This event was held on Dec. 11th 2010 in Montreal-Quebec Canada . A long awaited event and return of the welterweight Champion in Georges St. Pierre. We’re just going to look at a few of the main bouts on the card.
Alves vs Howard – Alves is back! After all the trouble making weight and dealing with disappointing fights Alves came out and dominated. He had great hands and mixed things up with leg kicks. I was really surprised at how Howard handled the punishment. The few times the fight went to the ground Alves dominated there as well. I think its also important to mention the sheer conditioning of Alves in this fight. It looked like Howard was taking so much damage, I was surprised to see him hang in there the entire fight. Again, I think Alves had something to prove and it was his most impressive performance in a long time. Joe Rogan mentioned during the broadcast that it was the most pumped he had seen Alves since the Matt Hughes fight.
Miller vs Oliveria – I feel like Joe Silva had over estimated Oliveria for this match-up. He was not ready for Miller. We saw gaping holes in his jujitsu and he was submitted quickly. After the fight, Miller started calling for a title shot. I don’t really get that. He hasn’t finished a top level fighter yet. Hes won several fights against low level guys. He had a chance and lost to Gray Maynard and that’s why he is in the position he is in. Yes he is a good fighter and yes he deserves to face the top of the division but not a title shot.
Riddle vs Pierson – I really like Matt Riddle. I watched him all through his run on TUF. He got smashed in this fight though. His conditioning saved him but he was getting drilled in the face the whole fight. He was able to press Pierson because he was getting tired. They went T2T but Piersons experience and much superior striking helped him soar to a win. I have to say Matt Riddle kind of bothered me in this fight though. He seemed like he was just a brawler. It didn’t look like he any skill at all. If he was getting jacked standing up he should have taken it to the ground and tried there but there was none of that and it kind of suprised me. Sometimes I think we as fans have a tendency to make guys better than they really are because we like them, and that’s what I think I was doing to Riddle. He needs to get deep in his camp and start getting some skills because he isn’t going to go anywhere with the performance he put on.
Struve vs McCorkle – I thought Stefan “Sky Scraper” Struve had a big advantage in this fight. After the first minute or to Mccorkle came out strong with that big slam and a quick sub attempt. However, The longer the fight went on though it was a matter of time. Struve used a great move for the mount to close out the fight on “big sexy’s” face. You have to wonder if all the trash talking did McCorkle any good. It could have very well given the advantage to
Struve. After the fight, McCorkle blamed his performance on the pressure but wouldn’t that be mostly his fault? I don’t see him being in a Co-main event for a long time. During his interview on the MMA Hour he was stated as saying that Dana came up to him and told him that this was his big chance. It looks like he blew it. However, he will be set to 
GSP vs Koscheck – I was so pumped for this fight and I hated this event fell into the time period when I would be in India. As soon as I got back I began working to get a copy. I had to stay off my own twitter feed for nearly three days until I could see this fight. I didn’t watch TUF this season but I’m engulfed enough in MMA media and I know Koscheck’s personality well enough to know there was some trash talking going on before this fight. I knew Koscheck was a better fighter than he was before when he faced GSP. Of course we all knew GSP had gotten better as well. I think stylistically Kos had a chance and I still think that Kos was right about one thing and that is that GSP has never really had his chin tested. The last time was the Matt Serra fight. I don’t think GSP can really take a lot of damage but he takes such little damage in his fights no one really knows. Rush certainly put on a performance that night. He neutralized Kos’s right hand and pummeled him over and over with a jab and double jab. He didn’t go for many takedowns but I believe that was all part of his strategy. The one thing that bothers me about this fight after I watched it twice is just the lack luster striking of Koscheck in this fight. It was if all he had was that overhand right and he kept trying it over and over. There was nothing from his left hand at all. It really didn’t seem like he was doing anything. It looked like he was helping GSP look good. As Dana White eluded to after the fight GSP has cleaned out the division. Hopefully we will see him go up to middleweight and fight Anderson Silva.
