UFC welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre has been getting a lot of questions from fans and the media over the last couple of weeks about why he has been dominating his opponents lately, but not finishing them.
In a question-and-answer session with fans in Abu Dhabi last week, St. Pierre said that the discontent from some fans about his unanimous decision victory over Dan Hardy shows that there are two different types of people who watch the UFC.
"I think there are two kinds of fans," St. Pierre said in the Q&A, which can be viewed at UFC.com. "There are the fans that like only to see a brawl, and there are the type of fans who know the game and know what's going on. And I think for the fans who know what's going on -- I'm talking about the technical aspect -- I think they would appreciate that kind of fight. The thing is, sometimes the fight doesn't go the way we want to. In my last fight, two times I tried to finish Dan Hardy and I came very close. ... If I would have gotten the finish nobody would have said anything about it, it would have been, 'Oh, Georges is great.'"
St. Pierre also said that instead of criticizing him for failing to finish Hardy, fans should credit Hardy for managing to escape an arm bar and a kimura that would have forced many fighters to tap out.
"I give the credit to Dan Hardy, he did the perfect textbook escape and I made some technical mistakes," St. Pierre said. "Ninety-five percent of guys would have tapped. Dan Hardy is just a very hard-headed guy. He was ready almost to let his arm break."
Still, St. Pierre acknowledged that he's somewhat upset that he went five rounds with Hardy.
"Of course I'm a little disappointed and I like to finish guys, but sometimes a fight doesn't go how we want it to, and next time I will do better, " St. Pierre said. "I'm a perfectionist. It's impossible to be perfect, but I always want -- every fight -- to get better."
In a question-and-answer session with fans in Abu Dhabi last week, St. Pierre said that the discontent from some fans about his unanimous decision victory over Dan Hardy shows that there are two different types of people who watch the UFC.
"I think there are two kinds of fans," St. Pierre said in the Q&A, which can be viewed at UFC.com. "There are the fans that like only to see a brawl, and there are the type of fans who know the game and know what's going on. And I think for the fans who know what's going on -- I'm talking about the technical aspect -- I think they would appreciate that kind of fight. The thing is, sometimes the fight doesn't go the way we want to. In my last fight, two times I tried to finish Dan Hardy and I came very close. ... If I would have gotten the finish nobody would have said anything about it, it would have been, 'Oh, Georges is great.'"
St. Pierre also said that instead of criticizing him for failing to finish Hardy, fans should credit Hardy for managing to escape an arm bar and a kimura that would have forced many fighters to tap out.
"I give the credit to Dan Hardy, he did the perfect textbook escape and I made some technical mistakes," St. Pierre said. "Ninety-five percent of guys would have tapped. Dan Hardy is just a very hard-headed guy. He was ready almost to let his arm break."
Still, St. Pierre acknowledged that he's somewhat upset that he went five rounds with Hardy.
"Of course I'm a little disappointed and I like to finish guys, but sometimes a fight doesn't go how we want it to, and next time I will do better, " St. Pierre said. "I'm a perfectionist. It's impossible to be perfect, but I always want -- every fight -- to get better."