Georges St-Pierre and 9 Other Fighters Who Have Changed Their Styles

Current welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre has very few peers. Since joining the UFC, GSP has taken on and dominated incredible fighters who hold strengths in all areas.

He has defeated world class strikers like Thiago Alves, wrestling phenoms like Jon Fitch, all-time greats like Matt Hughes and BJ Penn, brawlers like Dan Hardy, jiu-jitsu icons like Penn and Jake Shields and well rounded threats like Matt Serra and Josh Koscheck who present danger standing and on the ground.

While Georges now adapts his fighting style based on the strengths and weaknesses of his opponents, this wasn’t always the case. The man known as “Rush” certainly has the right to be confident in his abilities, but losses to Matt Hughes and Matt Serra taught the champ that he isn’t always the best man in every area of the fight.

Taking advantage of the holes in Hughes’ standup is smarter than rolling with him. Avoiding the heavy hands of Matt Serra is a more intelligent strategy than trading blows and hoping that yours will land harder.

Strategy is the reason that Georges has changed over the years. Now that he has perfected the craft of honing in on the best game plan, his old style of going out there and doing what felt right has faded into the darkness.

Clearly, it works for him. St-Pierre is the king of the division and hopes to remain on his throne for a long time.

This is a look at some other notable fighters who have dramatically changed their styles since the first time we saw them step foot inside the Octagon.

Josh Koscheck: Change for the Better

Do you remember how awful Josh Koscheck’s striking was when he first arrived in the UFC? His movements were robotic, his strikes were telegraphed and he just looked to be generally uncomfortable.

His wrestling brought him success, though. Using his experience on the mat to gain positional advantages, Koscheck rattled off submission wins via rear naked choke in two of his first three wins inside the Octagon.

Through the course of his career, Koscheck has spent time with excellent coaches who have helped him evolve tremendously on his feet. Kos has grown so much as a striker.

While Goldie has been known for going a little bit overboard at times, it’s hard to think of anyone who has grown as much as the bleach-blonde AKA prodigy over the years.

Jorge Gurgel: Change for the Worse

Jorge Gurgel is a third-degree black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu. Very few fighters are able to elevate their grappling to this world-class level. When he joined the cast of The Ultimate Fighter season two, Gurgel had a professional record of 9-1, with all victories coming via way of submission.

When making his way into the Octagon, Gurgel seemed more concerned with putting on entertaining fights than he did with winning.  As a fan of a good slugfest, it's hard to be mad at him for this.

However, as a fan of Gurgel, I find it painful to watch him neglect his strongest weapons and, in the process, lose fights against very beatable opponents. It’s like Rampage consciously choosing to fight without using his right hand.

Gurgel’s career has been on a downward spiral since deciding to be a fan favorite. Although he has won two fight of the night awards that fattened his pockets a bit, he did so at the cost of his win bonus on several occasions.

Gurgel unfortunately went 5-7 in his last 12 contests, with his only wins being against non-notables, while his losses were against middle-of-the-pack fighters he should have defeated, like Alvin Robinson and Joe Duarte.

I’m glad that Gurgel will have no regrets when his career is over. I just wish that his record would reflect his incredible level of talent.

With his impressive ground game and his ability to take some wicked punches,he could have been one of the most successful lightweights of his generation. He should have formulated a game plan and harnessed his strongest weapons, instead of standing and trading with every opponent he faced/

Stephan Bonnar: Mixed Change, but Mostly Better

Stephan Bonnar’s Octagon wars with Forrest Griffin and Krzystof Soszynski are battles that any fighter should be proud to have on his resume. Who would have guessed that The American Psycho would turn into a points fighter?

With an iron-chin that has been tested by the best in the world, Stephan Bonnar, the original Ultimate Fighter runner-up, has never been TKO’d or submitted in his 21-fight career. It appeared that Bonnar’s faith in his skills would let him stand with any willing participant.

Pundits have described Bonnar’s new style as smarter and more disciplined. His refusal to get sucked into a brawl has extended his UFC career as his last two bouts have seen more use of takedowns and grappling than we are used to.

Bonnar dominated both Igor Pokrajac and Kyle Kingsbury to put himself on a three-fight win streak, his first since 2006.

At the age of 34, Bonnar has a few more bouts left in the tank. It’s doubtful that he will ever climb back to the top of the mountain. MMA fans will always be grateful for the role that Stephan played in helping make this sport so popular.

His new style is working well for him, although he has unfortunately lost some fans in the process. Hopefully his last few fights will take us down memory lane.

Nik Lentz: Change for the Worse

After his performance against Andre Winner at UFC 118, Nik Lentz received some of the worst criticism that I have ever read. After 15 minutes of attempts to get the fight to the ground and hold it there, cries for the yellow card system and boos from impatient and bored fans rained down on him in unfathomable quantities.

His snoozer against Winner, combined with the controversial win over Tyson Griffin, had Lentz in hot water with UFC brass.

In what ended up being a “loser leaves town” fight, the UFC booked Lentz in a bout against fellow grinder Waylon Lowe. Lowe dominated Nik for the first two rounds, but Lentz showed a warriors spirit to avoid his first UFC loss when he pulled out a guillotine submission in the third round.

UFC president Dana White went on to tweet to show his admiration: “Lentz vs. Lowe was a SICK fight!!! Seattle is going crazy.”

Since that time, Lentz has adopted a completely different way of fighting. His bouts with Charles Oliviera and Evan Dunham would win him Fight of the Night awards.

The change has certainly made him a richer fighter, and he isn't being showered with boos anymore, but Lentz hasn’t won any of his three most recent bouts. For that reason alone, I have to call this a change for the worse.

Will Lentz continue with his entertaining, albeit less successful, new fighting style? Now that he is one loss away from a pink slip, I think that the Fitch-ness in Lentz may make another appearance. Here’s hoping that I’m wrong.

Paul Daley: Change for the Better

Paul Daley burst onto the scene in a major way when he TKO’d Martin Kampmann as a last-minute fill-in for Mike Swick at UFC 103. Semtex followed it up with an explosive knockout over Dustin Hazelett that showed the world he has hands that can put any man to sleep.

In his next bout, however, Daley faced welterweight wrestler Josh Koscheck in a bout where he was exposed as a one-dimensional striker who seemed lost once the fight left his comfort zone.

Daley became so frustrated by his lack of abilities on the ground that he cold-cocked Koscheck after their three-round fight came to conclusion. Sure, it was Koscheck's trash talk that drove him over the edge, but don’t you think that if he could have hit Koscheck from the bottom, he would have?

Since leaving the UFC, Daley has realized that takedowns are his weakness. Not only has he worked on improving his takedown defense, as illustrated in his bout with Jorge Masdival in 2010, but his recent bouts have seen the British brawler using double leg takedowns to his advantage.

The most recent example of this was in last week’s affair against Kaz Misaki in which Daley rained down vicious elbows from top position that left his opponent a bloody mess. Although Daley was outstruck in the bout, it was nice to see that he has added new weapons to his game in order to make himself a more well-rounded fighter.

Demian Maia: Change for the Worse

“Demian Maia has the best pure jiu-jitsu game in the entire sport right now.” That quote comes directly from Dana White in the build-up for Maia’s championship opportunity against longtime middleweight kingpin Anderson Silva.

When you know how good Maia is on the ground, you can see why grapplers want nothing to do with this BJJ ace. But beginning with his performance against Dan Miller, it became clear that being the best grappler in the world isn’t enough.

After receiving a vicious KO at the hands of Nate Marquardt, Demian needed to prove to himself that he could hang with the top middleweights in the world in the striking department.

Joe Rogan would go on to elaborate: “Demian Maia’s jiu-jitsu is a such a high level that he is capable of literally submitting anyone in the world. All he has to do is get a hold of you.”

Unfortunately, things haven’t quite played out that way for the third-degree black belt. In his last six bouts, Maia has thrice found himself on the losing end of the striking game.

His victories over the formerly employed Mario Miranda, Kendall Grove and Jorge Santiago don’t mean much when his losses come at the hands of Anderson Silva and contenders Mark Munoz and Chris Weidman.

Demian, please go back to what brought you to the show. We miss seeing your disgusting submissions and incredible sweeps.

Mark Munoz: Change for the Better

When we first saw Mark Munoz, he couldn’t win a fight unless he was able to work the action to the ground. He didn’t look comfortable standing at all and would try to take the fight to the canvas before his opponent even realized that the fight had begun.

In his second UFC bout, Munoz squared off with Nick Catone in a contest where the Filipino Wrecking Machine couldn’t get his opponent to the mat to save his life. At several points in the fight, it was clear that Munoz was in deep water, leading many to believe that the one-dimensional, ground-and-pound specialist was going to be just another WEC guy who couldn’t hang in the UFC.

Since that time, Munoz has been working heavily with the boys from Black House, and to say that it has changed him for the better would be an understatement.

Mark still knows where his bread and butter can be found, but at least he is competent enough on his feet to hang with bangers like Chris Leben.

In the picture above, look at Mark’s ability to slip the left hook of Leben, while delivering a powerful right of his own. When you think about the fact that Munoz got knocked out by Matt Hamill, being able to hang with Chris Leben is a major improvement. Way to evolve your game, Mark!

Fabricio Werdum: Change for the Better

World class grappler Fabricio Werdum is a nightmare for any fighter on the ground. As we’ve seen earlier in this list, fellow BJJ masters Demian Maia and Jorge Gurgel felt the need to change their public perception by standing and trading with opponents, instead of taking the fight to the ground, where they would be better suited.

Vai Cavalo doesn’t quite fall into the same category. While striking has become a much more important weapon in his arsenal, the submission skills of Werdum are heavily on display when he doesn’t feel like he has an advantage in the standup.

When outmatched by Fedor Emelianenko, he lured The Last Emperor to the ground, where he caught him in a triangle choke. He attempted the same strategy against K-1 champion Allistair Overeem, but with less success.

The evolution of Werdum’s striking came full circle in February when he used vicious Muay Thai knees and elbows to dismantle the face of “Big Country” Roy Nelson at UFC 143.

With black belts in jiu-jitsu, judo and muay thai, Werdum is not only one of the most well-rounded heavyweights alive, but he is also one of the most dangerous.

Chris Lytle: Change for the Better

There is no fighter who has changed his style more than Chris Lytle. After being out-pointed by Matt Serra at the Ultimate Fighter Four Finale in a bout that was panned for its lack of action, Lytle adopted a new mentality (via mmajunkie.com):

"

The bottom line is people have to want to watch the fight. You should do enough to make them want to buy the next pay-per-view. People need to be like, 'Wow, that was cool. I need to see more.' That's my job. That's what I'm supposed to do.

"

Lytle would go on to adopt a new style that threw caution to the wind. The idea was that he could go out and win in a blaze of glory or lose trying.

For a guy who looked danger in the fact every time he stepped into the cage, it is surprising that “Lights Out” never tasted defeat via submission or TKO in either his boxing or MMA career.

Lytle’s new brawler mentality was supplemented by his fantastic submission skills. His ten fight night awards is the most of its kind. He arguably should have received an 11th after his flawless inverted triangle choke/straight armbar combination on Matt Brown at UFC 116 that went unrewarded in favor of Brock Lesnar’s arm triangle on Shane Carwin.