Georges St. Pierre: I Want to Win in a Beautiful Fashion

To many people, mixed martial arts is ugly, violent, and visceral.  It's two men, locked in a steel cage with bad intentions. You can't escape that aspect of the sport, it's right there on the surface.  But UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St. Pierre believes he can transcend the "cage fighter" label when he defends his title against Dan Hardy Saturday at UFC 111 and become something more pure, something more than a mixed martial artist.

"I call myself a martial artist because I come from a different background of martial arts. I've been a student of the game for a very long time and when I'm going to fight I'm not going to fight only to make a brawl," St.Pierre said.  "I'm going to fight to win, but to win I want to use my technique. I want to win in a beautiful fashion. When somebody who doesn't know the sport of mixed martial arts watches me fight, I want him to say 'hey, that guy uses beautiful technique and beautiful variety of technique.' That's when the artistic (side of the) sport comes into play."

It's this desire to create art in the cage that separates the very best from other fighters.  You can see the same desire in middleweight kingpin Anderson Silva.  When Silva finds his opponent overmatched, he will often do everything in his power to make things more interesting, if not for the crowd, for himself.  St.Pierre has an active and absorbent brain.  He could easily take down every opponent and try to grind out a win.  Instead, he spends the months between fights searching for techniques and skills he hasn't yet mastered.  Inside the Octagon, is where the journey pays off.

"I believe I'm more well-rounded, I have more knowledge, and I believe by being a martial artist, I'm going to win that fight," St. Pierre said.  "A martial artist who is very well-rounded, somebody who has knowledge and uses his knowledge to win that meet, to win the fight."

Hardy, a standup technician from England, has one chance to win the fight.  The only time St.Pierre has looked remotely vulnerable was in a shocking loss to Matt Serra almost three years ago at UFC 69. Hoping some of that Serra luck would rub off on him, Hardy made the trip to the former champion's New York gym to pick his brain.  Will he come away with the magic technique to beat the unbeatable St. Pierre?

"Well, there is only one way to find out and I'm not worried about that," St. Pierre said.  "I take a lot of shots when I'm training and I'm very good with it. The shot when I lost to Serra I got hit behind the ear and I lost my equilibrium and after I lost my equilibrium I got struck with five full range punches before I end up falling.   I'm ready for a war you know. I'm not worried about me getting punched at all."

What St. Pierre does worry about are expectations.  Not just his own, but those of the fans, especially in his native Canada where he has surpassed "The Hitman" Bret Hart as the nation's most popular combat sports athlete.

"I believe I have a lot more pressure than Dan, of course," St. Pierre said.  "And that's a good thing because if  you look at all my big fights, all the fights that I had a lot of pressure; B.J. Penn, when I did the Primetime (reality show on SPIKE TV), my revenge against Serra. All those great fights, I perform better when I'm under pressure. When I'm under pressure, I'm more nervous. I'm  more awake and my reaction time is better, so that's a good thing for me."

UFC 111: St-Pierre vs Hardy is Saturday, March 27th at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.