• UFC 129

St-Pierre 'nervous' ahead of record-setting night

ESPN staff
April 29, 2011
Georges St-Pierre has plenty on his mind ahead of UFC 129 © Getty Images
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Georges St-Pierre has confessed the pressure of the 55,000-strong Toronto crowd is playing on his mind ahead of Saturday's UFC 129 main event with Jake Shields.

At 29 years of age, St-Pierre is already a relative veteran of the sport after 17 UFC fights to date, and little should faze the welterweight champion as he prepares for a sixth consecutive defence of his title.

However, Saturday will represent the biggest crowd in front of which GSP has fought, more than doubling the UFC's previous record. The fact that 99 per cent of those fans are going to be supporting their Canadian hero means St-Pierre has a lot to lose with defeat, and he admits it gets to him.

"I'm always nervous," said the defending champion. "A lot of fighters are like, 'No, I'm not nervous'. I think it's a lie. If you're not nervous, it's because you don't care about something."

Questions have been raised in the build-up to the main event over how St-Pierre plans to tackle an opponent like Shields, who is so technically brilliant on the floor. GSP's victory over Koscheck, when he relied heavily on his striking, has been put forward as a template, but St-Pierre has hinted he will mix striking with takedowns, as he did against Thiago Alves and Jon Fitch.

"I like my fights with Alves and maybe Fitch," he said. "There's a lot of stuff I had done in that fight that was beautiful."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
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