UFC 129 Results: Georges St-Pierre Should Leave Greg Jackson

Now that the dust has settled and we’ve had some time to make sense of the main bout last night at UFC 129: St-Pierre vs. Shields, I’d like to suggest what some might consider a radical idea.

It is time for Georges St-Pierre to leave Greg Jackson’s camp and press upward and onward into new and unexplored strategic territories; if he wants to leave behind his much talked about legacy.

The highly anticipated UFC welterweight title matchup posed many questions, theories and concerns before the fight was even officially set and leading all the way up to the bout.

Rounds 1-3 were all St-Pierre as he countered with more overhand rights than we’ve seen him throw his entire MMA career.

St-Pierre complained between Rounds 2 and 3 to his head strategist and cornerman, Greg Jackson, that he could not see out of his left eye. Jackson told the champ not to worry about it and to beat him with one eye.

Though Jackson may have tried, GSP’s eye would trouble him for the rest of the fight and keep him from performing at his very best.

Round 4 began and GSP’s timing was noticeably off and Shields took advantage in the stand-up game for the first time in the fight. St-Pierre did what he could, but Round 4 was all Shields.

The final round began and Shields urged the champ to stand and bang with him by waving his hands in the air as if to pump up the crowd.

Shields’ hype instigation worked and the crowed burst into an uproar.

After a back and forth round that I scored even, the final second of the clock ran out and GSP was awarded another unanimous decision.

As I had predicted earlier, this fight was all St-Pierre’s to win. At the very least all he needed to do was stay a safe distance away from Shields and stuff his takedowns, which he did.

Shields has a very bad habit of stepping in with a one-two punch combination followed by a right shin kick to the body.

Anyone who watches and analyzes tapes of Shields will immediately recognize it too.

St-Pierre’s strategy was to engage Shields standing up and wait for him [Shields] to throw the combo, then counter it with a big overhand right.

It was obvious that GSP’s game plan was to take advantage of the flaw that Shields does in every single one of his fights, has always done and will continue to do if he doesn’t recognize it and take some serious time to focus on correcting it.

Dan Henderson also saw this flaw in Shields’ game and caught him in their Strikeforce middleweight title match, but Shields was able to recover and come out with a decision victory.

The three main problems with GSP’s strategy were:

1. He’s NOT Dan Henderson.

2. After the fifth or sixth overhand right, I’m pretty sure Shields was watching for them.

3. He should have countered Shields’ combo with a straight right blast instead of an overhand right.

I have always questioned whether or not Jackson does in fact, teach his fighters to play it safe over not holding back and giving it their all; fighting like their life depends on it.

Now that St-Pierre’s last three fights have gone to a decision, I absolutely feel that GSP has reached a plateau in his game plan mentality and desperately needs a change if he wants to become a legend and secure a legacy.

On paper, St-Pierre is almost the perfect MMA fighter. He’s probably the most well rounded champion that currently holds a UFC title and possibly in all of MMA.

However, there is one major component lacking that is keeping him from progressing; his warrior mentality.

Imagine a GSP that fights with the ferocity and confidence of a young Mauricio “Shogun” Rua or Wanderlei “The Axe Murderer” Silva? Those unanimous decision wins would quickly turn into KO or TKO victories.

Why isn’t St-Pierre performing up to his best potential when he has all of the tools and techniques to do so? It’s because he needs a new game plan strategist that will allow him a new perspective.

Greg Jackson is a brilliant strategist and is responsible for taking St-Pierre to the place that he’s at now. The only problem is he’s no longer progressing.

Even with the insane amount of training and unorthodox methods such as gymnastics, he just can’t seem to take his fight game to the next level.

I wholeheartedly believe that Jackson has done the champ well, but it’s time to move on to greener pastures if he wants to not only progress, but stay champion.

Jackson has his hands full with many new up and coming fighters and champions, like Jonny “Bones” Jones.

If I were St-Pierre, I would keep his current team and head trainer, Firas Zahabi and consider going to world famous Muay Thai fighter turned trainer, Jeff “Duke” Roufus for stategy and game plan.

Roufus is responsible for teaching former WEC and now UFC lightweight fighter, Anthony Pettis the infamous kick that floored former WEC lightweight champion, Ben Henderson and stripped him of the title.