When I interview fighters I like to ask them about their strategies heading into fights, and I'm always interested in how different the answers can be. Some fighters say they have detailed game plans for exactly how they want to attack their opponent; others just say they'll go in and do whatever they have to do. As they prepare to fight at UFC 94, Georges St. Pierre falls into the former camp and B.J. Penn into the latter:
"I do have a strategy coming into that fight, and I'm putting it all together" St. Pierre said. "It's a little like when you play cards, you don't want to show your hand. I don't want to talk about it because B.J. might make an adjustment, but of course I will have a specific game plan that I will execute."
Penn has a different attitude.
"I see some tendencies in different fighters," Penn said. "But I don't really have a strategy when I go out to fight. I just go in and my strategy is just to get my hand raised, punch the guy as hard as I can and try to slam him on his head as hard as I can. That's about as far as my strategy goes."
Although Penn's old-school approach sounds cool, I think St. Pierre's attitude is where the future of MMA lies. As MMA continues to evolve, more fighters will spend more time formulating game plans and studying film of their opponents. GSP is ahead of the curve.
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