Renzo training with Georges St. Pierre / Photo: Luca Atalla
Both are Jiu-Jitsu black belts and will fight to be king of the welterweight roost at this Saturday’s UFC 129 event in Canada. Georges Saint-Pierre is riding an eight-fight winning streak and has cleaned out the division. The USA’s Jake Shields, the former champion of the Strikeforce middleweight division, is on a 15-fight win streak, and he’s been called upon to dethrone the Canadian.
An interesting detail is that the two count on the help of the Gracie family in their training. GSP, for example, spent the season preparing for the fight at Renzo Gracie Team in New York. There the champion had the help of at least 20 black belts to work with daily.
Now Shields, the challenger, has Cesar Gracie to rely on, and the trainer promises a surprise for Canadian fans.
“I’ve had some pretty good guys try to hold Jake down. It’s not going to happen. You can’t hold Jake down. You can’t just be on top of him and hold him,” said Cesar on Sherdog.com.
“If the Jake that I know at the gym shows up at his best, I think he’ll definitely win this fight. But I also understand there’s a lot of factors. I know GSP is a great fighter. I’m really interested to see what’s going to happen. I just know that Jake has the tools to also win this fight. I think he can get it done,” he added.
Now anyone wanting to see for themselves how good the two warriors are on the ground, watch Jake Shields vs. Léo Santos in the ADCC and some guard tips from GSP at a seminar:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hx2waUvSM1s
