Let’s be honest: Every now and then it’s fun to get down into the nitty-gritty statistics and see if we can’t perform some MMAth. It helps us analyze future fights and make predictions based on previous history. Fans of all sports do it, so why can’t we? It can help us look for potential trends in a fighter as well. So, with thanks to Sherdog and FightMetric.com for the raw data, let’s examine the main event of the upcoming UFC 167: Georges St. Pierre vs. Johny Hendricks

Stats for Suckas: Georges St. Pierre vs Johny Hendricks

Statistics	Georges St. Pierre	Johny Hendricks
Age	32	30
Camp	Tristar MMA	Team Takedown
Record	24-2	15-1
Stance	Orthodox	Southpaw
Reach	76.0″	69.0″
Win Percentage	8 (T)KO (33%) 5 Submissions (21%) 11 Decisions (46%)	8 (T)KO (53%) 1 Submission (7%) 6 Decisions (40%)
Loss Percentage	1 (T)KO (50%) 1 Submission (50%)	1 Decision (100%)
Last (T)KO Victory	Jan. 31st, 2009, over B.J. Penn	Nov. 17th, 2012, over Martin Kampmann
Last Submission Victory	Dec. 29th, 2007, over Matt Hughes	Mar. 15th, 2008, over Richard Gamble
Last Decision Victory	Mar. 16th, 2013, over Carlos Condit	Mar. 16th, 2013, over Carlos Condit
Last (T)KO Loss	Apr. 7th, 2007, to Matt Serra	N/A
Last Submission Loss	Oct. 22nd, 2004, to Matt Hughes	N/A
Last Decision Loss	N/A	Dec. 4th, 2010, to Rick Story
Submission Victories by Method	Armbar 2x (40%) RNC 2x (40%) Kimura 1x (20%)	Brabo Choke 1x (100%)
Submission Losses by method	Armbar 1x (100%)	N/A
Most Takedowns in a Fight	11, on Mar. 27th, 2010, against Dan Hardy	30, on Mar. 16th, 2013, against Carlos Condit
Least Amount of Significant Strikes in a Fight	2, on Jan. 29th, 2005, against Dave Strasser	2, on Dec. 11th, 2011, against Jon Fitch
Decision Victories in the UFC	11	5
Significant Strikes Landed Per Minute	3.75	3.09
Striking Accuracy	55%	50%
Significant Strikes Absorbed Per Minute	1.23	3.04
Striking Defense	75%	58%
Average Takedown Attempts per 15 Min.	4.38	5.52
Takedown Accuracy	76%	50%
Takedown Defense Percentage	86%	63%
Average Submission per 15 Min.	1.14	0.63
Average Submission Completion Rate	19.98%	11.68%
Most Significant Strikes Landed in a Fight	131, on Aug. 9th, 2008, against Jon Fitch	55, on May 5th, 2012, against Josh Koscheck
Total Fight Time	5 hrs, 29 min, 15 sec	2 hrs, 23 min, 48 sec

I can’t help but feel that the lead-up to this fight is another case of hype beating out reality. So many people are getting behind Johny Hendricks’ “puncher’s chance” that they’re forgetting about the fact that Georges St. Pierre has the advantage in pretty much every facet of this fight. He has more experience, a 7″ reach advantage, a higher rate of completed and defended takedowns against a far larger sample size, and the ability to land strikes almost at will while on the feet, while avoiding the majority that come his way. He’s also better on the ground, as evidenced not only by his submission attempts average, but also by his completion rate. As Flava Flav has so famously said, “Don’t believe the hype.” GSP will be retaining his title by unanimous decision and continue his metamorphosis into the Floyd Mayweather of MMA: Defensively and technically brilliant, but not the most exciting fighter to watch.