Bleacher Report's Michael Evans:
George St-Pierre vs. Jake Shields
The champion is widely regarded as one of the top pound-for-pound fighters in the MMA world. He is the consensus best 170 lb. mixed martial artist on the planet. The scary thing about this man is that he constantly states how he wants to be the best of all time and he is further refining his training tactics and his skill set all of the time as well.
Many champions get to the top of the hill and they get lazy. Unfortunately for Jake Shields, St-Pierre is not that guy. He isn?t going to become stagnant and balloon up like the Quinton Jacksons or Anthony Johnsons of the fighting world. He is always in shape and his body is sharper because of it.
That being said, Jake Shields is no slouch. He is a tough challenge for any man. Shields was the winner of the famous 2006 Rumble on the Rock tournament, where he defeated Dave Menne, Yushin Okami and Carlos Condit to win the tournament. Since he has pieced together an amazing 15 straight victories, including winning the Strikeforce middleweight championship.
In his first fight back at welterweight and his first ever trip inside the Octagon, Jake Shields appeared to take a step back. He clearly had difficulty making the weight limit in his fight last October with Martin Kampmann. He looked drained and barely managed to escape with a split decision that many felt he did deserve. Jake has now had six good months to get more acclimated to making the weight limit so I don?t see that as being a problem.
The strength of Jake Shields is his wrestling. He does not have power in his standing strikes. However, he does have great takedowns, submissions and ground and pound offense. Still, Jake knows that GSP is not only better on the feet, but has great wrestling and ground skills as well.
Shields also is very aware of the elite sparring partners that St-Pierre goes against every day in camp. That is why Shields has decided to bring in other top notch wrestlers to help him prepare for the fight such as Chael Sonnen and Matt Lindland. Shields can also be seen training his striking, no one seriously thinks he has anywhere near the striking the Georges possesses.
I see Shields making it a fight for the early rounds, but he will be punished on the feet and overwhelmed by the strength, speed and diverse skill set of the champion. My pick is Georges St-Pierre by unanimous decision.
Click here to read the entire article.
Ananda Lewis Angela Marcello Angelina Jolie Anna Faris Anna Friel
No comments:
Post a Comment