Monday, February 2, 2009

Fan Mail Q & A with Dean Christensen

Q: What are your thoughts in the Georges St. Pierre Vasoline Incident? Do you honestly think he was greasing, or was it a last minute excuse cooked up [by Camp Penn]?

I do not think there is enough conclusive evidence to say one way or another. Whenever you have two people (or camps as the case may be) playing tug of war with opposite stories, there needs to be outside sources or evidence. So far, all the reports have been hear say. The accusations will become more relevant if and when camp Penn decides to report the incident to the NSAC.
That being said, in my heart of hearts, I do not personally believe St. Pierre was greasing during the fight. Greg Jackson is a very respected trainer, and I think there needs to be some mutual trust of inocence until proven otherwise when faced with such acusations. For a trainer who has been breeding champions and legends in one of the most admonished fight camps for such a long time, it is difficult for me to believe they would suddenly feel the need to grease their dominating champion, especially after winning the first round. 

Q: Do you believe Lyoto Machida earned himself alot of new fans with the first round knockout of Thiago Silva?

     Obviously fans will gather around any fighter that brings excitement both inside and outside of the cage, and Lyoto Machida brought enthusiasm with the outstanding technical and explosive performance against the undefeated Thiago Silva. Whether or not he "earned" it last night is a different question. As the top light heavyweight contender in the UFC right now, he has continued to "earn it" since his first victory in the octagon. 

Q: Vaseline accusations aside, what did you think of the Georges St. Pierre vs. B.J. Penn fight?

     I thought the same thing everyone else had thought when watching the fight. There are not a whole lot of conclusions you can draw when you see such a lopsided performance. Georges St. Pierre gave one of the most embarrasing beatings of his carreer history, far surpassing the dominant the Matt Serra rematch. B.J. Penn looked helpless against the muscular monster, especially when he was munipulated on the ground. When you see a fighter dominating to such an extent, passing guard with such incredible ease, questions and accusations fly, especially from an embarrased opponent. 

Q: With the recent fight between Fedor [Emelianenko] vs. Andrei Arlovski, and Georges St. Pierre vs. [B.J.] Penn? Who is the current pound for pound champion in your opinion?

     Although I usually regard pound for pound as irrelavant as it is based on fighters/scenarios that have no realtion or realistic chance of competing with one another, I will answer the question because of the recent fights which have taken place. You have Georges coming off of a crushing victory against a fellow champion, Fedor with another first round knockout against top five compettition, and the always relevant Anderson Silva. If you have to base the ranking based on their latest performance, the order goes as follows: Georges St. Pierre, Fedor Emelianenko, Anderson Silva. However, since Fedor has not had a blemish on his record since the contreversial "loss" to Tsyoshi Kohsaka, he has to remain the pound for pound best until someone proves otherwise.

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