With UFC 100 nearing, Georges St. Pierre prepared for biggest test of already stellar career

With UFC 100 nearing, Georges St. Pierre prepared for biggest test of already stellar career
by John Morgan on Jun 28, 2009 at 12:05 pm ET

When UFC welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre (18-2 MMA, 12-2 UFC) speaks, people listen.

The humble, well-spoken French-Canadian doesn't waste many words and doesn't often issue unwarranted superlatives.

And as St. Pierre continues preparations for his potentially epic showdown with No. 1 contender Thiago Alves (16-3 MMA, 9-2 UFC) at UFC 100 on July 11 in Las Vegas, the man who has already defeated B.J. Penn (twice), Matt Hughes (twice), Sean Sherk, Jon Fitch, Josh Koscheck, Matt Serra and others, is calling "Pitbull" the biggest challenge of his career.

"Well, I truly believe, first of all, that if you would put Thiago Alves and B.J. Penn in a fight, I would bet all my money on Thiago Alves, no doubt about it," St. Pierre said in a recent media call promoting the event. "This fight, for a lot of people, seems less dangerous for me because Thiago Alves is a gentleman, he's not somebody that needs to trash talk to promote himself.

"He's a very respectful guy. That's what makes him even more dangerous."

Alves has taken a completely different approach to his fight with St. Pierre than Penn did for a January contest with the welterweight champion. With a seven-fight win streak of his own – a streak that also includes several impressive names – Alves prefers to let his devastating strikes do the talking.

"Thiago's got devastating leg kicks, but that's not the only thing that he's got," St. Pierre said. "He's got great knees, a great left hook.

"I've been studying a lot of things that he does and I know he's going to be a better fighter than I saw in his previous fight because he's a young guy and he always comes back – he's always a better version of what he was the last time before."

The last time for Alves was an impressive display of striking against Koscheck. Snapping leg kicks punished Koscheck for 15 full minutes in a bout that a lesser man than the American Kickboxing Academy fighter would have quit long before the final bell.

Alves will also rival St. Pierre in sheer size, as the two men are perhaps the biggest currently fighting in the welterweight division. But St. Pierre believes the Brazilian's mass will not provide the difference in the contest.

"I don't think it will make a big difference because I always train with bigger guys," St. Pierre said. "I train with smaller and also bigger guys, so I'm used to every kind of size. And I truly believe in this sport skill and technique always beats strength and size.

"The guy who will win the fight is the better fighter, not the bigger guy. It will be the guy who will fight the best that will win the fight."

St. Pierre has been the better man in 11 of his past 12 contests, but many MMA observers agree with the champ in assessing Alves as his biggest test to date. St. Pierre admits there's pressure as a star of the UFC to maintain his belt, but "Rush" also finds those emotions can provide extra motivation.

"The pressure is always there for me," St. Pierre said. "I'm always very nervous, and I think it's that nervousness that keeps me sharp and is going to make me perform better the night of the fight. I think it's a good thing.

"The only thing is with the experience that I'm getting, and I'm getting more and more experience, I learn how to deal with [the pressure]. But the nervousness is always there and I think it will always be a part of it."

With each win that St. Pierre collects, his legend and popularity grow, and the discussions of him as one of the all-time greats increases. And while some say the only real test for the 28-year-old lies in a 185-pound fight with the equally dominant Anderson Silva, St. Pierre believes Alves will provide all the challenge he needs.

"I'm always open to challenges, but right now I have the biggest challenge of my career ahead of me," St. Pierre said. "It's Thiago Alves, so I'm not thinking about anything else. I made that mistake once in a fight before in my career, and it ended up being a loss on me. I learned a lot from that mistake, and I have never wanted to make that same mistake again.

"All of my focus is on Thiago Alves, and it would be foolish for me to think that it would be an easy fight and that I will go through him easy. It's going to be very hard, and I'm preparing myself for the worst."

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