Georges St-Pierre: How Trash Talk Motivates The Champion

Georges St-Pierre

If there’s one thing that Georges St-Pierre has proven over his tenure with the UFC, trash talk just doesn’t work against the Canadian.

Throughout his career, St-Pierre has had fighters come at him from every angle before a bout and rarely does it work beyond motivating the UFC welterweight champion to come in and maul an opponent. Matt Serra tried it for their rematch, B.J. Penn did the same, and the results, well they were convincing.

St-Pierre finished both Serra and Penn within the 25-minute time limit, and if any of the trash talk that Josh Koscheck has lobbed towards the champion for this fight is any indication of performance, the champion expects great things to happen Saturday night in his hometown of Montreal.

Finishing up camp last week, St-Pierre is now focused solely on the task at hand, but the constant badgering from Koscheck during their time on “The Ultimate Fighter Season 12? will ring in his head at just the right moments at UFC 124.

“What Josh said about me, that did (motivate) before the training leading up to the fight, but now the training is done,” St-Pierre said. “Whatever he has said, whatever he has done, everything will come out of the window Saturday night.”

While the champion’s statements leading into the main event sound similar to past fights, St-Pierre points out the words from his opponent are just the extra push he needs to run the extra mile, train the extra hour, to get ready to beat him.

“It effected my preparation coming into the fight,” St-Pierre admitted, “I prepared like I’ve never prepared myself before. I’m the best Georges St-Pierre I’ve ever been, I’m sharper everywhere. I’ve been working on a lot of different things for this fight, and I can’t wait to show it to the public.”

St-Pierre’s preparation included the regular cast of characters including lead trainers Greg Jackson and Firas Zahabi, as well as jiu-jitsu instructor John Danaher and Muay Thai coach Phil Nurse. The Canadian did add one key component that he believes puts him over the top for this match-up and that was the work he did with famed boxing trainer Freddie Roach.

Roach has trained a multitude of world champions in boxing, including current pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao. The trainer, who has a gym in Los Angeles, has also worked with several MMA fighters recently including Andrei Arlovski and Anderson Silva.

“A few months I’ve been working with him and he changed a lot of stuff, a lot of things in my mechanics,” St-Pierre said about Roach. “Before I knew him I thought I knew boxing, but I found out that I didn’t. He corrected a lot of stuff for me and I feel much more confident now and it’s very good.”

Roach recently said after working with the UFC’s best welterweight that he believed St-Pierre would knock Koscheck out in the second round of their fight on Saturday night. The champion himself has never been big on predictions, but for this fight he didn’t mind at all what his new boxing coach had to say.

“I don’t mind. I’ve been sparring with a lot of professional boxers, some of these guys are world champions, so I’m very ready for this fight,” St-Pierre professed. “I’ve had the best training camp of my life for this fight. I can’t wait.”

Add it all up and, on paper, the recipe is there for another dominant Georges St-Pierre victory, but Josh Koscheck hopes to upset that apple cart when the two square off with the UFC welterweight title up for grabs in Montreal.