Flipping, hovering and more: GSP’s training tactics for UFC 129

Georges St-Pierre's biggest fight is on the horizon. Not only is he finally taking on Jake Shields, his most-credentialed opponent in years, but it's the main event of a card that will have 55,000 screaming for Canada's best fighter. It's just a touch more pressure.

That means that GSP has had to pull out all the stops in getting ready for the fight. Hitting a tire? Done. Running with a parachute? So last year. Yoga? Who hasn't done that? No, GSP pushed the bounds on this fight camp.

Flip, flop and fly: GSP turned to gymnastics to cross-train for this fight. As a longtime fan of the gymnastics, I welcome this development in MMA training. Gymnasts have fantastic functional strength, body control, balance and flexibility, all characteristics that are useful in MMA. Plus, it gives us videos like this, so we can all giggle at GSP turning a cartwheel with the skill of a 9-year-old girl.

Hovercraft: It turns out that GSP has skills usually reserved for ghosts. See? He can hover.

More Freddie: GSP returned to boxing guru Freddie Roach to work on his striking for this bout. It helped GSP hammer Josh Koscheck with a jab in GSP's last bout, so why not return to what worked?

Ugly design: We've talked about the ugly shirt already this week, but wow. It deserves mention again. Affliction really brought the ugly for UFC 129.

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White believes in Couture, thinks Machida’s style is hurting him

If you questioned why 47-year-old Randy Couture is getting a shot at Lyoto Machida, look no further than the head honcho at UFC. Dana White has long argued that Couture is still a top 10 fighter in the UFC's light heavyweight division.

During this Yahoo! feature, Fight Day, White also says Machida's counterstriking style may be turning into a negative (1:05 mark).

"The style that got him all those wins, all these years is kind of backfiring on him now. I don't think people have figured it out, but he lays back a little too much," White said. "I think he needs to be more aggressive and come forward. And he's definitely gonna have to be that way with Couture. Cause Couture's gonna be right in his face the whole fight."

Couture's recent wins came against boxer James Toney and 45-year-old Mark Coleman. Before that, he struggled to get by Brandon Vera, who was cut and then brought back by the UFC.

The USA Today/Bloody Elbow MMA poll has Couture at No. 16 in the world and No. 12 in the UFC. White says the rankings are [expletive]. Does he really stand a chance against a top five 205er in his prime? The oddsmakers say no. Machida is a massive minus-350 favorite.

Don't forget, you can watch UFC 129 on PPV right here on Yahoo! Sports.

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UFC 129 Morning After: The Unique Talent of Lyoto Machida

by Michael David SmithIt's been said a million times that Lyoto Machida has a unique style in mixed martial arts, and that's certainly true. But Machida showed in his knockout victory over Randy Couture on UFC 129 that even more significant than a unique style is his unique talent: Machida can do things inside the Octagon that no one else can do.

Think for a moment about what it really means to say that Machida has a unique style: It doesn't mean that he's aware of some secret method of fighting; the style he employs is based on karate, which is studied by millions around the world. What it really means is that what he can do with karate is different from what all those other millions of karate students can do.

That's about talent. That's what makes Machida special.

 

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Video analysis: Iole sets the record straight on MMA vs. boxing salaries

With each passing day, MMA is getting closer to the interest shown towards mainstream sports. With that comes more transparency and a deeper look at everything that concerns fighters including their salaries. It was week reported last week by ESPN the Magazine that Brock Lesnar was the highest earner in 2010 at $5.3 million. If that's the true figure, it seemed a bit short of Manny Pacquiao's $32 million. Those are the top dogs, but what does that mean for boxers and MMA stars in the two-through-30 range?

This money talk in MMA even prompted HDNet's Inside MMA to get into the issue a few weeks ago about Nick Diaz. The suggestion was made that Diaz needed to leave MMA to get the money he deserves. Kenny Rice said Diaz might make as much in one boxing match as he's made in 16 of his 32 MMA fights combined (1:08 mark).

That was odd assertion considering Diaz just made $325,000 in his last two fights. Is that fair for a guy who's roughly the 15th biggest star in MMA?

Yahoo!'s MMA/boxing expert Kevin Iole checked in with us to explain how there's no middle class in boxing and that it's highly unlikely Diaz would fetch anything close to 175k for a boxing match.

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Welcome back Jason MacDonald: UFC vet battles back from horrific ankle injury

Jason MacDonald has heard it all, but after what he's gone through the middleweight fighter can block out dummy fans saying he should retire.� A resident of Red Deer, Alta, Canada, MacDonald is fighting for the first time since breaking his tibia and fibula, and tearing both ligaments off the bone.

"Initially the injury was horrible and the surgery and the months following the surgery were pretty rough. You feel a lot of pain," MacDonald told the Canadian Press.

"When you're laid up and not able to get around and not able to do things you're used to doing, you do a lot of soul-searching, you doubt yourself and you doubt if you can even recover. But as your body gets stronger, you become stronger mentally and you get healthy mentally again and you start to realize 'Hey I'm good."'

MacDonald (23-14) faces Ryan Jensen (16-6) on the undercard at UFC 129. The fight will air on the UFC's Facebook page.

Frankly, it's amazing the 35-year-old is back this soon after suffering the terrible injury last May against John Salter at UFC 113. Believe it or not, he actually tried to return in December at UFC 124. Then reality struck and MacDonald realized he'd better slow it down.

"I was training two or three times a day and I was waking up in the morning barely able to walk to the washroom, so I had to just pull back on the training a little bit and ease up and get it a little bit stronger."

This is MacDonald's 12th fight with the promotion. He's gone 5-6 with wins over Ed Herman and Chris Leben. He's got three losses against high level fighters in Rich Franklin, Demian Maia and Yushin Okami. None of that will matter Saturday night. No one's going to feel sorry for him or accept the injury as an excuse, so MacDonald knows this is a make or break fight.

"For me this fight is huge. Let's be realistic. I'm coming off an injury and not just an injury, it was still considered a loss. So in my eyes, I'm fighting for my job."

Good for MacDonald. It's nice to see him back and hopefully he can prove schmucks like these wrong:

turbosteve29

1 day ago

I think its time for macdonald to hang up the gloves, hes washed up too old

ianzacks

2 days ago

this guy always gets knocked out , the only reason he makes ufc cards , they need canadian content when fighting in canada. He looks the part , and gets knocked out better then anyone else .... report this comment

Let's hope the majority of fans get it. Give MacDonald credit for sacrificing this much to give us a little entertainment on a Saturday night.

You can watch UFC 129 on PPV (9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT) right here on Yahoo! Sports.

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UFC 129 presser audio: GSP says ignore the oddsmakers, give respect to Shields

Before their battle at UFC 129 next week, Georges St-Pierre and Jake Shields have pretty much refused to engage in trash talk. That's because there's an immense amount of respect between the two fighters. GSP went one step further today saying the odds on the fight are ridiculous.

"This is foolish. This is like a trap for me. I'm not going to fall into that trap. The odds are ridiculous," St-Pierre said. "Sometimes I think people don't even know the sport. To know the sport, you have to be into it. Most of the people who make the odds they don't even know the sport very well."

GSP said Shields would beat everyone of his previous opponents and he knew before watching past fights, that the former Strikeforce middleweight champ was going to beat Robbie Lawler and Dan Henderson.

"People forget that a guy who has good submission holds is just as dangerous as a knockout punch. You can be winning the whole fight ... and at the last minute you commit a mistake and bang you have to tap," St-Pierre said (1:15 mark). "Jake Shields has a weapon that's more dangerous than a knockout punch."

St-Pierre knows the general lack of respect for Shields puts a lot of pressure on him to win.

"People who make the odds they don't even acknowledge the true skill set of Jake Shields. And that is something that really pisses me off," St-Pierre said. "I have the pressure of going through Jake Shields like a knife in the butter. They don't understand the danger. People keep asking me about 'what are you going to do next?' It's not what I'm going to do next. What is happening right now is the most dangerous test I ever face in my career."

Here's video GSP on the teleconference. He was having a meal at the time (3:20 mark):

St-Pierre is firing away at the wrong people when he talks about the oddsmakers. The folks who set the numbers are simply looking for two-way action. He needs to call out bettors, fans and "experts" of the sport who don't recognize Shields as a good play at plus-350.

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The worst part of UFC 129 for GSP and Shields? Dealing with the sometimes dopey media

Fighting in front of 55,000 fans, a huge pay-per-view audience and increased media attention has to be great for the fighters at UFC 129. There is a downside. With all the interest, Jake Shields and Georges St-Pierre say the media crush has been unbelievable.

"It's always a distraction. For sure, I'm not gonna lie, the worst part is this," St-Pierre said. "Sometimes you have to wake up very early in the morning. It's bad because it messes up your sleep time."

Shields wants to be a company man, but when you body is on west� coast time, it makes it even tougher to fulfill your duties.

"I think they have me doing the same amount [of interviews as St-Pierre], which I'm not really used to," Shields said (0:15 mark). "I looked at my schedule up there and they have me getting up at seven in the morning for interviews, which is four o'clock in the morning my time.�It seems kind of ridiculous to me. I don't know."

The former Strikeforce middleweight champ will do what he's told. He's a quality dude. Watch him act like a pro as this crazy, smiling wacko is all over him.

Before you mock too hard, John D. Villareal is a pretty accomplished athlete. He's just a little too Tony Little-like.

GSP said he understands that the media requests are part of the business and those increase even more when you're a champion. He also knows it's how fans get their fill of the sport.

Most Excited Interviewer in the World tip via Cage Potato

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