UFC 124 Results: Building The Perfect Fighter To Beat Georges St-Pierre
Now that Georges St-Pierre has successfully defended the UFC welterweight championship against Josh Koscheck at UFC 124, the question that everyone is asking is "Who can beat GSP?"
He has proved himself to be far-and-away the best welterweight fighter in UFC, if not all of MMA. He is frequently ranked at, or near, the top of the best pound-for-pound fighters lists. He is only 29 years old and just seems to get better and better with every fight.
His fighting style has evolved so much over the years, that is what has made him so successful and so dangerous.
Getting back to the original point, who can beat GSP right now?
You may be able to come up with a few realistic answers to that question, the popular choice among fans seems to be Anderson Silva. However, we don't like to leave anything to chance here at Bleacher Report.
We are going to build the world's most perfect fighter, the one fighter that we can say beyond a shadow of a doubt would be able to take down Georges St-Pierre. Using eight of the most important skills in MMA, this breakdown takes the best attributes from the best fighters in all of MMA in eight of the most important categories. These categories include intelligence, strength, striking, defense, take down ability, submission, speed, and ground-and-pound.
Intelligence
1 of 8
Lyoto Machida
This particular category I debated for awhile because I wasn't sure exactly what I was looking for. Did I want a fighter who was naturally smart? Did I want a fighter who studied the craft and learned from that? Did I want a fighter who could adapt to the fight as it's going on? Eventually I settled on Machida because I believe that he possesses all of those qualities. His style isn't necessarily popular among MMA fans but he has a plan going into a fight and will stick to that. If the fight unfolds in a way that he didn't expect, he can change his plan to adapt. He is so smart when he is in the octagon and that may be the biggest part of the game that we need in order to beat GSP, who incidentally is one of the smartest fighters around.
Strength
2 of 8
Sean Sherk
We aren't looking for necessarily the biggest person, we are looking for pound-for-pound the strongest person so that we can knock down GSP. Right at the top of the pound-for-pound strength list is Sean Sherk. He has unbelievable strength and he is only 155 pounds. He throws everything that he has behind his punches and when he connects you are going to go down.
Striking
3 of 8
Anderson Silva
Probably the best pure striker in MMA, Anderson Silva's striking ability would match up as well as anyone's against GSP. He can move in-and-out, side-to-side and hit you whenever he wants to. By putting Silva's striking ability on our "ultimate fighter" we would be able to get someone who can do to GSP what he did to Josh Koscheck. Just keep jabbing away at him until he can't take anymore. Landing punches is what we need to do in order to win and Silva's striking ability gives us the best opportunity to do that.
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Defense
4 of 8
Lyoto Machida
"The Dragon" has the best defense in MMA, his style is legendary. If we are going to be successful against GSP we have to be able to avoid everything that he brings to the table. Machida's defensive-aggressive style would be the perfect way to set up our offense. With GSP attacking, Machida has the speed to maneuver away from potential danger and can avoid the takedowns as well.
Take Down Ability
5 of 8
Fedor Emelianenko
The Russian submission machine has great takedown technique. With Fedor's takedown ability, GSP would have to move around a lot more than he would be comfortable with. This would allow us to perhaps wear him down or be able to attack him standing. By being able to get GSP to the ground, specifically his back, he couldn't utilize his speed and quickness on us.
Submissions
6 of 8
Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
The man known as Minotauro is arguably the greatest submission specialist that MMA has known. He has made a hall-of-fame career out of zeroing in on an opponent then twisting and turning and choking that area until the opponent can't take it any longer. Giving our fighter his submission ability would be a major coup in a bout against GSP.
Speed
7 of 8
Anderson Silva
Anderson Silva is the only man in UFC, or MMA for that matter, that is faster than GSP. He uses his unbelievable speed in the octagon to help set up his fantastic striking ability. Looking at all these attributes individually, it's easy to see why a GSP-Silva fight would be an unbelievable fight. They are so evenly matched in so many ways that you would be hard pressed to favor one over the other.
Ground-And-Pound
8 of 8
Randy Couture
A lost art, specifically in UFC, is the ground-and-pound. If you can get your opponent on the ground and just pummel them from that position you would have a decided advantage over your opponent. Randy Couture was a master of getting his opponent to the ground and just leveling them with everything that he had. We want to be able to get GSP to the ground and wail on him. Couture's ground-and-pound allows us to do that.
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