Last week rumours were flying across MMA media about the potential return of UFC welterweight legend Georges St-Pierre.
After two years into his semi-retirement it was expected we should be hearing his official announcement in the near future.
Well, rumour is all it turned out to be. St-Pierre’s manager Rodolphe Beaulieu eliminated all hope of a comeback by saying, “[There are] still a lot of things that need to happen before he decides if he comes back or not.”
UFC president Dana White was quick to offer his opinion as well on the ‘test camp’ St-Pierre recently was involved in.
“I highly doubt it’s going to happen because GSP’s [Georges St-Pierre] been off for too long and has a ton of money,” the UFC president explained.
“You don’t do a six-week camp to learn if you have the hunger. You either know it or not. Robbie Lawler knows it, he’s hungry, he trains like an animal.”
I don’t agree with everything White has his brash opinion on, however his opinion on a St-Pierre comeback couldn’t be any more accurate.
Stating the obvious that St-Pierre has made enough money and has nothing left to prove are two key reasons. Certainly no one could ever blame him for never wanting to compete on the world’s biggest stage ever again.
However, there are seven more reasons. Those seven reasons are the top seven welterweights in the world right now.
You have current champion Robbie Lawler, Tyron Woodley, Carlos Condit, Stephan Thompson, Matt Brown, Demian Maia and Johnny Hendricks, while even Neil Magny wouldn’t be an easy fight for St-Pierre. I left out Rory MacDonald for reasons we all know.
All of these fighters are highly elite athletes. They all have good to highly elite wrestling and most importantly, especially for the top ranked in the weight class, they all hit very hard.
If you watched the Hendricks versus Thompson bout on Saturday you would’ve seen this division is reaching a new era. Thompson’s performance sent a message to the entire division.
Could St-Pierre still compete with the best in the world at welterweight?
Absolutely. However, St.Pierre made his living by being so much ahead of his peers during that time. He never really fought a truly highly elite well-rounded fighter.
He beat Condit with his wrestling, Diaz the same way, and he didn’t beat Hendricks. I’m Canadian and the biggest St-Pierre fan, but he never beat Hendricks.
Even when you go back to five or six years ago there was Dan Hardy, Thiago Alves and BJ Penn. St-Pierre was able to win fights with his jab, push kicks and wrestling, but that’s not going to work in this era of fighting.
Lawler is a horrible match-up for St-Pierre. He’s a great wrestler, has an amazing sprawl, good chin and is a highly elite striker.
Thompson is a horrible match-up as well. He’s a big welterweight, a devastating unorthodox striker and a very good defensive wrestler.
Someone who I has not yet mentioned is Hector Lombard. Lombard may be the worst match-up of all for St-Pierre as he has devastating power in his hands, is a world-class grappler and boasts an amazing amount of experience.
There is one thing all of these athletes have in common – their all exciting fighters.
Since St-Pierre left the sport that division has brought us some of the most entertaining fights in the history of MMA. The jab, push kicks and wrestling methods St-Pierre has always utilised just isn’t enough at this stage of the game.
St-Pierre should stay retired and realise that his division has simply passed him by. There is nothing wrong with that and it’s a part of the game.
The welterweight division is now the most stacked and violent division overall in the UFC. There is no easy fight among those killers. St-Pierre has taken a lot of damage and there is just no need to take anymore.
Let these men carry the division in which you built, Georges. You’ll always be my favourite fighter but it’s time to let the others carry the torch.
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