#2: Georges St-Pierre
Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
It takes indescribable talent, skill, and determination to become an elite fighter in the modern MMA game. Most who accomplish that feat will never win a title. For all those immeasurably talented fighters who came up in the UFC’s Welterweight division between 2007 and 2013, the title was off limits regardless of talent, skill, and determination. The title already had its place, and it wasn’t leaving. For the better part of the UFC’s modern era, a shot at the Welterweight title meant an opportunity to contribute to the legacy of Georges St-Pierre.
St-Pierre spent seven years dominating what was, at the time, the strongest division in Mixed Martial Arts. World class, deserving contenders fell one after another, typically in dominant fashion. After losing the title in a shocking upset to Matt Serra in his first defence, St-Pierre quickly recaptured the title and avenged the loss to Serra, before winning 10 straight title fights in his second reign. St-Pierre’s dominance spanned generations - from legends of the division’s past such as Matt Hughes and BJ Penn, to more contemporary, modern challenges in Thiago Alves and Carlos Condit.
While he was never the dynamic finishing threat that many wished of him, his fighting style belying his “Rush” moniker, the way he dominated opponents left no room for ambiguity. Explosive finishes draw the eye like nothing else, but there’s something about complete control - the systematic dismantling of an opponent’s game throughout every phase, the obliteration of every advantage he holds until he’s left too hesitant to exploit them, until strength is turned into weakness - that demonstrates true mastery. We can speculate about what may have happened if Anderson Silva hadn’t landed that front kick, or if Yoel Romero hadn’t leaped at just the right time, but there was no speculation under St-Pierre’s typical mode of victory. If he hadn’t landed that jab on Josh Koscheck’s eye, there were hundreds following right behind it. If he hadn’t hit that perfect timing on a shot against Thiago Alves, he’d simply find one a moment later.
Despite a never-ending list of accolades, none of them fully capture what made St-Pierre so special. He was a champion, but there’s no shortage of champions in a promotion with so many divisions. He won titles in multiple divisions, but double-champs are in vogue right now. He dominated a strong division for nearly a decade, but even his dominance is not entirely unique. Perhaps the most distinguishing aspect of St-Pierre’s legacy - the quality that sets him apart from everyone else in the sport - is his role as a progenitor.
No fighter I can think of has left his mark on the sport’s metagame so thoroughly as St-Pierre. In an era where the sport’s elite tended to possess either a single, primary skill with ancillary skills to ensure its effectiveness, or else a “jack of all trades, master of none” skillset, St-Pierre dominated in every phase. His success wasn’t simply due to being a better striker and grappler than his opponents, but was instead found in the cohesiveness of his game.
St-Pierre was the first fighter to truly systematize the game at an elite level. The essence of what I’m terming a “systematic” fighter is one whose game is better than the sum of its parts. St-Pierre was more than capable in any one phase, but it was the cohesion between his skills that made him near unbeatable at his best. He would out-strike opponents with his grappling and out-grapple them with striking. The structure of his fights tended to resemble a snowball careening down a hill; opponents would find their attempts to strike interrupted by takedowns, their attempts to grapple interrupted by footwork and jabs, and their attempts to react to St-Pierre’s offense stymied by the interplay between his striking and grappling. Every jab St-Pierre landed made it that much easier to find entries to his takedowns, while every takedown further opened up his offense on the feet.
Strength in Synergy
Each element of St-Pierre’s skillset functions as a perfectly-shaped puzzle piece. Every weapon he possesses is designed not to function on its own strength, but to bolster and be bolstered by his other tools. A focus on cohesiveness allowed St-Pierre to pare back the breadth of his game, investing most of his time in developing a few key weapons that play into each other, rather than attempting and failing to master everything.
The jab of St-Pierre is as legendary as it was effective. With versatility that had never been seen before in MMA, he would mix up long, lunging jabs with quick, short jabs and masterful feints. Foot feints and hand feints left opponents swinging at air until their senses were eventually dulled to the jab altogether, at which point they turned into sitting ducks being picked apart. Level changes added another layer of complexity onto his jab, as frequent body jabs served to condition opponents and leave them open for St-Pierre to feint the level change, or initiate it briefly before coming back up to the head.
So strong was St-Pierre’s jab that he scarcely felt the need to employ other tools when striking at distance. His jab and inside leg kick made up the brunt of his striking offense. These two tools paired up perfectly, as attempts to parry the jab or give ground to avoid it would leave opponents open to the inside leg kick, while the kick could be feinted into a superman jab. St-Pierre’s right hand was notably weaker, lacking the dexterity and versatility of his lead. His straight right was at its most effective when he was able to take a deep angle toward his lead side using the jab, shortening the path of the right hand and hiding some of his mechanical issues.
The jab wasn’t just a route to victory on the feet, however, but the beginning of a flowchart that ended with St-Pierre on top of his opponents, controlling and beating them down for 25 minutes. St-Pierre likely had the best all-around shot takedowns in MMA history, and a crucial aspect of his impeccable shot was the opportunities created by his striking, primarily the jab. Opponents who had their senses flustered by his constant foot and hand feints became notably hesitant to react, allowing St-Pierre to make headway onto their hips before they were prepared to defend. The body jabs in particular provided a perfect setup for his shots, as the preliminary motion of his double leg and high crotch perfectly mirrored the form of his body jabs. Opponents would be caught expecting the body jab and swept off their feet, or else fail to react, expecting yet another body jab or a feint, and meet the same fate.
St-Pierre’s wrestling was designed to not only constantly create openings, but exploit those given to him freely as well. St-Pierre possessed one of the sharpest reactive shots in MMA, which made stepping in on him to attack a perilous task. When an opponent shot out a lead hook or rear straight, St-Pierre would often be in on their hips before the punch started retracting. He never had to rely on his opponent’s actions to make his reactive shot effective either; his constant feints served to draw out attacks from his opponents which he knew were coming, allowing him to hit reactive takedowns proactively.
Although St-Pierre possessed likely the most effective shot in MMA, a single shot is rarely sufficient against elite fighters. Any good wrestler knows that his initial shot will often fail, and that he’ll need to chain takedowns together to achieve one. The concept is the same as combinations in striking - by putting takedowns together, you increase the chance of one finding the mark. As the opponent defends each attempted takedown, his reactions leave openings that can be exploited by chaining.
St-Pierre possessed excellent chain wrestling. His two highest percentage takedowns were the double leg and high crotch, which synergized just like his jab and inside leg kicks. His double leg finished toward his left side, while his high crotch finished toward his right; this meant that opponents attempting to defend one left themselves open for the other, as St-Pierre could capitalize on their resistance by chaining in the direction of his opponent’s momentum. St-Pierre would consistently score off a common defense to both the double leg and high c - the underhook. When opponents defended his takedown by underhooking his arm and lifting it off their hip, he would wrap their head and throw it toward their planting leg, while putting inward pressure on that leg with his opposite arm.
Like his striking, St-Pierre’s wrestling was not an island unto itself, but a perfectly functioning component in a well-oiled machine. The threat of the takedown drastically increased his effectiveness on the feet, making his feints more threatening and often allowing him to open up without fear of reprisal. It also made his opponent’s more limited and reserved in their offense, as any exchange carried a significant risk of a St-Pierre takedown.
It is the case with many fighters that familiarity breeds danger. The more you get a chance to see a fighter work - observe their reactions, get a read on their setups and patterns - the better positioned you are to exploit their habits. This was not the case with St-Pierre. Reading and reacting to St-Pierre’s striking opened up his takedowns, and the adjustments made to compensate for those takedowns allowed him to strike with impunity. By the time opponents had collected reads on both his striking and grappling, they were left wondering what to do with their hands, where to put their feet, and when next he’d decide to plant them on their back.
The Father of the MMA Grappling Meta
While St-Pierre was the first to display a cohesiveness that has now become commonplace in elite MMA, he made more specific, technical contributions to the metagame as well. St-Pierre popularized a grappling style that is now used frequently today. When you look at the top games of many elite grapplers such as Khabib Nurmagomedov and Demian Maia, it’s easy to see St-Pierre’s influence.
In BJJ competition, guards are typically passed from a standing position, as it provides much more leverage to break the guard. In MMA, however, standing carries a risk, as bottom players are not typically looking to engage in a grappling affair, but to stand up at all costs. Because of this, we see much more reluctance to pass and attempts to pass on the knees in MMA.
St-Pierre’s typical passing progression involved stuffing his opponent’s leg into three-quarter guard, upon which he would step over and consolidate half guard. From half guard, a hip-switch into reverse half guard or a tight cross-face were inevitable, and would result in him completely passing his opponent’s legs. Impeccable positional control made it difficult for his opponents to make any headway off their backs, and their attempts to gain better positioning would often leave them open for further passes. While St-Pierre did not typically pass from standing, he would occasionally exit the guard and control the legs, using strikes to distract his opponent while he stuffed a leg into three-quarter guard.
The tactic of stuffing legs and forcing butterfly has continued to flourish after St-Pierre’s heyday. Demian Maia is well known for exploiting his opponent’s butterfly guard, tripoding over them to half guard, before hitting a St-Pierre-esque hip switch to reverse half. Similarly, Khabib Nurmagomedov finds great efficacy in stuffing legs to three-quarter guard and tripoding over butterfly guards.
The astounding cohesiveness in St-Pierre’s game was not only present between his striking and wrestling on the feet, but also between his striking and grappling on the ground. St-Pierre was a pioneer of scientific ground and pound, using his ground striking not only to do damage, but to open up passing opportunities and consolidate positional control.
Rather than proactively break the guard to initiate his passes, St-Pierre was content to sit in guard and rack up points, forcing his opponents to act in order to stop the bleeding. Once they posted a foot on his hip to create space, he would stuff it down and step over into three-quarter guard to start his pass. His ground striking was the glue that held his top game together, allowing him to score while waiting on his opponent’s reaction. Opponents were forced into the losing dilemma of retaining guard and forfeiting the round, or attempting to create space and opening themselves up for strikes.
St-Pierre’s positional soundness played a crucial role in his ability to control opponents - he’s almost always in proper position - sound posture, hands controlling inside his opponent’s hands, preventing them from overhooking an arm. His ground striking aides his positional control by giving him an edge in battles for small sub-positions. He would use a couple distracting punches around the side of the head to force his opponent' to open their elbow in addressing them, before pummeling inside and securing a cross-face or collar tie.
Just as St-Pierre’s jabs and takedowns play off one-another, creating a synergy that makes each more effective, his ground striking and guard passing work in tandem. Addressing the striking prevents you from using your hands to frame off, create distance, and tie up, allowing him to work on passing the guard. Attempting to stop the pass provides him space to strike. Once he’s established both his striking and passing, opponents are forced to make a perilous trade off in addressing one or the other.
The Legacy of a King
While St-Pierre’s dominance demonstrates the benefits of having a cohesive skillset that acts as a flowchart, funneling opponents through various choke-points to a seemingly inevitable outcome, there are certain drawbacks of having a game so reliant on a few tools to open up so many possibilities. When faced with the rare opponent who was able shut down his primary tools, his game had difficulty taking off.
Johny Hendricks famously took St-Pierre to a contentious split decision which, in hindsight, is difficult to justify scoring for St-Pierre. Although two judges somehow found a way to give St-Pierre the win, Hendricks pushed him to his limit. The southpaw Hendricks used sharp hand-fighting to deny St-Pierre’s jab, severely limiting his options on the feet. Hendricks’ southpaw stance also made it more difficult for St-Pierre to find takedown entries, while his strong wrestling game prevented St-Pierre from controlling him in the clinch. Lacking his two most potent weapons and denied the opportunity to play them off each other, St-Pierre was forced to resort to his weaker weapons, using the straight right and rear round kick more often. While St-Pierre ultimately emerged victorious, the Hendricks fight revealed that a fighter who could take away his jab on the feet could give St-Pierre serious trouble.
Michael Bisping showed that St-Pierre’s system could be disrupted on the ground as well. Over the course of a tight three-round affair, Bisping stayed competitive with St-Pierre on the feet and largely nullified his ground work. When St-Pierre attempted to posture and strike, Bisping would extend his hips and frame off to keep St-Pierre at bay, before breaking his posture and tying up. When Bisping posted on the hip from guard, he started with his right leg, disrupting the system of St-Pierre, who almost exclusively passes to his right. St-Pierre once again managed to carve out a way to victory, dropping Bisping with a left hook before pouncing and finishing with a rear naked choke, but just like in the Hendricks fight, Bisping revealed some minor stylistic weaknesses.
A more improvisational fighter with a broader tool-set may have struggled less against Bisping and legitimately beat Hendricks, but St-Pierre’s systematic nature was his greatest strength. It speaks to St-Pierre’s excellence in all aspects of the sport that we’re forced to look for weaknesses in only winning performances, as he never officially lost in his prime.
While St-Pierre will undoubtedly be remembered as a first ballot Hall-of-Famer, one of the greatest champions to ever compete in the sport, and the greatest Welterweight to ever live for a long time yet, his legacy is perhaps more profoundly visible inside the Octagon.
For my money, there’s not a single fighter in MMA that has changed the sport more on a tactical, strategic, and technical level than St-Pierre. He didn’t just introduce new tools into the MMA meta, in fact he didn’t introduce any new tools. Instead, he introduced a new way of conceiving the fight game. A method of linking together seemingly disparate facets into one cohesive unit. Modern day fighters who possess systematized fighting styles that use tools which flow into and out of one another have St-Pierre to thank for pioneering the concept.
Whenever you see a fighter draw out a counter and sail under it with a beautiful reactive takedown, or set up an entry with jab feints, or tripod over a butterfly guard and pass to side control, remember Georges St-Pierre. They certainly do.