Georges St-Pierre Wants To Prove He’s A Finisher By Putting Away Josh Koscheck

Georges St-Pierre

Georges St-Pierre is ready to prove on Saturday night at UFC 124 that he is a finisher.

Heading into his much-hyped rematch with rival Josh Koscheck, St-Pierre is answering critics that have come after his style in recent match-ups that he’s playing it safe and not going for the kill. The criticism follows recent comments by UFC president Dana White and others including Koscheck about the apparent “boring” style employed by fighters under the Greg Jackson banner.

St-Pierre quickly shoots down that idea and says that Jackson’s fighters are exciting, himself included. He’s ready to prove that again at UFC 124.

“I don’t believe it because if you look at the guys from our camp normally we win fight of the night every 2 UFC’s, a guy from our camp wins fight of the night, or knockout of the night, or submission of the night. In general we’re very entertaining,” St-Pierre said on Monday.

One of the major changes that St-Pierre has made for this training camp has been his work with boxing guru Freddie Roach. The Canadian trained with him at his gym in California, and with his tutelage St-Pierre will be looking for the knockout on Saturday night.

“The main thing I’ve done for a while, I’ve been working on punching power. I’ve been working out with Freddie Roach, and the mechanics of the way I was punching, and a lot of the stuff I was doing was wrong, and he corrected (it),” St-Pierre stated.

“In the first fight with Josh, when I was striking with him it was mostly to set up my takedowns, but this time when I’m going to strike with him, it will be to knock him out.”

If the knockout doesn’t come, St-Pierre is also more than prepared to finish Koscheck on the ground. A long time student of Renzo Gracie black belt John Danaher, St-Pierre also brought in another from the lineage of the Gracie family to help him prepare for the ground attack.

“Roger Gracie came in and Roger Gracie is a specialist of finishing his opponents when he takes the guy’s back,” St-Pierre commented. “I’ve been working a lot on that. If I get an opportunity and I get an opportunity for the finish, I will be able to finish him a lot better this time.”

In St-Pierre’s victories that have been decisions, there have been no doubts in the champion’s dominant performances. St-Pierre ran rough shot over both Thiago Alves and Dan Hardy in his last two title fights, but failed to put either away.

The judging in MMA has also come under increased scrutiny lately, so for his part, Georges St-Pierre just wants to put Josh Koscheck away within the allotted 25-minute time frame, and leave no questions to be asked.

“I want to finish fights,” said St-Pierre. “I’ve been very close in my last fights to finish them two times, but I want to make sure to take the time that if I get an opportunity to finish a fight, this time I’m going to take it. I’m the kind of guy I don’t make the same mistake twice.”

St-Pierre sounded extremely determined to finish Josh Koscheck during their fight, but his opponent isn’t so convinced.

“Is St-Pierre going to be a so-called boring Greg Jackson fighter and just take me down? Or is Georges St-Pierre going to have the balls to stand toe to toe with me?” Koscheck asked. “We’ll see.”

St-Pierre promises an exciting finish as does Josh Koscheck. The proof will be on display Saturday night when the two meet in the main event of UFC 124 in Montreal.