it four times.
The Canadian is widely seen as one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in mixed martial arts.
But where others see a complete fighter, Koscheck sees a future victim.
"He’s fought a lot of guys that are strikers but they haven’t got a chance to hit him," he said. "I’m a wrestler, I’m going to stop his takedowns, I’m going to keep this fight on the feet and I’m going to knock him out."
Serra stopped St-Pierre the first time they met, stunning him with a blow to the back of the head at UFC 69. It’s a moment stuck in Koscheck’s mind, with the challenger believing St-Pierre has since turned to a safer style of fighting.
"He hasn’t been the same fighter since Matt Serra… . I believe that knockout put the fear of God in him and he’s afraid to get his chin tested. And it hasn’t been tested since."
Phil Nurse, St-Pierre’s striking coach, says be careful what you wish for.
"Josh has come a long way but I don’t think he’s come enough to contend with Georges," said Nurse.
While St-Pierre has won all four title defences convincingly, three went to a decision (Jon Fitch, Thiago Alves and Dan Hardy) and one went four rounds (B.J. Penn).
St-Pierre has recently used takedowns to put his opponents on their backs and punished them on the ground.
Koscheck says St-Pierre has been "boring" lately.
"People are paying good money to see him go out there and perform. He’s supposed to be the pound-for-pound best fighter, well a fighter goes out there and fights his ass off and knocks people out and finishes fights."
St-Pierre rejects criticism of his fights going the distance, saying his bouts with Alves and Fitch were exciting. He acknowledges criticism for not putting Hardy away, but adds: "Sometimes the line is so tiny between a finish and a decision."
He also credited Hardy for resisting his submission attempts. "His arm almost snapped," he said.
Plus St-Pierre says fighting is about the size of your brain, rather than a piece of the male anatomy lower down. It simply makes no sense to stand and trade punches, as the current UFC array of champions shows.
"When you stand up and stay in the pocket and bang, it’s like you’re flipping a coin," St-Pierre said. "It’s not the best guy that wins when you do that. It’s not a smart way to fight.
"A good fighter, he doesn’t stay in the pocket and bang. Anderson Silva is not champion because he stays in the pocket and bangs. Shogun Rua is not like that. Frankie Edgar is not like that. I’m not like that either. Cain Velasquez is not like that."
The surface gloss of this fight is Koscheck’s attempt to get under St-Pierre’s skin during their recent stint as coaches on "The Ultimate Fighter."
Koscheck insists he is in St-Pierre’s head. The champion scoffs at the idea.
Koscheck talks a good game, St-Pierre admits, but if trash-talking was part of the Olympics, the challenger would be on the bottom step of the podium.
Hardy and Penn do it better, St-Pierre said.
"Dan Hardy was very good because he was smart. He’s a very clever guy."
Penn wasn’t as smart, but escalated the game by making it personal when he suggested St-Pierre was taking steroids, the champion said.
"Koscheck, I would say, he’s not as clever as Dan Hardy in his trash-talk but he’s not as bad as B.J. Penn either. I would put him third."
Koscheck plays the role of villain in the UFC, riling fans as he did in Montreal at UFC 113 when he promised the Penguins would beat the Habs in the playoffs — Koscheck was born in Pennsylvania and went to school there — and that he would beat St-Pierre when they met.
He’s 0-1 so far on those predictions.
"I can’t control what they do," Koscheck said of the Penguins. "I’m in control of my own destiny."
Talk aside, Saturday’s fight — barring a lucky punch — will be decided by which fighter can take the other out of their element.
And St-Pierre is a master of taking opponents out of their comfort zone.
"I don’t think skillwise he can beat me," he said of Koscheck.
