Georges St-Pierre thinks Donald Cerrone will need to mix it up early if he wants to find success against Conor McGregor.
Cerrone (36-13 MMA, 23-10 UFC) takes on the returning McGregor (21-3 MMA, 9-2 UFC) in the main event of UFC 246 on Jan. 18 in a 170-pound clash at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
And former two-division UFC champion St-Pierre (26-2 MMA, 20-2 UFC), thinks Cerrone will need to drag McGregor into deep waters if he wants to win.
“If it’s a quick fight, it’s going to be McGregor,” St-Pierre said on the Tristar Gym YouTube channel. “If it’s a long fight, it’s going to be Cerrone.”
Having trained with Cerrone earlier in their respective careers, St-Pierre knows what “Cowboy” is capable of, and says the key to victory may lie in Cerrone’s ground game, which he has used to defeat the likes of Patrick Cote, Alex Oliveira and Mike Perry.
“It depends if Cerrone comes and tries to grapple because he’s got (a) very, very good ground game,” St-Pierre said. “His ground game is very underrated. I’ve trained with him before and he’s got good takedowns. He’s very explosive to shoot the takedown. People don’t know that because he doesn’t use it much. He used it against Patrick Cote. But if he does that, to weather the first couple of minutes of the storm and McGregor’s powerful left hand, I think he can get it.
“I think if he wrestles (in) Round 1, I think he has a good chance to win. But if he tries to play a boxing game, karate game, with McGregor, McGregor will tag him and knock him out.”
McGregor, on the other hand, has made short work of various former UFC champions with his patented left hand, making him a very dangerous fighter early. And St-Pierre said if Cerrone doesn’t work his angles and use his footwork, we could see another first-round finish from McGregor.
“McGregor, from what I’ve seen – he’s like a sniper, and when you fight a sniper, you need to move,” St-Pierre said. “You need to change levels, you need to change angles, you need to change distance. And I don’t know if Cerrone will do that or if, because he’s known to be a very slow starter, as usual, – so if he does that, if he doesn’t start right away, hard with the speed, he’s going to get caught.”
Georges St-Pierre: Donald Cerrone's grappling is key to victory at UFC 246
