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Ive seen a few threads here today saying GSP was an over-rated athlete, and had an over-rated record. If you weren't following his entire career you may not appreciate just how special of a fighter GSP is.
Here is a re-cap of his career, and why he is considered one of, if not the best fighter to ever compete in the sport of MMA.
https://twitter.com/TreeloyUG?lang=en
Everything you need to know about GSP heading into UFC 217 at MSG
George St. Pierre’s career started at UCC 7 on January 25th, 2002, in the welterweight division. His first fight was a tough one, vs. then undefeated (4-0) Ivan Menjivar, who missed weight and came in heavy at 172lbs. Ivan came out strong, throwing power punches and taking GSP to the mat with relentless pressure. The fight was an absolute war, until GSP took Menjivar down late in the first round and delivered some nasty ground and pound, and it was stopped by verbal tap, which was disputed by Menjivar. Despite the controversial stoppage, GSP had won his first fight and showed great athletic potential and a versatile skill set.
GSP’S second fight was for the UCC welterweight title against champion Justin Bruckmann, who was 4-1 at the time, with a notable win over David Loiseau. St-Pierre completely controlled the ground game and ended up submitting Bruckmann by arm-bar in the first round. GSP had won his first title, and was now on the list of MMA’s top prospects.
“This kid has got athletic ability like I’ve never seen before, and I’ve played football with some top notch athletes, I’ve been in the ring with some top notch athletes, but this guy here blows everybody away”, said the commentator. “Georges is really something else, this kid doesn’t get tired, and he doesn’t get overpowered.”
This statement would hold true throughout St-Pierre’s entire career.
GSP cruised through his next two fights with Thomas Denny (10-9) and Travis Galbraith (5-1), also in the UCC.
Next, GSP moved on to fight Pete Spratt at TKO 14. Spratt was 7-4 at the time, having already fought in the UFC with a win over Robbie Lawler. GSP dominated Spratt in impressive fashion, pulling off an epic sweep in the process. GSP took Spratt’s back and secured a standing rear naked choke to end the fight in the first round.
This very exciting fight caught the attention of the UFC.
On January 31st, 2004, GSP made his league debut at UFC 46, vs. a very game Karo Parisyan (10-2). Karo had already won his UFC debut vs. Dave Strasser, and was seen as one of the top prospects in MMA at the time. GSP was coming in with a big reputation from Canada, being undefeated and having won a title.
St-Pierre took the fight to Karo, getting the better of every position. Karo came close to pulling off a submission but GSP powered out of it. UFC commentator Joe Rogan immediately recognized the talent and physical abilities of GSP and praised his incredible strength. GSP went on to win a one sided decision which left Karo busted up and exhausted. After his impressive debut, GSP went on to win a lopsided TKO against Jay Heiron (4-0), which propelled him to a UFC title shot against Matt Hughes (36-4) for the vacant welterweight title.
Now fighting his long time idol Hughes, GSP showed a superior skill set on the feet early in the bout, landing a nice spinning back kick to the midsection. Hughes eventually secured the takedown and locked in an armbar to win the championship. GSP showed his inexperience in losing his first UFC title fight.
After his first loss, St-Pierre went back to Canada to fight for the TKO welterweight title against Dave Strasser. St-Pierre dominated Strasser and won by Kimura in the first round. GSP had now won his second world title.
Having proven he is too talented for the smaller shows, GSP now made his move permanently to the UFC; his first fight back was against Jason Miller (16-3) at UFC 52. GSP absolutely destroyed Mayhem for three rounds, almost catching him in submissions and landing vicious punches on the ground. Mayhem had no answers for Georges well-rounded game and never ending cardio. St-Pierre won a lopsided decision.
Up next was Frank Trigg (12-3), who was fresh off a title fight loss to Matt Hughes and was looking to rebound. Matt Hughes was quoted as saying he thought Trigg was going to win the fight, as he had already fought and beat both men, and had a unique insight into their fighting styles. GSP ended up running through Trigg and submitting him by rear naked choke in the first round. It was thought that GSP would earn a title shot with a win over Trigg, but he was asked to have another fight first.
The UFC re-signed Sean Sherk (31-1-1), to be GSP’s next opponent. This was a very anticipated match-up, and Sherk’s only loss came by way of decision to Hughes. GSP took the fight to Sherk in all positions, and surprised people by taking Sherk down, even though Sherk was unable to take him down. St-Pierre finished the fight in the second round by TKO after breaking Sherk’s nose via ground and pound.
After the fight, while being interviewed in the cage by Joe Rogan, GSP dropped to his knees and showed his passion for another shot at Hughes.
“Please, I want that belt so bad,” he said. “Give it to me.”
It was thought that GSP would be fighting Hughes for the title next, but the UFC had other plans, and in a surprise move the UFC re-signed BJ Penn and set up a fight against GSP that had hardcore fans buzzing. BJ Penn (10-2) was best known as the last man to defeat Matt Hughes, and widely considered one of the best fighters in MMA.
As soon as the bell rang and the fight began, Penn came after GSP like a man possessed, doing significant damage in the first round, breaking GSP’s nose and busting him up. St-Pierre came back strong, grinding out two hard fought rounds and edging out a close 29-28 split decision. This fight showed his heart and his ability to fight through adversity.
Finally, GSP was granted another title shot and a rematch against the champion Matt Hughes at UFC 63. Unfortunately, he was forced to pull out of the fight when he suffered a groin injury and was replaced by BJ Penn who ended up losing to Hughes by TKO in the third round. After Hughes defeated Penn, GSP made an appearance inside the Octagon in a moment that will forever amuse the hardcore fanbase.
“I’m not impressed by your performance,” said GSP in his distinctive Quebecoise accent. And thus a meme was born.
GSP healed up and was given the title shot and a rematch against Matt Hughes (41-4) at UFC 65. The fight was almost stopped near the end of the first round when GSP knocked Hughes to the mat with a superman punch and left hook, but Hughes survived and made it to the second round. St-Pierre used his versatile stand up to land a powerful head kick which put Hughes down, and shortly after finished him with punches. It was very impressive win over a legend in the sport, and with that he had won his first UFC championship fight.
Now the champion in the welterweight division, GSP’s first title defense was scheduled against Matt Serra. Serra (8-4), an 11-1 underdog, had just won a season of the Ultimate Fighter, which granted him a title shot and a chance to fight the newly crowned king of the division.
The fight started and Matt Serra came right at GSP throwing power punches and managed to clip him, sending GSP to the canvas. Serra followed up with a series of devastating punches and the referee jumped in to stop the fight just a few minutes into the opening round. St-Pierre had lost his first title defense, and felt embarrassed and humiliated.
”When I lost to Matt Hughes I learned to never overestimate someone,” reflected GSP long afterward. “But then in my second loss I learned to never underestimate someone.”
”I train but I don’t show the same intensity and I start to believe it’s going to be an easy fight until the night of the fight, they come to pick me up in my locker room, I remember how it happened. The guy comes in the locker room, it’s my turn to fight, he walked in the door ‘St-Pierre you’re up next are you ready?’ and when he asked me this question ‘are you ready?’, I said to myself, ‘Shoot, now I’m not ready.’
”I should have put more into this and now mentally I got broken. As I’m walking to the Octagon, if you see that fight, I’m walking and I’m like, ‘S*** I’m really not ready for this’. Now I’m doing the opposite of what I should do to boost myself and walk like it’s impossible to fail. Now I’m walking like I’m going to a funeral or something.”
“Actually I thought it was kind of weird but I felt better after. It taught me what it takes to become world champion and when I lost to Matt Serra, it taught me what it takes to stay world champion.”
GSP’s first fight back after losing his title was against Josh Koscheck (9-1), who was known as a wrestling phenom. Some said Koscheck was the best wrestler in the UFC at the time, and even Rogan was quoted as saying he thought Koscheck was one of the very best. The fight was competitive but ultimately St-Pierre had more control and did the unthinkable, he out-wrestled the four-time NCAA Div I All-American and won a decision.
Matt Serra was now scheduled to fight Matt Hughes at UFC 79 for the welterweight championship, but Serra was forced pull out with a back injury, giving GSP an opportunity to step in and fight Matt Hughes (42-5) to complete the trilogy for the interim title.
St-Pierre made no mistakes and thoroughly dismantled Hughes the entire fight, mostly wrestling Hughes down and landing ground and pound in the first round. In the second round he finished Hughes with a slick Kimura transitioned to an arm-bar. He had won the trilogy against the greatest welterweight of all time, and also the interim welterweight title.
With one loss left to avenge, and a championship title on the line, GSP now took on Matt Serra (9-4) at UFC 83 in the rematch. He was once again the favorite even though Serra had won the first fight. This time he took Serra down early and controlled him with wrestling and ground strikes. In the second round Serra started to fade and had no answer for the positional control. GSP teed off and landed a flurry of unanswered knees to the body, forcing the referee to jump in and stop the bout. He had won back the championship belt and redeemed himself, vowing to never make the same mistakes that cost him his first title defense.
GSP’s first title defense was against Jon Fitch (17-2), who established himself as a top welterweight after winning 16 fights in a row, and 8 straight in the UFC. It was thought Fitch would be his toughest fight to date. An aggressive St-Pierre came out looking for the finish, knocking Fitch down with punches, head kicks, and didn’t let up the entire fight. Fitch, known for his endurance and durability, survived all five rounds to go to a judges decision, but there was no doubt who had won. GSP had proven he had learned from his earlier mistakes, and came to this title defense well prepared.
Next up was a super-fight rematch between GSP and BJ Penn (13-4) at UFC 94. St-Pierre was the slight favorite but Penn was on a roll and looking unstoppable. Penn was the 155lb champion having just defeated Sean Sherk in his last title defense. This fight was one of the most anticipated fights in UFC history, Champion vs Champion, and two fighters at the top of the pound for pound rankings.
The fight ended up being one sided, with GSP outperforming the Hawai’ian Prodigy in all aspects. GSP blasted through Penn for four rounds with superior wrestling, clinch work, and stand-up, tiring out the smaller Penn and forcing his corner to throw in the towel. After the fight Penn missed the post fight press conference and was hospitalized due to injuries; he later admitted he had no memory of the last two rounds.
Thiago Alves (17-6) was set to fight GSP for his next title defense. The hard hitting KO specialist was coming into the fight with a lot of momentum and confidence, riding high with his victories over Koscheck and Hughes. Alves was again believed to be GSP’s hardest fight to date, having finished five of his last six fights by TKO.
GSP proved once again why he is the champion, out-striking and out-grappling Alves en route to a unanimous decision.
At this point people were wondering if anyone can stop the Canadian phenom, or if he’s destined to remain undefeated for remainder of his career.
Now a dominant champion with three title defenses, GSP was an 8-1 favorite over his next opponent, Dan Hardy (23-6). He still remembered the humiliating defeat he suffered against Matt Serra who was also a big underdog, and showed up in top form. The champion took Hardy down for all five rounds to win a lopsided decision, nearly ripping Hardy’s arm off in the process with an armbar. GSP won his fourth title defense, and having beaten most of the top fighters in the division, was now scheduled to coach on The Ultimate Fighter 12 and rematch previous opponent and top contender Josh Koscheck (15-4).
St-Pierre came into the fight very motivated, having put up with months of trash talk by Koscheck on the Ultimate Fighter and in interviews leading up to the fight. GSP quickly established his jab, breaking Koscheck’s orbital bone in the first round. He landed 55 jabs to Koscheck’s face, and Joe Rogan commented that it was the most jabs he has ever seen in an MMA fight. He dictated the pace of the fight, using his superior striking, footwork, and wrestling to win all five rounds convincingly, and was now tied with Matt Hughes for the most title defenses in UFC welterweight history, with five.
On April 30, 2011, GSP fought against former Strikeforce champion and top 10 pound for pound fighter Jake Shields (26-4) at UFC 129. Shields was coming into the fight on a 15-fight win streak, including wins over Robbie Lawler, Dan Henderson, Carlos Condit, and Yushin Okami. St-Pierre controlled most of the action, and cruised his way to a unanimous decision victory. However, Shields did manage to win two rounds, making it one of GSP’s more closely contested bouts. With this victory he broke the record of consecutive welterweight title defenses with six, and established himself as the greatest welterweight of all time.
After the Shields fight, Georges was scheduled to fight Nick Diaz at UFC 137 at the Mandalay Bay Event Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. However, after Nick Diaz failed to show up to pre-fight media events, UFC president Dana White announced that former WEC Welterweight Champion Carlos Condit would replace Nick Diaz, and fight GSP at UFC 143 on February 4, 2012.
During a training session in December 2011, GSP tore his ACL and partially tore MCL and meniscus in his right knee. Due to the injury, Nick Diaz replaced GSP to fight Carlos Condit at UFC 143, where Condit won by unanimous decision to become the UFC Interim Welterweight Champion.
After being forced to sit out for over a year rehabbing his injury, GSP returned in November 2012 when he was set to fight current Interim Welterweight Champion Carlos Condit (28-5) at UFC 154. Despite being knocked down in the third round by a headkick, St-Pierre was able to control Condit for most of the fight and take him down at will, earning him the unanimous decision victory, and earning his spot back on top of the welterweight division as the undisputed champion.
GSP campaigned for a chance to fight Nick Diaz (26-8) next, who was coming off a loss to Carlos Condit. The fight was so highly anticipated that Diaz was granted the title shot anyway. This is the first time GSP had ever defended his title against someone coming off a loss. St-Pierre felt as thought Nick Diaz disrespected him and wanted to teach him a lesson. The usually friendly and soft spoken champion lashed out and said, “Nick Diaz is the most disrespectful human being I’ve ever met and I’m going to put the worst beating on him.”
The fight was booked for March 16, 2013 at UFC 158. It was a one-sided affair with St-Pierre out-striking Diaz 210 to 80. Many people thought Diaz might have the style to dethrone the long time champion, but he was nullified and dominated to the point where St-Pierre made it look easy.
In November 2013, GSP had his last fight to date against highly touted prospect Johnny Hendricks (15-1) at UFC 167. Before the fight, rumors were swirling that St-Pierre was going to make a post-fight announcement. Hendricks came to fight, putting the pressure on GSP in a close hard fought five round war, where St-Pierre was hurt and had to dig deep. The fight went to the judges scorecards as nervous fans awaited the decision.
St-Pierre’s ability to push the pace until the final bell ultimately awarded him the 5th round and the fight, when a fatigued Johnny Hendricks could longer keep up and had to let off the gas pedal. St-Pierre was awarded a controversial split decision that is still argued among MMA fans today.
GSP got on the mic after the fight and told heartbroken fans he’s stepping away from the sport, as he’d lost his drive to compete after being on top of the MMA world for almost a decade. He wasstressed out and needed to take a break from the spotlight.
In early 2016, St-Pierre was ready to return to the UFC and continue his fighting career, but the UFC and his management were unable to come to terms with a new contract. After it seemed all hope was lost, long time friend of the UFC and St-Pierre’s boxing trainer Freddie Roach reportedly stepped in to help both parties reach a deal. In early 2017 it was announced that Georges St. Pierre had signed a new deal and would be moving up to the Middleweight division to fight middleweight champion Michael Bisping for the 185 belt.
When GSP revealed he would be unable to fight until November because of an eye injury, White called off the fight. Michael Bisping was also dealing with a knee injury, and for that reason the UFC decided to create an Interim Middleweight Title Fight between top contenders Robert Whittaker and Yoel Romero, and have Bisping fight the winner. Dana White said St-Pierre was set to fight the winner of the Welterweight Title Fight between Tyron Woodley and Damian Maia.
Robert Whittaker ended up beating Yoel Romero for the Interim Middleweight Title, and Tyron Woodley won against Damian Maia to retain the Welterweight Title. As fate would have it, Whittaker was injured during the fight with Romero, and is unable to return to the octagon until 2018. Tyron’s fight with Maia was harshly criticized by Dana White for being boring, who argued that Woodley no longer deserved to fight GSP.
The St-Pierre vs Bisping fight was then re-booked for Madison Square Garden, at UFC 217 on November 4, 2017. There are a lot of questions about how St-Pierre will look after four years away from the sport, but he believes he is better now than he was before he left. Win or lose, St-Pierre deserves respect for returning and fighting the best, he has never had an easy fight in his career and there’s no reason to start now.
We can only wait and see what will happen.
GSP is a true champion in and out of the Octagon, a gentleman who was never afraid to speak about his fears, and a man who represented MMA with the utmost integrity and class, helping propel the sport into the mainstream, and becoming one of the biggest PPV draws in the sport. A fighter with an entire nation supporting him, St-Pierre is one of the greatest fighters and human beings to ever grace the sport of mixed martial arts.
http://www.mixedmartialarts.com/new...to-know-about-gsp-heading-into-ufc-217-at-msg
If posting the link to my article is forbidden I apologize and mods can edit the thread, thank you.
Here is a re-cap of his career, and why he is considered one of, if not the best fighter to ever compete in the sport of MMA.
https://twitter.com/TreeloyUG?lang=en
Everything you need to know about GSP heading into UFC 217 at MSG
George St. Pierre’s career started at UCC 7 on January 25th, 2002, in the welterweight division. His first fight was a tough one, vs. then undefeated (4-0) Ivan Menjivar, who missed weight and came in heavy at 172lbs. Ivan came out strong, throwing power punches and taking GSP to the mat with relentless pressure. The fight was an absolute war, until GSP took Menjivar down late in the first round and delivered some nasty ground and pound, and it was stopped by verbal tap, which was disputed by Menjivar. Despite the controversial stoppage, GSP had won his first fight and showed great athletic potential and a versatile skill set.
GSP’S second fight was for the UCC welterweight title against champion Justin Bruckmann, who was 4-1 at the time, with a notable win over David Loiseau. St-Pierre completely controlled the ground game and ended up submitting Bruckmann by arm-bar in the first round. GSP had won his first title, and was now on the list of MMA’s top prospects.
“This kid has got athletic ability like I’ve never seen before, and I’ve played football with some top notch athletes, I’ve been in the ring with some top notch athletes, but this guy here blows everybody away”, said the commentator. “Georges is really something else, this kid doesn’t get tired, and he doesn’t get overpowered.”
This statement would hold true throughout St-Pierre’s entire career.
GSP cruised through his next two fights with Thomas Denny (10-9) and Travis Galbraith (5-1), also in the UCC.
Next, GSP moved on to fight Pete Spratt at TKO 14. Spratt was 7-4 at the time, having already fought in the UFC with a win over Robbie Lawler. GSP dominated Spratt in impressive fashion, pulling off an epic sweep in the process. GSP took Spratt’s back and secured a standing rear naked choke to end the fight in the first round.
This very exciting fight caught the attention of the UFC.
On January 31st, 2004, GSP made his league debut at UFC 46, vs. a very game Karo Parisyan (10-2). Karo had already won his UFC debut vs. Dave Strasser, and was seen as one of the top prospects in MMA at the time. GSP was coming in with a big reputation from Canada, being undefeated and having won a title.
St-Pierre took the fight to Karo, getting the better of every position. Karo came close to pulling off a submission but GSP powered out of it. UFC commentator Joe Rogan immediately recognized the talent and physical abilities of GSP and praised his incredible strength. GSP went on to win a one sided decision which left Karo busted up and exhausted. After his impressive debut, GSP went on to win a lopsided TKO against Jay Heiron (4-0), which propelled him to a UFC title shot against Matt Hughes (36-4) for the vacant welterweight title.
Now fighting his long time idol Hughes, GSP showed a superior skill set on the feet early in the bout, landing a nice spinning back kick to the midsection. Hughes eventually secured the takedown and locked in an armbar to win the championship. GSP showed his inexperience in losing his first UFC title fight.
After his first loss, St-Pierre went back to Canada to fight for the TKO welterweight title against Dave Strasser. St-Pierre dominated Strasser and won by Kimura in the first round. GSP had now won his second world title.
Having proven he is too talented for the smaller shows, GSP now made his move permanently to the UFC; his first fight back was against Jason Miller (16-3) at UFC 52. GSP absolutely destroyed Mayhem for three rounds, almost catching him in submissions and landing vicious punches on the ground. Mayhem had no answers for Georges well-rounded game and never ending cardio. St-Pierre won a lopsided decision.
Up next was Frank Trigg (12-3), who was fresh off a title fight loss to Matt Hughes and was looking to rebound. Matt Hughes was quoted as saying he thought Trigg was going to win the fight, as he had already fought and beat both men, and had a unique insight into their fighting styles. GSP ended up running through Trigg and submitting him by rear naked choke in the first round. It was thought that GSP would earn a title shot with a win over Trigg, but he was asked to have another fight first.
The UFC re-signed Sean Sherk (31-1-1), to be GSP’s next opponent. This was a very anticipated match-up, and Sherk’s only loss came by way of decision to Hughes. GSP took the fight to Sherk in all positions, and surprised people by taking Sherk down, even though Sherk was unable to take him down. St-Pierre finished the fight in the second round by TKO after breaking Sherk’s nose via ground and pound.
After the fight, while being interviewed in the cage by Joe Rogan, GSP dropped to his knees and showed his passion for another shot at Hughes.
“Please, I want that belt so bad,” he said. “Give it to me.”
It was thought that GSP would be fighting Hughes for the title next, but the UFC had other plans, and in a surprise move the UFC re-signed BJ Penn and set up a fight against GSP that had hardcore fans buzzing. BJ Penn (10-2) was best known as the last man to defeat Matt Hughes, and widely considered one of the best fighters in MMA.
As soon as the bell rang and the fight began, Penn came after GSP like a man possessed, doing significant damage in the first round, breaking GSP’s nose and busting him up. St-Pierre came back strong, grinding out two hard fought rounds and edging out a close 29-28 split decision. This fight showed his heart and his ability to fight through adversity.
Finally, GSP was granted another title shot and a rematch against the champion Matt Hughes at UFC 63. Unfortunately, he was forced to pull out of the fight when he suffered a groin injury and was replaced by BJ Penn who ended up losing to Hughes by TKO in the third round. After Hughes defeated Penn, GSP made an appearance inside the Octagon in a moment that will forever amuse the hardcore fanbase.
“I’m not impressed by your performance,” said GSP in his distinctive Quebecoise accent. And thus a meme was born.
GSP healed up and was given the title shot and a rematch against Matt Hughes (41-4) at UFC 65. The fight was almost stopped near the end of the first round when GSP knocked Hughes to the mat with a superman punch and left hook, but Hughes survived and made it to the second round. St-Pierre used his versatile stand up to land a powerful head kick which put Hughes down, and shortly after finished him with punches. It was very impressive win over a legend in the sport, and with that he had won his first UFC championship fight.
Now the champion in the welterweight division, GSP’s first title defense was scheduled against Matt Serra. Serra (8-4), an 11-1 underdog, had just won a season of the Ultimate Fighter, which granted him a title shot and a chance to fight the newly crowned king of the division.
The fight started and Matt Serra came right at GSP throwing power punches and managed to clip him, sending GSP to the canvas. Serra followed up with a series of devastating punches and the referee jumped in to stop the fight just a few minutes into the opening round. St-Pierre had lost his first title defense, and felt embarrassed and humiliated.
”When I lost to Matt Hughes I learned to never overestimate someone,” reflected GSP long afterward. “But then in my second loss I learned to never underestimate someone.”
”I train but I don’t show the same intensity and I start to believe it’s going to be an easy fight until the night of the fight, they come to pick me up in my locker room, I remember how it happened. The guy comes in the locker room, it’s my turn to fight, he walked in the door ‘St-Pierre you’re up next are you ready?’ and when he asked me this question ‘are you ready?’, I said to myself, ‘Shoot, now I’m not ready.’
”I should have put more into this and now mentally I got broken. As I’m walking to the Octagon, if you see that fight, I’m walking and I’m like, ‘S*** I’m really not ready for this’. Now I’m doing the opposite of what I should do to boost myself and walk like it’s impossible to fail. Now I’m walking like I’m going to a funeral or something.”
“Actually I thought it was kind of weird but I felt better after. It taught me what it takes to become world champion and when I lost to Matt Serra, it taught me what it takes to stay world champion.”
GSP’s first fight back after losing his title was against Josh Koscheck (9-1), who was known as a wrestling phenom. Some said Koscheck was the best wrestler in the UFC at the time, and even Rogan was quoted as saying he thought Koscheck was one of the very best. The fight was competitive but ultimately St-Pierre had more control and did the unthinkable, he out-wrestled the four-time NCAA Div I All-American and won a decision.
Matt Serra was now scheduled to fight Matt Hughes at UFC 79 for the welterweight championship, but Serra was forced pull out with a back injury, giving GSP an opportunity to step in and fight Matt Hughes (42-5) to complete the trilogy for the interim title.
St-Pierre made no mistakes and thoroughly dismantled Hughes the entire fight, mostly wrestling Hughes down and landing ground and pound in the first round. In the second round he finished Hughes with a slick Kimura transitioned to an arm-bar. He had won the trilogy against the greatest welterweight of all time, and also the interim welterweight title.
With one loss left to avenge, and a championship title on the line, GSP now took on Matt Serra (9-4) at UFC 83 in the rematch. He was once again the favorite even though Serra had won the first fight. This time he took Serra down early and controlled him with wrestling and ground strikes. In the second round Serra started to fade and had no answer for the positional control. GSP teed off and landed a flurry of unanswered knees to the body, forcing the referee to jump in and stop the bout. He had won back the championship belt and redeemed himself, vowing to never make the same mistakes that cost him his first title defense.
GSP’s first title defense was against Jon Fitch (17-2), who established himself as a top welterweight after winning 16 fights in a row, and 8 straight in the UFC. It was thought Fitch would be his toughest fight to date. An aggressive St-Pierre came out looking for the finish, knocking Fitch down with punches, head kicks, and didn’t let up the entire fight. Fitch, known for his endurance and durability, survived all five rounds to go to a judges decision, but there was no doubt who had won. GSP had proven he had learned from his earlier mistakes, and came to this title defense well prepared.
Next up was a super-fight rematch between GSP and BJ Penn (13-4) at UFC 94. St-Pierre was the slight favorite but Penn was on a roll and looking unstoppable. Penn was the 155lb champion having just defeated Sean Sherk in his last title defense. This fight was one of the most anticipated fights in UFC history, Champion vs Champion, and two fighters at the top of the pound for pound rankings.
The fight ended up being one sided, with GSP outperforming the Hawai’ian Prodigy in all aspects. GSP blasted through Penn for four rounds with superior wrestling, clinch work, and stand-up, tiring out the smaller Penn and forcing his corner to throw in the towel. After the fight Penn missed the post fight press conference and was hospitalized due to injuries; he later admitted he had no memory of the last two rounds.
Thiago Alves (17-6) was set to fight GSP for his next title defense. The hard hitting KO specialist was coming into the fight with a lot of momentum and confidence, riding high with his victories over Koscheck and Hughes. Alves was again believed to be GSP’s hardest fight to date, having finished five of his last six fights by TKO.
GSP proved once again why he is the champion, out-striking and out-grappling Alves en route to a unanimous decision.
At this point people were wondering if anyone can stop the Canadian phenom, or if he’s destined to remain undefeated for remainder of his career.
Now a dominant champion with three title defenses, GSP was an 8-1 favorite over his next opponent, Dan Hardy (23-6). He still remembered the humiliating defeat he suffered against Matt Serra who was also a big underdog, and showed up in top form. The champion took Hardy down for all five rounds to win a lopsided decision, nearly ripping Hardy’s arm off in the process with an armbar. GSP won his fourth title defense, and having beaten most of the top fighters in the division, was now scheduled to coach on The Ultimate Fighter 12 and rematch previous opponent and top contender Josh Koscheck (15-4).
St-Pierre came into the fight very motivated, having put up with months of trash talk by Koscheck on the Ultimate Fighter and in interviews leading up to the fight. GSP quickly established his jab, breaking Koscheck’s orbital bone in the first round. He landed 55 jabs to Koscheck’s face, and Joe Rogan commented that it was the most jabs he has ever seen in an MMA fight. He dictated the pace of the fight, using his superior striking, footwork, and wrestling to win all five rounds convincingly, and was now tied with Matt Hughes for the most title defenses in UFC welterweight history, with five.
On April 30, 2011, GSP fought against former Strikeforce champion and top 10 pound for pound fighter Jake Shields (26-4) at UFC 129. Shields was coming into the fight on a 15-fight win streak, including wins over Robbie Lawler, Dan Henderson, Carlos Condit, and Yushin Okami. St-Pierre controlled most of the action, and cruised his way to a unanimous decision victory. However, Shields did manage to win two rounds, making it one of GSP’s more closely contested bouts. With this victory he broke the record of consecutive welterweight title defenses with six, and established himself as the greatest welterweight of all time.
After the Shields fight, Georges was scheduled to fight Nick Diaz at UFC 137 at the Mandalay Bay Event Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. However, after Nick Diaz failed to show up to pre-fight media events, UFC president Dana White announced that former WEC Welterweight Champion Carlos Condit would replace Nick Diaz, and fight GSP at UFC 143 on February 4, 2012.
During a training session in December 2011, GSP tore his ACL and partially tore MCL and meniscus in his right knee. Due to the injury, Nick Diaz replaced GSP to fight Carlos Condit at UFC 143, where Condit won by unanimous decision to become the UFC Interim Welterweight Champion.
After being forced to sit out for over a year rehabbing his injury, GSP returned in November 2012 when he was set to fight current Interim Welterweight Champion Carlos Condit (28-5) at UFC 154. Despite being knocked down in the third round by a headkick, St-Pierre was able to control Condit for most of the fight and take him down at will, earning him the unanimous decision victory, and earning his spot back on top of the welterweight division as the undisputed champion.
GSP campaigned for a chance to fight Nick Diaz (26-8) next, who was coming off a loss to Carlos Condit. The fight was so highly anticipated that Diaz was granted the title shot anyway. This is the first time GSP had ever defended his title against someone coming off a loss. St-Pierre felt as thought Nick Diaz disrespected him and wanted to teach him a lesson. The usually friendly and soft spoken champion lashed out and said, “Nick Diaz is the most disrespectful human being I’ve ever met and I’m going to put the worst beating on him.”
The fight was booked for March 16, 2013 at UFC 158. It was a one-sided affair with St-Pierre out-striking Diaz 210 to 80. Many people thought Diaz might have the style to dethrone the long time champion, but he was nullified and dominated to the point where St-Pierre made it look easy.
In November 2013, GSP had his last fight to date against highly touted prospect Johnny Hendricks (15-1) at UFC 167. Before the fight, rumors were swirling that St-Pierre was going to make a post-fight announcement. Hendricks came to fight, putting the pressure on GSP in a close hard fought five round war, where St-Pierre was hurt and had to dig deep. The fight went to the judges scorecards as nervous fans awaited the decision.
St-Pierre’s ability to push the pace until the final bell ultimately awarded him the 5th round and the fight, when a fatigued Johnny Hendricks could longer keep up and had to let off the gas pedal. St-Pierre was awarded a controversial split decision that is still argued among MMA fans today.
GSP got on the mic after the fight and told heartbroken fans he’s stepping away from the sport, as he’d lost his drive to compete after being on top of the MMA world for almost a decade. He wasstressed out and needed to take a break from the spotlight.
In early 2016, St-Pierre was ready to return to the UFC and continue his fighting career, but the UFC and his management were unable to come to terms with a new contract. After it seemed all hope was lost, long time friend of the UFC and St-Pierre’s boxing trainer Freddie Roach reportedly stepped in to help both parties reach a deal. In early 2017 it was announced that Georges St. Pierre had signed a new deal and would be moving up to the Middleweight division to fight middleweight champion Michael Bisping for the 185 belt.
When GSP revealed he would be unable to fight until November because of an eye injury, White called off the fight. Michael Bisping was also dealing with a knee injury, and for that reason the UFC decided to create an Interim Middleweight Title Fight between top contenders Robert Whittaker and Yoel Romero, and have Bisping fight the winner. Dana White said St-Pierre was set to fight the winner of the Welterweight Title Fight between Tyron Woodley and Damian Maia.
Robert Whittaker ended up beating Yoel Romero for the Interim Middleweight Title, and Tyron Woodley won against Damian Maia to retain the Welterweight Title. As fate would have it, Whittaker was injured during the fight with Romero, and is unable to return to the octagon until 2018. Tyron’s fight with Maia was harshly criticized by Dana White for being boring, who argued that Woodley no longer deserved to fight GSP.
The St-Pierre vs Bisping fight was then re-booked for Madison Square Garden, at UFC 217 on November 4, 2017. There are a lot of questions about how St-Pierre will look after four years away from the sport, but he believes he is better now than he was before he left. Win or lose, St-Pierre deserves respect for returning and fighting the best, he has never had an easy fight in his career and there’s no reason to start now.
We can only wait and see what will happen.
GSP is a true champion in and out of the Octagon, a gentleman who was never afraid to speak about his fears, and a man who represented MMA with the utmost integrity and class, helping propel the sport into the mainstream, and becoming one of the biggest PPV draws in the sport. A fighter with an entire nation supporting him, St-Pierre is one of the greatest fighters and human beings to ever grace the sport of mixed martial arts.
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