Zahabi: Finishing always part of GSP’s game plan
After GSP’s fourth straight title bout win by decision, some fans and journalists saw a lack of killer instinct on…
After GSP’s fourth straight title bout win by decision, some fans and journalists saw a lack of killer instinct on the Canadian’s part. Dana White however was not among them, saying “when you fight the best in the world, it is what it is.”
What White did take issue with was St-Pierre’s “weird” right hand. The one criticism I will give Georges is that he was throwing this weird, overhand right the whole fight that looked like he was trying to knock him out. He usually throws that Superman punch that’s nice and straight and perfect form … He kept throwing this crazy, almost like he was throwing a baseball right hand, it was very weird. I’ve never seen him do that before.
Now St-Pierre’s head trainer Firas Zahabi explains that the shot was part of his game plan, and that he modelled it on the not quite H-bomb that Henderson landed squarely on Shields when they fought last year.
Shields has been suspect to that punch before. He got hit with it with Henderson. Georges landed it a few times. I felt he staggered him, but didn’t land exactly on the chin. It landed a lot on the side of the head, Zahabi said when appearing on MMAWeekly Radio.
You could tell Georges was really trying to finish the fight. He threw a lot of overhand rights, they were a little wild, but that just shows how much he wanted it to land hard. He wasn’t conservative, he wasn’t playing a tight boxing game. He was throwing those bombs to hopefully really hurt Jake Shields.
Just the way Jake stands it really leaves him more susceptible to overhand rights. In another position to kicks, but more susceptible to overhand rights. It was part of the game plan going for that punch.
I still stick by it, I think it was a good idea, it just didn’t land right on the button.
I use (criticism of GSP) as motivation to go back to the drawing board, and fix (things). It’s very important not to be too sensitive to that. Georges is a professional and he knows what he’s doing. All the coaches work hard to train all our fighters that were competing that night to finish.
It’s always the game plan, believe me when I tell you, it’s always the game plan.