Takedown: The DNA of GSP Page #2

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Firas Zahabi,

who is his head trainer,

who's another brilliant, brilliant guy.

Having guys like Danaher,

having guys like Firas Zahabi

and having this tight mind-group.

(DANAHER):
Beautiful!

- No egos. All trying to figure out

what is the best way

for Georges to overcome this fighter.

- In the beginning, I used to beat people

by overpowering them.

But in UFC,

this is more like a chess match.

At one point,

it's not athletic, you know?

It's also brain and analyzing stuff.

(TRUNK CRACKING)

(WIND BLOWING)

- Georges is excellent

at finding his opponent's weaknesses.

And that's why I always say,

he's the perfect counter-fighter.

He's the perfect antagonist.

Whatever you do well, he'll avoid

and take you into the realm

where you're weakest.

- If you look at Georges

he's the best in the world

at dictating the direction of a fight.

Why? 'Cause he's the master of shoot box.

(CROWD CHEERING)

Shoot box enables me to determine:

Will this fight stay standing

or will it go to the ground?

(CROWD CHEERING)

If Georges wants it

to go to the ground, it will.

If Georges doesn't want it

to go to the ground, it won't.

(BOTH GRUNTING)

(ROACH TALKING, INDISTINCT)

- If you came in tight...

(MUTTERING)

Boom! See, now

I have time to move.

I have distance to follow you.

- Yes, sir!

- Georges is one of those guys,

when you teach him something,

when he's just getting the hang of it,

and he's just kind of feeling

his way through it.

And then he goes home,

and the next day, he comes back

and he has it perfectly down.

Good!

(ROACH):

And I just say to myself.

"I wonder how long he worked

in the mirror last night?"

(ANNOUNCER):

Nice Superman punch!

Led with the left,

followed with a kick.

- You see some of Georges' fights.

He just walked through 'em so easy.

Those are the things

we work on, though.

(GRUNTING)

(CROWD CHEERING)

A lot of people watch

Georges and be like:

"Oh, he does

the Superman punch!"

Georges knows when

he's doing it. They don't.

We do it in a way that we know

is gonna work to benefit him in a fight.

(ANNOUNCER 1):
Nice!

(ANNOUNCER 2):

Superman punch!

- One thing about fighters,

we have to have a killer instinct,

and that's what that wolf in me

and Georges have in common.

(GROWLING)

If we hurt somebody,

we know to go for the kill.

(ANNOUNCER 1):
Yeah!

Sean Sherk looks to be in pain.

His nose might be broken there.

(CROWD CHEERING)

He's coming up. That's it!

(ANNOUNCER 2):
That's it!

(ANNOUNCER 1):

That's it! Wow!

I believe Sean Sherk

has a broken nose.

- I fought Hughes the first time.

He beat me fair and square.

I'm gonna go on my knees like that

and ask the UFC management

to give me a world-title shot.

Please! I want the belt so bad!

Give it to me!

I'm not gonna do

one mistake this time.

Give me a chance for the belt.

Thank you very much!

(CROWD CHEERING)

(LAUGHING)

(MUFFLED BASS IN CAR)

(MAN ON RADIO):
He grew up

in St. Isidore, Quebec

where he trained in

his parent's dusty basement.

(ANNOUNCER):

Two UFC warriors

have now entered the Octagon

to go to war for the @nd time

to see who will

leave the champion!

(CROWD CHEERING)

(MAN LAUGHING):
Yeah!

(TALKING INDISTINCTLY)

(ZAHABI):
You'll see

the stare down in this fight.

Georges is looking right at him.

- Shake hands!

- I REMEMBER ASKING GEORGES:

"Are you scared of him? You fear him?"

AND HE'S LIKE:
"No."

"I wanna see it at the stare down.

"I wanna look in your eyes

and see if you're scared."

'Cause the first fight, Georges will look

everywhere but Matt Hughes.

And look at that face he's making.

He's back.

(ANNOUNCER):

The welterweight championship!

- Here we go! Are you ready?

Are you ready? Let's get it on!

(CROWD CHEERING,

MAN SHOUTING, INDISTINCT)

(TALKING INDISTINCTLY)

(ANNOUNCER TALKING, INDISTINCT)

(CROWD CHEERING,

ANNOUNCERS TALKING, INDISTINCT)

(ANNOUNCER):

Matt's standing on his feet!

Nice work by Georges St-Pierre here!

He cleans up very well.

(ANNOUNCER TALKING, INDISTINCT)

He is doing a greatjob...

(ANNOUNCER 2):
Wow!

(ANNOUNCER 1):
...of scrambling

out of that takedown.

- Whoo!

(ANNOUNCER 1):

Oh! Great kick!

(ANNOUNCERS):

Oh! Great kick!

(ANNOUNCERS SHOUTING, INDISTINCT)

(ANNOUNCERS SHOUTING, INDISTINCT)

(ALL CHEERING)

(ANNOUNCER 2):
The champion!

Unbelievable shot!

(CROWD CHEERING)

(TALKING INDISTINCTLY)

(CROWD CHEERING AND

CHANTING, INDISTINCT)

To be able to be world champion

in the most prestigious organization

of the mixed martial arts,

it was the greatest

achievement of my life.

(WIND BLOWING)

(SNARLING)

(EXHALING)

(GROWLING)

(SNARLING)

I've been angry one time during a fight

and I lost that fight.

- Georges had just won the world title,

so now he's in the ring,

fighting for his first title defence,

and got knocked out in

the 1st round. Round One.

I don't know, probably,

like, 30 seconds of the fight.

And he was knocked out.

So it looks like Georges isn't

all Georges is made out to be.

- EVERYBODY SAID:

"Matt Serra has no chance."

He was an eight to one favourite.

Everybody told Georges:

"You're too tall. You're too strong.

You're too fast. You're too..."

Everybody around him was

telling me how he's unbeatable,

and this fight is a joke.

You know what?

Matt Serra didn't believe that.

- This is not figure skating.

This is not synchronized swimming.

This is the hardest game

in human sports,

and when you're the baddest

motherf***er on the planet

like Georges St-Pierre,

you can't have an off day.

(CROWD CHEERING AND WHISTLING)

- I remember

he caught me with a punch.

(ANNOUNCERS SHOUTING, INDISTINCT)

And I got angry.

Because everybody

were expecting me to win.

(ANNOUNCERS SHOUTING, INDISTINCT)

I'm a very proud person and I wanted

to give it back to him right away.

(ANNOUNCERS SHOUTING, INDISTINCT)

(CROWD CHEERING)

(ANNOUNCERS SHOUTING, INDISTINCT)

(ANNOUNCER 1):
Matt Serra

is the welterweight champion of the world!

(ANNOUNCER 2):

That was incredible!

- That day was the most

humiliating day of my life.

(ANNOUNCER 2):
You know, we've talked

about his punching power before.

That was incredible!

(MAN):
F***ing awesome!

- But I learned a big lesson.

(ANNOUNCER 2):
Wow!

- Left my ego

outside of the Octagon.

(GROWLING)

- Georges had a lot of mental issues.

He had to figure out

how to get over this hump,

that he'd just been knocked out.

That's something very fragile.

That's something very

delicate for a fighter,

to have just been knocked out

for the first time in his life.

- Normally, when I go to fight,

I fight like there is no tomorrow.

In that fight, I felt like I had

some stuff to do after the fight.

So I didn't fight like I had

no tomorrow, you know? It was weird.

I need to regroup

and think about it.

- We brought in

a sports psychologist,

and working with him,

trying to get him over that hump.

"Yes, you got knocked out.

"But it doesn't mean this guy's

gonna knock you out again.

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