Amadi's Take
AMADI: Georges St. Pierre's risk-averse style threatening title and dominance after UFC 129 victory
May 1, 2011 - 11:45:49 PM AMADI: Georges St. Pierre's risk-averse style threatening title and dominance after UFC 129 victory

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By: Jason Amadi, MMATorch Columnist

Even the most devoted of Georges St. Pierre’s supporters must admit some level of disappointment with his performance in the main event of UFC 129. While you can (and the UFC will) spin his win as an overwhelming success by touting the fact that he ended the fifteen fight winning streak of Jake Shields, extended his own winning streak to nine, and set the record for consecutive welterweight title defenses, there is no getting around the fact that St. Pierre's risk averse style is quickly becoming the biggest threat to his title reign and pound-for-pound dominance.

GSP’s detractors have been criticizing him for years for fighting safe and not finishing fights, and to this point the counter to that argument has always been that St. Pierre was still dominating in a way that no other fighter even comes close to. That counter argument has been losing steam for some time, but last night Jake Shields was able to bring it to a complete halt.

On paper, Dan Hardy was probably the easiest challenge of Georges St. Pierre's UFC career. For all the hype that Hardy receives as a knockout artist, knockouts have been hard to come by for him since he fought Rory Markham back in 2009. His defensive wrestling to this point has proven to be fairly mediocre, and he isn’t exactly Braulio Estima off of his back. St. Pierre failed to finish Hardy inside the distance, and because of that Hardy received loads of unwarranted praise for lasting five rounds with the champ. This praise has since been divided between Carlos Condit, who knocked him out cold, and Anthony Johnson, who was able to replicate St. Pierre's performance but with less resistance from Hardy.

GSP’s bout with Josh Koscheck last December also went the distance, and again, St. Pierre's opponent was praised for the grit he displayed by lasting five rounds with the champ. St. Pierre was able to break Koscheck’s orbital bone within the first minute of their twenty-five minute tussle, utilizing a stiff jab. Under normal circumstances, an orbital break within the first minute of a championship fight would be the prelude to a decisive stoppage, but St. Pierre was content with picking at Koscheck for twenty-four more minutes utilizing the jab and not much else.

Regardless of how dull St. Pierre's previous two bouts might have been, he still demonstrated a clear superiority over his opposition, and those types of performances always warrant praise. However, last night Jake Shields exposed the fundamental flaw in not finishing an opponent; the fight continues. St. Pierre's lack of urgency to get his opponent out of the cage resulted in Shields seriously damaging his left eye, and GSP coming perilously close (due to poor judging or not) to losing the fight on two judges' scorecards.

GSP's habit of throwing a single or double jab and then backing off wasn't enough to put away a fighter with one eye and one weapon (Josh Koscheck) or an even less capable striker without the threat of a big overhand right (Jake Shields). On paper, being mindful (or outright fearful) of your opponents' strengths is a good thing for career longevity, but in practice it can needlessly elongate a fight and actually provide an opponent with the opportunity to land a fight or career ending blow.

Hopefully for St. Pierre's sake, Jake Shields damaging his left eye will reverse whatever effect the Matt Serra loss may have done to him psychologically. If that isn't the case, and St. Pierre continues to wait around for a stoppage to present itself on a silver platter, it's only a matter of time before GSP falls victim to an anxious challenger with nothing to lose.