Know how you intend to win and practice relentlessly: Here is a photo of Georges St-Pierre practicing the very elbow strike to strangulation sequence on the ground against his opponents guard position on Saturday afternoon November 4 at 3pm in Madison Square Garden that would lead to victory that same night. This was part of his grappleboxing program design to create enough pressure to force an experienced and mentally tough opponent like Michael Bisping to turn and expose his back to a stranglehold. Here we work the sequence from elbows to strangle in front of empty seats and curious construction workers as they prepare the arena for the big show. Around eight hours later, Mr St-Pierre would perform exactly this sequence in front of a packed audience under the lights and cameras. It is critical the athlete have a strong plan of attack and the means to enact it. Improvisation is a wonderful thing to observe, but so is a well conceived plan backed by a training program that builds the skills and tactics required to make it work when everything is on the line. Clarity of purpose is crucial in professional fighting. This marriage of ground striking with submission was the focus of ground training in this camp and this was the last training session before the event, held in the actual cage where it would all transpire in front of the world.
