Pat Miletich: Georges St. Pierre’s Feints, Fakes Key to His Game

Former UFC welterweight champion Pat Miletich joined the Sherdog Radio Network’s “Rewind” show to discuss GSP’s win, his dominance in the UFC and more.

On St. Pierre returning after knee surgery: “I think he shocked a lot of people. Obviously the fans of Georges St. Pierre and his camp felt that he was stronger and better than he was before the injury, but a lot of people had doubts. I honestly was, like many people, a little concerned about him coming off, what was it, 18, 19 months off with that ACL injury? And going up against a guy like Carlos Condit, who’s dangerous to anybody on the planet. Being able to come out and -- I mean, he big brothered the hell out of Carlos. He was so much stronger, so much bigger and was very crisp. He controlled the fight pretty much almost from start to finish.”

On St. Pierre’s condition: “The kid’s a horse. He’s physically developed so much. He looks so much bigger than he did before the injury even. It’s amazing he can make 170.”

On what Condit might have done differently: “If you can’t march St. Pierre backwards a little bit, you’re really going to have a lot of trouble because those transitions off his striking, into his takedowns, are so smooth. He’ll get you to commit and think that you’re in a boxing match and the next thing you know, you’re getting taken down and vice versa. That’s something that Carlos did not take advantage of, and obviously standing in front of somebody as opposed to sitting and watching it on TV are two different things … but he definitely didn’t commit. He was not committing on three-, four-, five-punch combinations, where probably that’s what you’re going to land -- your third or fourth or fifth shot, and get things rolling for yourself, and he definitely did not do that.”

On defending St. Pierre’s wrestling: “You have to dictate when Georges is going to shoot on you. If you don’t dictate that and he dictates it, it’s easier for him to take you down. If I can dictate when Georges or any other fighter is going to shoot on me by putting pressure on him at certain times -- when I’m putting pressure on somebody and lighting them up with punches, I know they’re going to shoot and so then I’m prepared for it. That’s something that Carlos didn’t do. That’s something they needed to remind him of, is just go out, bend your knees, get low and when you start unloading on him -- you’ve got to unload, number one, but when you start unloading on him, you have to be prepared to change levels and drop with him so that he doesn’t get his takedowns.”

On the kick Condit landed that stunned St. Pierre: “He really didn’t load up for that kick that landed. That was a pretty slick move. He was throwing a hand combo and really slid his head off to the right hard and kind of disappeared out of sight on Georges and threw that left leg up high. Very deceptive -- that’s a deceptive kick. There’s a few guys out there that are flexible and lanky enough to do that sort of thing. It’s a really dangerous kick, but something like that -- it didn’t look like he even threw it with 100-percent power at all, but Georges didn’t see it at all, and that’s why he got dropped with it. That’s the beauty of the deception: You can land shots that you don’t throw 100 percent that can put somebody away.”

On St. Pierre’s standup and how it sets up his takedowns: “Nobody has been able to, from the very beginning, control the feint and fake game and get Georges out of his rhythm and mess with his head. From there, everything unravels. He controls the fight, he controls the setups, he controls the pace and you’re screwed. That’s something that only comes, honestly, with sparring with incredible strikers. That’s the only way you’re going to do it, and to do that, you’re going to donate blood for three or four years before you figure it out.”

Listen to the full interview (beginning at 2:05).