GSPUK – The Champ’s A Hit in Manchester

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By Thomas Gerbasi

MANCHESTER, ENGLAND, November 13 – The tune may change if Nottingham’s Dan Hardy defeats Mike Swick at UFC 105 and puts himself in line for a title shot, but for now, you couldn’t find a more popular fighter in the United Kingdom on Friday afternoon than UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre, in town for Saturday’s event at the MEN Arena as well as for a Q&A session with members of the UFC Fight Club and the media.

That’s not too surprising though, considering that the classy Canadian is one of the most humble world-class athletes in any sport. Yet while he’s never been a braggart or trash-talker, he did tell Fight Club members that he did learn humility the hard way in April of 2007 when he lost his first welterweight title to Matt Serra.

“When I beat Matt Hughes (in 2006 to win the UFC 170-pound crown), I didn’t realize what I had in my hand,” said St-Pierre. “I was champion and I became a victim of the fame a little bit. I was pretty young, and I was too young to have that kind of fame and power. So what happened was, everybody was telling me how great I am, so there was this delusional box around me that made me think I was different than the other fighters and that nobody could touch me. But the thing I had forgot was that no matter how great you do, or how great of a fighter you are, you make one mistake and you can lose the title. That’s what I learned when I lost to Serra.”

St-Pierre hasn’t tasted defeat since then, winning six in a row against a UFC Who’s Who: Josh Koscheck, Matt Hughes, Jon Fitch, BJ Penn, and Thiago Alves, with the sweetest victory being over Serra in their 2008 rematch that put the belt back around his waist. In fact, the only thing that has slowed St-Pierre down in the last two and a half years has been an abductor injury he suffered in his July win over Alves at UFC 100. Yet once the injury healed, the Montrealer returned to the gym and looked fit and ready for battle at the MEN Arena, armed with 10 extra pounds of muscle that will undoubtedly make him even more dangerous once he returns to the Octagon in 2010.

Who he will face in that return may be determined Saturday night when Swick and Hardy battle it out in the UFC 105 co-main event.

“It can be very short or a very long fight,” said St-Pierre to media members as he broke down the bout. “I think if Hardy charges very fast on Swick, Swick can knock him out because he’s a good counterpuncher. But Hardy has the power to knock out Swick too, so it can go either way. Swick also has a good guillotine choke and could submit Hardy, so there are different scenarios I can see in my mind, but it’s hard to tell.”

It will also be difficult for St-Pierre to truly begin scouting either combatant on fight night just due to the sure to be loud atmosphere at Octagonside. But he does admit that he’ll be able to take a few mental notes from the bout.

“Of course I pick up some things, but it will be more on video,” he said. “Being there, I’m going to be able to feel the atmosphere and be able to gauge what kind of fighters they are and what level they are.”

One thing’s for sure though – no matter who wins, St-Pierre isn’t planning on making a trip into the Octagon post-fight like he did before his second fight with Hughes, who had just defeated Penn at UFC 63.

“I did it once and it was a mistake against Matt Hughes,” said St-Pierre. “I thought he was insulting me and I misunderstood. The winner of this fight, it’s going to be his moment of glory and I don’t want to take anything away from him. It’s going to be his night and I won’t go into the Octagon and challenge him because it’s going to break his night and it’s not my style. I don’t want to do that ever again.”

And despite his dominance of the welterweight division over the last few years, St-Pierre isn’t about to rest on his laurels. He remembers what happened the last time he did that.

“I will never underestimate my opponents,” he said. “I always want to feel like the guy that I’m fighting is the most dangerous guy that I’ve fought in my entire career. And that’s how I’ll take every one of my fights.”

But what happens if the 28-year old keeps running roughshod over the welterweight division? The question then becomes, will GSP ponder a move to middleweight to challenge current 185-pound boss Anderson Silva? It’s a question he was asked plenty on Friday.

“I have a goal in my head that when I retire I want to be known as the greatest fighter in the sport of MMA of all-time,” said St-Pierre. “That’s how I want to be known and I want to be known as the guy who made the difference, not only in the Octagon, but as a spokesperson (of the sport). To reach that goal, I have to beat some of the best guys in the sport. Of course Silva is one of them, BJ Penn was one of them, but this fight (against Silva) isn’t written in stone. One of us can lose a fight, and if one of us loses, the interest in the fight will diminish considerably.”

If recent past and present form is an indicator, neither St-Pierre nor Silva look like they’ll be losing anytime soon. But there’s always someone out there who has your number on that particular night when you’ve lost your focus for a split-second or looked too far ahead and they can turn your invincibility into a loss pretty quickly. So while the possibility of any number of different fights for St-Pierre is nice, the champ is focusing on just one at a time.

“Right now, my number one threat is gonna be Hardy or Swick, because that’s the guy I’m supposed to fight,” he said. “My eyes are on the present threat.”