The Former UFC Welterweight Champion and one of the greatest fighters of all time is officially back. Georges St. Pierre has re-signed with the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
It was reported yesterday that the Canadian had agreed a contract with the promotion, before it was revealed today that he has officially re-signed.
GSP’s last bout came at UFC 167 when he faced Johny “Big Rigg” Hendricks; after five hard fought rounds, he walked away with a questionable decision that many felt should have gone the way of the challenger. His face was busted up, and in his post fight interview he complained of headaches in the past, as well as some psychological issues. He didn’t actually say he was going to retire, but instead just take a little bit of time away from the sport.
That little bit of time ended up being over three years, but now he’s back. The question I’ve been asking myself since the news first came out is can he really compete with the cream of the crop welterweights right now? Let’s pick a few out, current champion Tyron Woodley comes to mind as he’s the titleholder. Then Stephen Thompson, as he’s ranked #1 and faces Woodley in a rematch for the belt at UFC 209. The final option is a surprising one, and it’s middleweight champion Michael Bisping.
If we’re looking at Woodley, it’s a very interesting fight. During his UFC tenure, we haven’t seen Woodley’s defensive wrestling tested a whole lot, so we don’t know how good that it. What we do know, though, is the fact that if he lands on your chin, you’re going to be in big trouble, and we also know that he has the speed to land a big right hand on your chin without you seeing it coming. Woodley’s only issue is his cardio, but he showed in his last fight that he can go five rounds, and push through the tiredness. I wouldn’t say GSP struggles with cardio, but he definitely feels it when he’s been five rounds.
In the fashion of this piece, let’s be real, Tyron Woodley isn’t a very popular champion. He complains often about the hate he gets and links it to his skin colour. That being said, any fight that involves Georges St. Pierre is a massive one, and would to big buys.
Option number 2, “Wonderboy”. We all know the massive question in this one, can Thompson keep the fight on the feet, and stop GSP from taking him down. Although Thompson has shown very decent takedown defence, and is improving all the time, I can’t see him stopping takedown’s by GSP throughout five rounds. You never know though, this is MMA, and it is unpredictable.
Michael Bisping… Until yesterday, I never thought I’d ever be thinking about this fight as a real possibility. Not only are they in different weight classes, but when GSP was around, Bisping was no more than a gatekeeper in the middleweight division. This is another fight that intrigues me, as Bisping has decent defensive wrestling, cardio for days, and a solid striking game. With all that being counted, can he win? In my opinion, no. Blunt and straight to the point, but I feel GSP is just a better all round athlete. The one thing that Bisping has in his favour is size, he’s bigger, and most likely stronger, but I doubt that’ll be able to stop GSP.
I listed three names, but I’m going to talk about a fight that everybody has wanted at some point during the last five to ten years. Georges St. Pierre vs. Anderson Silva. Once again, let’s be real, Anderson Silva has never been the same since his devastating leg break at UFC 168, and is very likely nearing the end of his career. With Silva coming off a (debatable) win, though, this match-up could happen. One question you have to ask yourself is just how much does GSP have left? Sure, he’s had a break from the sport, and has been training during that period, but taking into account the fact that he’s 35-years-old, and will likely have a bit of ring rust, what can we expect in his first outing?
One more thing that I wanted to ask, is what is GSP doing with this? Is he back to have some fun, win some fights, and earn some money (which he doesn’t really need), or is he back to go on a run, win the title, and secure himself as the greatest welterweight in the world again? That is what we hope to find out in the near future.
