St. Pierre ready to push through for another win against Penn

By Jerome Cheatham

There are not many fighters out there who don’t give UFC welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre his due. He is arguably one of, if not, the most well-rounded fighter in MMA today.

UFC lightweight champ BJ Penn knows it. So, it’s no surprise that as St-Pierre prepares for Penn at UFC 94 this Saturday in Las Vegas, Nevada he’s finding himself responding to an attack from Penn of a different nature.

In the debut of the Spike TV’s UFC Primetime series, Penn readily questioned St-Pierre’s mental fortitude, saying St. Pierre is a “quitter” and that he will push him to the brink. It’s difficult to get under the humbly, confident exterior of St-Pierre, but Penn’s comments seem to have gotten his attention.

“If I am a quitter or not we will find out on January 31st who will quit first,” says St. Pierre on a recent conference call in response to Penn reiterating his assertion. “I think the fight will not be only about who is the best fighter but who can take more,” St. Pierre continued.

It’s been nearly three years since Penn and St. Pierre first met in the Octagon at UFC 58 in March of 2006. St-Pierre won a contested split decision. Since that bout, St-Pierre has taken his game to another level experiencing only one blemish to his resume – a loss to TUF 4 winner Matt Serra.

“I’m a lot more well-prepared than when I fought him the first time,” says St-Pierre. “My training regimen has changed dramatically. I was training hard, but not as smart as I’m training now with good quality of training partners. I’m a total different guy than I was at the time. A way much improved version.”

While he recognizes his game has ascended since he and Penn’s last meeting, StPierre is also quick to acknowledge that Penn’s has as well. And he’s not buying all the recent talk about Penn not training seriously.

St. Pierre says he believes UFC Primetime episode showing Penn going on vacation during the heart of training was a set-up designed to fake him out and play with his mind. He expects Penn to enter the Octagon in the best condition of his life Saturday night. And as a result he’s convinced the outcome will be determined not by any physical superiority, but rather by mental toughness.

 “The fighting is not all about strength and technique it’s about the mental,” says St. Pierre. “The closer the fight will be, the more mental it will be because our training will be done.” St-Pierre is so focused on the mental aspect of his game that he even employs a psychologist on his preparation team. It’s a friend of his who he says simply helps him perform better, and he’s just another piece of St. Pierre’s training team that is preparing him for this title defense that he affectionately calls his “Army.”  

If UFC President Dana White’s vision of the contest is accurate it well may take an army for either man to pull out a win against the other. “This is going to be like [Marvin] Hagler vs. [Thomas] Hearns or [Marvin] Hagler vs. [Ray] Leonard,” says White. “This is going to be one of those big fights.”