• UFC 154

Freddie Roach: GSP is a slow-starter

Freddie Roach has shed insight into the make-up of Georges St-Pierre ahead of his UFC 154 welterweight title showdown against Carlos Condit, revealing the champ takes time to loosen up.

St-Pierre returns to the Octagon for first time in 19 months to take on interim title holder Condit in Saturday's main event. After such a serious knee injury, it is speculated that Condit may be able to take advantage of GSP's ring rust to catch him cold.

Roach adds to that theory by revealing that the Canadian's tendency to overthink matters can lead to him making slow starts in fights. The famed boxing coach, who has worked with St-Pierre on several occasions, gave Condit plenty of hope on Sherdog Radio's Rewind show.

"The thing with Georges was that he's very, very muscular in the upper body and that's what slowed him down a little bit," Roach explained. "And just being a little bit tight and thinking a little bit too much.

"Really what the key was was just getting him to relax a little bit and be more fluent with his punches. Once he got relaxed in there, the punches came a lot more sharper, a lot faster and a lot quicker.

"He became much better. I think Georges is one of those guys, in the first round he's still a little tense sometimes and then as the fight goes on, he gets a little bit looser and gets more into it, and the punches flow a lot better for him when he gets that mindset."

Predicting the winner, Roach is confident St-Pierre will come out on top: "Georges is a master at what he does and he's in great shape.

"To be honest with you, I wish I could have spent more time with Georges, but it just didn't work out this time. But he's very good at what he does, and I'm sure he'll prevail."

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