Thiago Alves as the best chance to beat GSP at 170
I’d put my money on Georges St. Pierre against any welterweight right now, but the man who’s going to beat him will have to be a fighter with a solid takedown defence and excellent Muay Thai skills and loads of power. And Thiago Alves fits that profile.
Excellent wrestlers have not been able to solve the GSP conundrum. Jon Fitch, Matt Hughes, Sean Sherk and even former NCAA Division 1 wrestling champion Josh Koscheck could not utilize their wrestling acumen to finish off Georges St. Pierre. Koscheck has an amazing shot that has planted fighter after fighter on their back, but he was not able to use this double and single legs to put Pierre down, alternatively it was GSP taken down Koscheck and beating him at his own bread and butter game–wrestling.
When it comes to BJJ, GSP has shown he can hang with the best in the world as BJ Penn could not take out the champ with Jiu-Jitsu skill. Grease or no grease, GSP showed good defense against GSP, was able to use some good offensive grappling skill and ground and pound to punish the Hawaiin for 4 rounds.
So the best wrestlers and BJJ artists aren’t able to lay a dent in the armor of GSP, so what’s left is the striking game. GSP has some solid striking, but like anyone else he’s not invincible. Matt Serra was able to crack Pierre with a big punch and drop the French-Canadian on route to an upset victory. Since that defeat GSP appears to be reluctant to engage in long stand up battles, but that could also be coupled with the fact that he has been extremely effective on the ground. But against Thiago Alves, he will be taking on a fighter with a solid Muay Thai game, a wealth of power, and a tremendous share of aggressiveness. Alves has a strong mean streak and is extremely hungry to win that welterweight belt. He has a really good takedown defence to boot.
Pierre probably has the ability to put Alves on his back, but every round in this 5 round affair will start on the feet and that’s a very dangerous territory against Alves. His takedown defence also includes some nice knees to the head, which have taken out some of the top welterweights in the game–Matt Hughes and Karo Parisyan. The Armenian Parisyan has never been stopped in the UFC prior to that, and although Parisyan claimed it was a controversial stoppage, he was in some serious trouble after Alves landed that big knee.
The striking game will be the most interesting part of this upcoming battle at UFC 100. Alves could use his hyper-aggressive and highly skilled striking game to take out the champ, or GSP could emerge and show his own striking game and let the world know he is not only not afraid to strike with the best, but he can out-class them in this area as well.
Can’t wait to find out the answer to the question posed by the stand up game between these to welterweight stars.
Very good article! When I was looking over the odds for this fight, Alves (on paper) does look to be St. Pierre’s biggest challenge at 170. Don’t forget his size: Alves is a huge 170, like St. Pierre. St. Pierre can be knocked out, but his chin is better than he showed in the 1st Serra fight (see St. Pierre/Penn I). In addition, GSP sets up take downs with crisp Muay Thai. Hughes and Parisyan got in trouble because their shoots were telegraphed. Once again, solid article and great insight!
Thanks a lot. Great point about the size of Alves. He is a gigantic 170 pounder.
That’s very true about Pierre’s ability to use strikes to put guys onto the mat. He puts all the aspects of the game together very well–extremely fluid transitioning from striking to grappling.
wanna see silva and gsp go at if he gets past thiago.
It is corporeal pleasure to study you blog!