Georges St. Pierre vs. Jon Fitch
Result: St Pierre goes all 5 rounds and wins by a unanimous decision over Jon Fitch.
The main event of the evening sees St. Pierre, one of the most skilled and physically gifted athletes in the UFC, defend his Welterweight Title against the extremely talented Jon Fitch. While St. Pierre has proven time and again what a dangerous fighter he is, Fitch’s record is unblemished since 2003, and he will do everything he can do to keep it that way. The odds for this fight are -360 Pierre / +280 Fitch. Find all UFC 87 odds.
Fitch is the absolute definition of well rounded. He is not always the most exciting fighter on the show, but Jon Fitch always finds a way to win, landing shots, scoring take-downs, and stifling his opponent’s offense. His wins over Diego Sanchez, Roan Carneiro, Thiago Alkves, Brock Larson, and Josh Burkman prove that he is not only ready to face top-level competition, but just how well-rounded he is. He eludes strikers and takes them down or he pounds out grapplers and beats them standing. In short, Jon Fitch is a winner, pure and simple.
For his part, St. Pierre is one of the most talented fighters not only in UFC, but in the history of the sport. Unlike Fitch, who always finds a way to downplay his opponent’s strengths, St. Pierre takes on a world-class opposition at their own game, and he makes them look bad at it. He made Matt Hughes look like a high school freshman wrestler and accomplished grappler Jason “Mayhem” Miller look like a blue belt. St, Pierre gas bullied his way through some of the greatest fighters in the history of the sport with a nearly unparalleled combination of athleticism and technique. There is no area of St. Pierre’s game that isn’t top-notch.
On paper, St, Pierre seems like the logical choice, as he is more physically impressive, has higher-level experience, and is just as well-rounded as his opponent. The only thing that clouds the issue is St. Pierre’s mentality. In the past, he has sometimes fallen short inexplicably in big fights. He got submitted by Matt Hughes in their first fight before dominating him twice, and was famously TKO’ed by Matt Serra only to return and destroy him in the rematch. Against BJ Penn, St. Pierre took a vicious beating in the first round before riding out two underwhelming rounds en route to an extremely controversial split decision. Some have speculated that perhaps St., Pierre has trouble getting motivated for fights without some special reason, for instance avenging a previous loss. Every time St. Pierre has faced a truly world class fighter for the first time, he has turned in a disappointing performance. If he doesn’t turn that streak around against Fitch, he will fail to defend his title yet again.
If i was a betting man, which lucky for you all I am, I would bet that St. Pierre is going to finally get that elusive first title defense. I think the Serra fight may have been the last straw, and that St. Pierre will refuse to ever be embarrassed like that again. From here on out, if St. Pierre loses, it is going to be because he was the worst fighter. In this fight, as talented as Fitch is, that is not the case.
Look for St. Pierre to control the fight, successfully defending by way of lopsided Unanimous Decision.
