St. Pierre, Couture Register Statement Wins in UFC 74

After losing his welterweight title to severe underdog Matt Serra in UFC 69, Georges St. Pierre was accused by some of having one of the worst qualities he could imagine: a lack of mental toughness. Even worse, he was doubted by one of his biggest supporters and his boss, Ultimate Fighting Championship President Dana White.

"Which Georges St. Pierre is going to show up to this fight?" White pondered before the fight. "There were obviously some mental holes for him before that fight."

St. Pierre put the doubts to rest last night in UFC 74 from Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, trouncing top contender Josh Koscheck by unanimous decision and making a statement that he is set to reclaim his title.

"It's like I was just reborn right now," St. Pierre said in a television interview afterward. That loss was "the best thing that happened to me in my career. Now I'm a brand new version and better than ever."

St. Pierre said he was more pumped up for this fight than any other in his career. He stalked out of his locker room looking angry and pounding his chest.

St. Pierre (14-2) made several impressive takedowns of Koscheck (11-2), a four-time college all-American wrestler. Once on the mount, he dominated the second round and won the third round with a barrage of strikes.

The soft-spoken French Canadian had reached the top of UFC before his loss to Serra. White dubbed him a new breed of fighter, athletically superior to most fighters. But when White saw St. Pierre backstage before UFC 69, he noticed that St. Pierre wasn't together mentally.

After yesterday's bout, St. Pierre grabbed the microphone.

"I'm not finished yet," he said. "I have a message for Dana White. You like to have a good show? I gave you a good show tonight."

Randy Couture, 44, showed that his age is still not close to slowing him. Couture dominated the bigger Gabriel Gonzaga, 28, throughout the fight and won by technical knockout 1 minute 37 seconds into the third round to defend his third career heavyweight title.

Couture (16-8) slammed the 6-foot-1, 252-pound Gonzaga (8-2) in the first round, which had him spitting blood. Couture kept pounding on the nose, forcing Gonzaga to delay the fight because it was bleeding so much that he couldn't see.

"I think he just wore down," Couture said. "I think we crossed heads in the takedown. I took him down and heard the crunch, and I knew his nose was broken."

Roger Huerta (21-1-1) handed Brazilian jujitsu pro Alberto Crane (8-1) his first mixed martial arts loss by opening a large cut under Crane's eye early in the fight and beating him by strikes. Fellow lightweight Joe Stevenson (33-7) beat Kurt Pellegrino (16-3) by unanimous decision by outlasting him in the third round.