Following a convincing win over Nate Diaz, the goal remains unchanged.
In fact, after outgrappling the grappler and earning the unanimous-decision victory, Kim is even more confident in his abilities to beat the champ.
"I can take [St-Pierre] down," said Kim, whose bout was part of the pay-per-view main card at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, through a translator. "I don't know when I'm going to fight GSP, but a lot of fighters try and stand with him. GSP takes other fighters down and ground and pounds. I want to do that to GSP."
With the win over Diaz (13-6 MMA, 8-4 UFC), Kim (14-0-1 MMA, 5-0 UFC) remains undefeated in the UFC. (A split-decision defeat to Karo Parisyan a year ago was overturned and recorded as a no-contest because of the Armenian's failed drug test.) More importantly, he implemented his game plan nearly to perfection – even with Diaz expecting it.
"My original plan was to stand with him and take him down after a couple of punches," Kim told us. "Nate kind of knew that I was going to take him down, so he was worried about the takedowns. It didn't go how I expected at first, but everything was fine."
Kim cruised through the first two rounds, often overpowering Diaz for takedowns and dominant ground position. He avoided the Cesar Gracie fighter's often-frantic striking and refused to get sucked into a slugfest. He was calculated, methodical and relentless with his attacks.
It wasn't until Kim was corralled with overhooks and tagged with an illegal knee that he was in any real trouble.
"He held on to my neck pretty tight," he said. "I was going to go to the ground and sweep him, but that's when he kneed me in the eye. I couldn't focus for a couple of seconds. The referee asked if I needed a doctor, but I told him (I just needed) a couple of seconds, maybe 30 seconds. Then I was OK."
Kim's UFC victories have come against increasingly tougher competition, beginning with Jason Tan before wins over Matt Brown, T.J. Grant, Amir Sadollah and now Diaz.
And that's how he prefers it since it's the only way he'll keep getting better.
"I've fought in Japan before, but the UFC is where I started, unlike other fighters who have different experiences in different organizations," he said. "This is it for me. I'm trying to become better every fight. It's tough to fight fighters from the UFC because everybody is so good. I'm just trying to become better."
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