BJ Penn vs. Georges St. Pierre (GSP)
January 14, 2009 by admin · 2 Comments
Penn\'s last 3 performances have been extremely dominant, but will he be able to pull off a victory over GSP?
Since their initial meeting at UFC 58, both fighters have vastly improved their skills sets. BJ Penn has been on a reign of violence as he’s disposed of Jens Pulver, Joe Stevenson and most recently, Sean Sherk. Not only has he been victorious, but he’s been so convincing in victory that his opponents have had a look of both frustration and hopelessness in their eyes. Joe Stevenson even broke down and cried in the ring due to the ego blow he sustained at the hands of BJ Penn as seemingly litres of blood poured down his face in a scene that resembled something from a horror film.
Move up a division and you have George St. Pierre (“GSP”) who’s been on a tear of his own. His recent disposal of Jon Fitch - the number 2 ranked welterweight in the world - has left several MMA analysts placing George St. Pierre (“GSP”) atop the pound for pound rankings. Being as young as he is, George St. Pierre (“GSP”) is constantly evolving as a fighter and as he puts it himself, we get to see a “new version” every time he fights. What people find most impressive about George St. Pierre (“GSP”) is his strength, athleticism and most recently, his improved wrestling ability. Having never wrestled as a youth, he has now become perhaps the best wrestler in the organization, let alone the welterweight division.
So How Does This Play Out
After re-watching their last confrontation, you have to give the edge to BJ Penn in the boxing department as he was winning most of the exchanges. With that being said, in terms of overall stand-up ability, it remains somewhat of a mystery as George St. Pierre (“GSP”) has the better Muay Thai. As for Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, BJ Penn once again takes the cake. BJ Penn earned the nickname “the prodigy” as a result of his fast-track to achieving a BJJ black belt. For most people, earning such a ranking can take upwards of a decade but BJ Penn earned his in less than half that time. The threat BJ Penn poses on the mat is completely unique as he’s somewhat of a contortionist as his incredible flexibility allows him to do things that others simply can’t - no matter how often they train. As Joe Rogan puts it, BJ Penn “uses his legs like arms”.
George St. Pierre (“GSP”) recently earned his black belt ranking in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and the timing for doing so couldn’t be better. While BJ Penn may have the edge on the mat, George St. Pierre’s (“GSP”) knowledge of submission defence in combination with his strength and athleticism will likely neutralize the offensive ground attack of BJ Penn. BJ Penn is most threatening when he’s in top position on the ground as he’s able to perform what’s been called a “reverse guard” from the top due to the dexterity in his legs (watch the Stevenson fight). However, considering George St. Pierre’s superior strength and wrestling ability, the likelihood of BJ Penn obtaining that top position is highly unlikely.
The BJ Penn vs. George St. Pierre (“GSP”) showdown is truly an intriguing match up with all the elements to make it a “super fight”. There’s a history between the two combatants, both are currently top ranked fighters, both are champions and most importantly, their skills sets compliment each other very well because as we all know by now - “styles make fights”. I’m personally going with George St. Pierre on this one but that’s just me. He seems to be on the top of his game right now (as does BJ Penn) but most importantly for George St. Pierre, he seems to be in the right place mentally.
Padwork Progressions
January 13, 2009 by admin · 8 Comments
So there’s been a longer than usual delay between entries and I should probably explain why. I’ve been putting 8 new sites together (7 exercise sites and 1 new Muay Thai one) in an attempt to get some money rolling in so I can stop stressing about having to leave this country that I’ve fallen in love with.
I don’t plan on leaving until May (so I still have plenty of time) but I plan on coming right back here after the summer to pick up where I left off with my training. And speaking of my training, for the first time I’m going to post up some videos of my pad work.
I haven’t posted any videos thus far for a few reasons. The main reason was because I didn’t want some of the owners to see who I was because if they know I’ll be reviewing their camps, they’re more likely to treat me differently and go above and beyond to secure themselves a good review.
The benefit of posting my progress - which in my opinion, outweighs the negatives - is that it will serve as motivation to improve even more over the next few months. I’ll feel more accountable knowing that my readers will be critiquing my technique and progress so I’ll be obligated to take the training seriously.
Prior to coming here, my experience was very limited. I came here last year for a couple months but to be honest, I was only training about 4-5 times a week. I made a lot of improvements but about a week or so after I got back to Canada, I ended up messing up my back while performing bent over barbell rows at the gym. And yea, that actually links to one of the exercise sites I’m working on - just trying to get Google to index it..
In addition to coming here the first time, I had done some submission grappling (for about 4-5 months) but never any striking whatsoever. The extent of my striking experience was hitting one of those “wave master” punching bags in my basement. Anyway, here’s a video of myself training near the end of my first trip..
Not so bad, right? Well, due to the back injury, and about 8 months of no training any martial arts at all, here’s what my pad work looked like during one of my first sessions this year at Scorpion Gym.
So that’s the “before” video. As you can see, I’m completely awkward in my stance, I’m slow, my technique is terrible (especially the kicks) and I can’t even stay balanced. Believe it or not, at the time I actually thought I was awesome. You go through the motions and it actually feels good. Then you check yourself on video tape and it’s really an eye-opener.
So that video was filmed about five months ago. Since then, I’ve been training 6 days a week - with the exception of some time off due to a sprained ankle and pink eye, which sucked! I’ve trained at a lot of different gyms, but the three gyms that have helped me the most are Scorpion Gym, Tiger Muay Thai and most recently - where I’m at right now - Patong Boxing Gym. These two videos were shot last week ..and yes, I know - I need a tan!
Comparing the “midpoint” videos - which is what those are - to the first video, it shows a lot of improvement and I’m pretty happy with it. I’m still far from where I’d like to be though but I still have 4 full months of training to go. I really want to get those rapid-fire kicks down perfectly so lately, during every pad-work session, I take off my gloves and do nothing but work on my repetitive kicking for a full round.
And I’ve sure you’ve noticed that I haven’t had much lady-drama to talk about lately. That’s because when I was staying at Tiger Muay Thai, I didn’t really bother going out much since it’s so far away from the nightlife district and even now that I’m living in Patong, all I really do is focus on my work and training. I think now that I’ve completely cut out drinking, I’ll make even better improvements over the next four months.
I did however go out and party on new years eve - but who didn’t, right? The scene here was pretty crazy. I wanted to start by drinking a couple beers while getting a foot massage - which only costs about 6 bucks an hour here. When I got to the massage place, all the massage girls were having their own new years party with free food and drinks out for everyone.
They kept giving me belvedere mixed with orange juice - which I’m sure was bought by one of their rich, foreign boyfriends - and to be honest, the rest of the night is a bit of a blur. I did however check my camera the next morning and found this short video. It’s not overly exciting by any means but it’ll give you an idea as to how they celebrated new years here.
THINKING OF GOING TO THAILAND TO TRAIN?
I’ve developed a 70 page guide that profiles everything you need to know about training in Bangkok, Phuket and Pattaya. In the manual, I discuss the visa issues, the Muay Thai camps, the different areas, the transportation, the food, the culture and customs, the girls, the scams, the safety issues and most importantly, how to save a ton of cash along the way!
