I’m absolutely kicking myself for not being able to get to Montreal for the UFC event tomorrow night. The great people at the UFC even offered me a press pass and all I would have to do is drive the 90 minutes down to be a part of what will be an electric atmosphere as Quebec’s own Georges St. Pierre looks to defend his crown against UFC bad by Josh Koscheck.
I’ve only seen a couple of people pick Koscheck to win this fight, but I’m not going to be one of those people. I learned a long time ago not to bet against Georges St. Pierre and with how motivated and excited he looks just days before the fight, I feel safe in saying that I’m glad I’m not in Koscheck’s shoes.
He’s taking on one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the sport and even worse, he’s made GSP motivated to win. Just a deadly combination. How does the saying go again? Don’t poke at a sleeping bear? Well, that’s exactly what Koscheck has done by trash-talking his way through the pre-fight media hype.
I know, he’s not just doing it because it’s GSP. He does it all the time in order to get under the skin of his opponents, try and gain a psychological edge and most importantly, get a bigger payday by boosting up the sales of the PPV by playing the bad guy. It usually works against other Top 10 guys in the division, but there’s a huge difference between fighting a contender and fighting THE champ.
Before I put in a wager or make a prediction, I always try to play the game or fight out in my head in various scenarios. For this fight, I played it out in four different ways. The first two involved focusing on GSP as if he were either trying to get the knockout or get the tap and the other two focused on Koscheck in the same way. All four times, I pictured nothing but victory for GSP.
If they keep it standing and just trade in the centre of the octagon, GSP will easily win because his punches are harder, crisper and more precise. Koscheck is someone that has knockout power and an ability to trade against most fighters, but again, we’re not talking about most fighters here. Koscheck will want to get it to the ground since his background is all about wrestling. Again though, GSP has shown amazing sprawling skills in the past to avoid takedowns and also has great ground skills even if he does get taken down.
I’ll take GSP to win via submission in the second round and this fight will prove once again to the fans and to Dana White that the next GSP fight has to involve Anderson Silva as the opponent. It’s the dream match-up that everyone has talked about and with Mayweather-Pacquiao stalling, it would be another way for White to chop at the wobbly legs of the sport of boxing.