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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief UFC 94's main event lived up to all of the hype, even if it wasn't quite what people were expecting. With the bright lights shining and millions watching around the world, Georges St. Pierre cemented himself as one of, if not the, best fighters in the world today. His four round decimation of B.J. Penn was nothing short of spectacular, as he used his reach advantage and wrestling to frustrate Penn in the first round, and once he took it to the ground in the second and beyond he was able to pass Penn's guard multiple times to maintain side control and unleash a relentless assault of elbows and punches. B.J. wasn't in this fight for a second. And while the fact that it wasn't more competitive dropped the fight down in the eyes of some, the sheer fact that St. Pierre has come as far as he has in the three years since the two last met made the fight a different type of spectacle. GSP is a beast; he's a monster at 170 lbs that is not only getting better, but doing so at an exponential rate.
After being handily upset by Matt Serra in his first Welterweight Title defense, St. Pierre refocused his training and his energy into becoming what he is today. His next fight out he faced Josh Koscheck and outwrestled the NCAA National Champion wrestler. He returned to face Matt Hughes for the Interim Welterweight Title and destroyed him. Finally he got redemption against Serra in an absolute beating in Montreal last year. In each successive victory on his way to regain that title he improved on multiple facets of his game, and in some areas that he was already proficient he moved a step even further.
All of the tools were in play last August in his five round battle with Jon Fitch, as he not only used a highly effective striking approach, but he was also able to take Fitch down multiple times. He was also able to pass Fitch's guard, which is something that just doesn't happen when you're talking about Jon Fitch. And while he wasn't able to finish Jon Fitch on that night, it wasn't for a lack of trying. Fitch was able to fight through one of the worst beatings anyone's ever taken inside of the Octagon and keep pressing forward. There's not anyone within two weight classes that would have stopped Jon Fitch on that night, but the end result spoke for itself. St. Pierre destroyed Fitch's face in that fight en route to a clear unanimous decision victory.
That brought us to Saturday night, where even moreso than in his August tilt GSP looked like a monster Champion. In their first encounter Penn was able to beat St. Pierre up pretty badly in the first round, only to be outworked in takedowns and positioning the rest of the way leading to him losing that split decision. Penn then did more trash talking in the lead up to this fight than any fighter in recent memory, including calling GSP a "little bitch" due to his feeling that GSP was tapping from strikes in his bout with Serra and making comments about his own mindset to fight to the death. The Primetime program elevated the personalities of both men and made Saturday night a must see affair no matter what happened. Once the music hit and B.J. made his way to the ring, the arena erupted. In retrospect, Penn seemed almost in a daze the moment he stepped into the Octagon. He was emotionless, and looked ready for an epic battle. What he got was the beating of his life.
St. Pierre was on another planet on Saturday night, as it wasn't even a close fight after the first round. He used the jab early and often and shot in for the single leg in the first round, and he simply wore Penn down against the cage. Penn showed great balance and his excellent takedown defense by keeping St. Pierre at bay in the first, but by the end of the round he hadn't done enough of anything to merit taking the round on the scorecards. The second round was simply the beginning of the end, as the jab from GSP continued to connect, and this time he got the takedown. For a short while Penn was doing a good job of defending from the bottom, halting GSP with the rubber guard right off the bat, but then the Champ went to work, connecting on right hands and elbows inside of Penn's guard. He postured up and landed shot after shot. He continued to frustrate Penn with a dominant top game and landed a ton of damage from his strikes. The third round was a continuation of the second, with more effective striking on the feet that led to yet another takedown. This time, St. Pierre would continually slip past the guard of B.J. Penn and hold side control, nearly pinning Penn in a crucifix on numerous occassions as he continued the punching and elbow assault. Penn was able to regain his guard in a couple of spots, but ultimately St. Pierre passed it and took side control again. The ease at which this was done was incredible considering the world class jiu-jitsu credentials that Penn has, and it's another case of GSP's exponential growth allowing him to outperform world class wrestlers, jiu-jitsu practitioners and what have you at their own games.
The fourth and final round was a more brutal affair than the third, as a dejected Penn could do nothing but take more of the punishment that had already been dished out for a couple of rounds. St. Pierre continued to pass and hold side control while unleashing holy hell to the face of B.J. Penn. If you hadn't seen it with your own eyes you'd never believe that these same two fighters fought to the judges scorecards and required a split decision just three short years ago. And while the comment was presented after the fact that B.J.'s just not built for 170, this was more a case of GSP advancing to the point where he's just a much more evolved fighter than B.J. than Penn not being able to cut it at 170. I think there are still plenty of 170 pounders that B.J. Penn could defeat, but he's just not on St. Pierre's level at this point in their careers, plain and simple.
Penn now needs to get back into training and get himself cut into his best shape at 155, because things aren't going to get all that easier for him when he has to defend that Lightweight Title of his against another fighter who continues his evolution and development in Kenny Florian. When that fight finally happens it will most likely be one of Penn's toughest tests at lightweight to date. And that's not to discredit Sean Sherk who defeated Kenny Florian, but he beat a very different man to gain the Lightweight Title than the one who will challenge B.J. Penn in 2009.
And that brings us to what's next for the reigning Welterweight Champion. As it was pretty much announced on Saturday his next opponent will be a very tough one when Thiago Alves gets a well deserved Title opportunity. Alves most recently put a beating on Josh Koscheck in a unanimous decision victory four months after destroying Matt Hughes at UFC 85, and he'll prove to be one of the only welterweights that can match St. Pierre in size. If and when GSP gets through this next challenger, however, then it'll be time for another super-fight of epic proportions. Georges St. Pierre and Anderson Silva have to fight in 2009. That sentiment may change should Alves best GSP, but if GSP successfully defends yet again then it's the only fight that makes sense after that. No true challengers are there after Alves at 170, just as at 185 there are no true challengers left for Silva's title, which is why he's defending against Thales Leites at UFC 97. And for as much trash talking hype there was to lead up to the Penn/St. Pierre rematch, the fight between Silva and GSP will be all about who the best fighter in the UFC is. I say the UFC because without Fedor in the mix you can't bring up best in the world, although all three make arguments for it. But besides that, it would clearly provide the answer to who is the best fighter in the UFC, and it would be an epic fight for the ages. St. Pierre cemented his name into the talk of the top fighters in the world on Saturday night, and should he defeat Anderson Silva if and when they fight, he will achieve a legendary status the likes of which we haven't seen.
Undercard Stories from UFC 94
With only one other decisive finish on the card at UFC 94, there wasn't a whole lot to take out of the outcomes. Dan Cramer, Jon Howard, and Jake O'Brien all picked up split decision victories in successive bouts to open the show, and then Thiago Taveres and Jon Fitch responded with unanimous decision victories of their own. Fitch keeps his status as a top welterweight contender, although he's stuck in the Rich Franklin scenario with GSP as champ.
As for the main card fights, Clay Guida picked up another victory by sticking like glue to Nate Diaz, but Diaz did himself no favors by abandoning his stand up to clinch and getting stuck with Diaz holding on to him. It's another win for Guida on his climb up the ladder, but he's not going to stay endeared to the fans with continued performances like that after what he had offered in recent years.
Karo Parisyan is not fully back after that victory over Dong Hyun Kim. Both fighters completely stalled in the third round and Karo did just enough to eke out a decision, but it was lackluster at best by the end of the fight. Kim needs to be much more aggressive in his next outing and not let his opponent hold on to him as Karo did for much of the third round. Karo himself will get better again as he gets back into the swing of things, but he really seemed like he was trying to ease himself back after the panic attack incident before his last scheduled fight. He's got a ways to go before he returns to being the Karo Parisyan of old.
Jon Jones is a star. His unanimous decision victory over Stephan Bonnar not only provided the only fireworks of the first three fights but gave the 21-year old a huge victory over an established name. At 8-0 with only a year as a professional fighter Jon Jones will be a Champion in the UFC in the future. He's that good already and he'll only get better.
The biggest story from UFC 94 not GSP related of course was Lyoto Machida proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that it's time for his title shot. He's highlight reel knockout of Thiago Silva was spectacular and the entire round was masterfully fought by "The Dragon." It's a downright shame that he's got to wait for the outcome of the meaningless Jackson vs. Jardine fight to find out if he'll get a shot. There should be no doubt that he needs a title shot and he needs it now.
UFC 94 will be remembered for two things, Lyoto Machida's knockout of Silva and GSP's utter domination of B.J. Penn. Both things made everything else on the card inconsequential and the whole show was worth it for those two fights. Add to that a star making performance from Jon Jones and UFC 94 provided everything it needed to provide.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
STAFF COLUMNISTS: Shawn Ennis - Jason Amadi
Frank Hyden - Rich Hansen
Chris Park - Matt Pelkey
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