UFC 124 GSP vs. Koscheck

UFC 124 Georges St-Pierre vs. Josh Koscheck December 11th, 2010 from Montreal, Canada

So this was a terrible night for my picks but a fantastic night for Canadian fighters. The Canadians were with 4 wins, 2 losses, and 1 majority draw. I have some new fighters to watch and gained more respect for guys I was on the fence about before. Another great night of fights for a record breaking North American crowd of 23 000.

Sean Pierson vs. Matt Riddle - welterweight

This was the UFC debut for Canadian Sean Pierson and wow, welcome to the big leagues. Riddle did not let up at all. Even when none of his strikes were landing, he kept pushing forward like some sort of robot caveman, swinging, hoping to catch Pierson with something. Pierson didn't throw as many punches as Riddle but was definitely more effective with them. When they slowed down the tape you can see Riddle throwing 6-8 punches not connecting with any of them and Pierson snuck in and got two stiff jabs right to Riddle's chin. When the fight went to the mat Pierson dominated there too. He wasn't able to get a good enough choke hold to submit Riddle but did control him. This was a fun fight to watch, Pierson got 30-27 from all judges to take the unanimous decision and I will definitely be cheering for him in his next bout.

Joe Doerksen vs. Dan Miller - middleweight

They didn't air this fight and I can't watch it on UFC.com because my buddy ordered the fights but unfortunately El Dirte lost the split decision. I'm guessing they'll probably have Doerksen somewhere on the card in Toronto in April, hopefully he can pull off the win there.

John Howard vs. Thiago Alves - welterweight
Not sure what I was thinking when I went against the pit bull, I know better than that. I still like Howard, this was a great fight, Alves was just one step ahead. Alves stuffed a takedown in the first round and was quick to escapes a potential knee bar. He landed a hug leg kick towards the middle of the round that definitely hurt Howard and followed it with some big knees to Howards face. Both guys were throwing combinations but Alves just seemed to be faster the whole time. His punches were a little crisper, not round about haymakers I guess you would call them. The other two rounds were a lot of the same. Alves controlling the pace and landing way more punches. You have to give Howard credit though, he was obviously favoring his left leg after the huge leg kick in the first round but continued to push. Unfortunately for him, each time he went in Alves was ready with an even stronger counter. Alves ended the fight with a big kick to Howard’s body and another leg kick. This wasn't an easy fight for Alves but he took the unanimous decision without a doubt. 30-27 from every judge, I still don't want to see another Alves GSP matchup but I like watching Pit Bull fight, that was a great one. AND Alves made the effort to learn a few French lines for the crowd.

Mark Bocek vs. Dustin Hazelett - lightweight

Again, what was I thinking? While watching the fights I came to discover that Bocek is one of, if not the top Canadian lightweight fighter, woops. Right away Bocek got the takedown and after a bit of a battle he is able to get his legs around Hazelett for a triangle choke. He didn't have it perfectly right away but kept at it and forced Hazelett to tap. With this win Bocek also received one of the two submission of the night bonuses.

Mac Danzig vs. Joe Stevenson - lightweight

Poor guy, knocked out on his son's 10th birthday, harsh. Danzig looked really good in this fight. Not sure what happened in his last 5 fights where he lost 4 of them but this guy is good. I also didn't know going into this fight that he had won the 6th season of TUF. That’s a season I'll have to get on dvd, Hughes and Serra. And duh his coach was Hughes! I will definitely be rooting for this guy in his next match. Even just going from watching a welterweight fight to the lightweight guys there is a big difference in how they move. At the start of the fight the two guys were both jumping around a lot, moving around the cage feeling each other out, not just rocking on their feet. Stevenson about a minute and a half in started throwing more, he landed a few right on Danzig's chin. He went in for another combination and as Danzig was backing up he threw a left and landed square on Stevenson's chin. Out cold! Danzig won by KO at 1:54 in the first round. Perfect timing on that one, good enough for the knockout of the night bonus.

Jim Miller vs. Charles Oliveira - lightweight

Yet another dumb pick by me. Jim Miller is a beast. His only two losses have been to the top dogs in the division right now, Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard. He's defeated Mac Danzig and Mark Bocek who both dominated in their own fights tonight. It looked like he was getting close to being caught in both a guillotine and an armbar before he flipped the switch and grabbed the leg lock forcing Oliveira to tap. With this win Miller won one of the two submission of the night bonuses. That’s got to be one of the worst ways to loose. Oliveria is watching Miller hold his leg and tighten his grip, As soon as Miller lets go of his leg Oliveira probably feels like he could get right back up and fight again, he wasn't hurt otherwise. That’s rough.

Stefan Struve vs. Sean McCorkle - heavyweight

I'm not really sure how I feel about this fight. First off, its just plain crazy to see these two guys in the cage. They're both way taller than the height of the fence at 6'7" and 6'11" they make everyone look mini. McCorkle got a big takedown about 30 seconds in. Right away it looked like Struve was in trouble. But he backed himself up against the cage and explained in the post fight press conference he wasn't nervous, he knew for McCorkle to finish that submission he would not only have to lift his arm, he'd have to lift Struve's body because he was against the fence. That was really impressive to see him stay so calm and relaxed and get out of the hold. He ate some ground and pound from McCorkle but with about a minute and a half left he flipped McCorkle, got on top and dealt the real damage. The ref called the fight, maybe a couple strikes too soon but McCorkle was definitely turtling and lost via TKO. This is what I was talking about in another blog, Lesnar was eating way more punches than McCorkle was and there was blood all over his face in his match against Carwin but it wasn't called. This fight doesn't matter as much so it's called a little easier. I can definitely understand that, a title fight is way more important but I just wanted to point out this is what I'm talking about sometimes. At the post fight press conference Struve was pretty funny is saying he was happy to come out of a fight with his face intact.

Georges St-Pierre vs. Josh Koscheck - Welterweight Championship
Everyone knows the critics are going to love talking about this one. Another 5 round battle for the defending champion. But this was a totally different gameplan seen from GSP, almost the entire fight was a stand up game. Every single round went to GSP, no question. He dominated Koscheck all 5 rounds. GSP said at the post fight press conference that he is not happy with his performance, he apologized in his post fight interview with Joe Rogan that he did not finish the fight. He wanted a knockout or submission but wasn't able to get it. I don't think any true GSP fans think he needs to apologize for anything though. I think we all wanted to see GSP finish Koscheck but that fight was one sided start to finish, GSP took Koscheck to the cleaners! GSP started the fight with left jabs and did not let up. He got a takedown within the first 20 seconds of the fight but the rest of the time he was on his feet. The 3rd or 4th hit he landed did the damage that only got worse from then on. Koscheck was already blinking lots 30 seconds in and touching his right eye that just kept getting bigger. It was basically completely swollen shut by the end of the second round. The doctor was looking at it pretty closely and I feel like in any other fight it would have been called then, but Koscheck said he wanted to keep going, even though he was flinching every time someone tried to put ice on his face. GSP continued to throw jabs and high kicks to Koscheck's right eye while at the same time avoiding every single punch Koscheck threw. I have to give respect to Koscheck, even with only one eye and a ripped off toenail (ew) he was still fighting. He was still throwing punches, was able to defend against a couple famous GSP takedowns, actually got one himself, and every time GSP knocked him down he would get back up right away. He literally walked in to enemy territory, GSP's hometown the boos that came from the 23 000 plus crowd were louder than I have ever heard. He showed really great takedown defense and if he wasn't such a jerk I would cheer for him in his fights to come.

After the fight was over he hugged GSP for a long time and in the post fight press conference GSP was explaining that Koscheck was apologizing for all the trash talking and it was just to hype the fight. I think there is a line between hyping the fight and just being a tool and Koscheck did more than just hype the fight. Overall this was an awesome display of athleticism from both guys. If GSP was more like Clay Guida he would have just ran after Koscheck and attacked him with that one eye closed. But GSP thinks about every move and knew that if Koscheck is still throwing, there is a chance he could get clipped. If you don’t fight smart in a stand up game it’s like flipping a coin, he is too smart to take that risk. In the end I saw what I wanted to see, two guys working the whole fight. GSP pulls off another unanimous victory 50-45 from all 3 judges.

I'm not sure what will be next for GSP. All the guys he has fought and beat are still winning. Thiago Alves, Jon Fitch, guys that he has defeated are finishing each other, KOs TKOs, submissions, they're all amazing fighters but when they get to GSP they can't beat him. I'd like to see him take on Jake Shields next because that's what Dana has said will happen then finish Carlos Condit and after that maybe move up to 185. But those guys are a lot bigger. Its not just moving up a little bit, 15 pounds is a big difference, especially when a lot of those guys walk around at over 200 pounds and are usually taller than GSP. I'm excited to see where he goes.