When Georges St. Pierre steps in the Octagon opposite Carlos Condit at UFC 154 on Nov. 17, 2012, the 31-year-old wants to record his first stoppage victory since Jan. 2009.
In fact, "Rush" has vowed to be "more optimistic" against the "Natural Born Killer" at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. That's due in large part to a three-year finish drought, with the French-Canadian putting away an opponent inside the distance, B.J. Penn, way back in early 2009.
Since then, he's fought 100 consecutive minutes without securing a knockout or submission.
After 19-months away from the sport, rehabilitating a surgically-repaired knee, St. Pierre now claims his fire is back burning stronger than ever and he is hungry to win a fight in fan-pleasing fashion.
The Quebec native plans to be more aggressive in his next fight; however, Condit -- who he will battle to unify the 170-pound title this weekend -- feels St. Pierre might try to force an adaptation to his fighting style will not produce the results for which he is looking.
"Yeah I do [expect St. Pierre to be more aggressive]," Condit told MMA Mania. "I think that's because of a lot of the criticism that he's got lately, you know he's going to try and make a statement. He's going to try and come back with some gusto and, you know, I think that's going to be a mistake though."
While Condit will be unable to get a true gauge on St. Pierre's level of aggression until the fight actually begins, one thing "The Natural Born Killer" isn't trying to gauge is the surgically reconstructed knee of GSP.
Despite suffering an injury that would end the career of a lesser athlete, Condit is not focusing on St. Pierre's health, expecting the injury to play no role in the outcome of the fight.
"I don't think [the injury is] going to take away from Georges' abilities," Condit explained. "I think that he was still staying sharp and from all reports from his camp he's 100 percent ... I'm expecting Georges St-Pierre at his best."
Stay tuned to MMAmania.com for more exclusive Carlos Condit remarks as we build up to UFC 154 this weekend.