Georges St-Pierre Did MMA A Favor By Ending Waiting Game

Earlier this morning, legendary former UFC champion Georges St-Pierre officially announced his retirement from the sport of mixed martial arts (MMA). In doing so, St-Pierre did MMA a favor that may not be focused on as much as it should be.

St-Pierre wanted to come back for one last megafight against lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov. But the UFC apparently wanted him to fight a top contender in order to earn his shot at the lightweight title. That wasn’t something St-Pierre wanted to do at this point in his career, so he left on his own terms.

He’s a legend of the game, one of the true greats who can stake a claim at being the sport’s best of all-time. Fighters and other MMA personalities reacted to his retirement in a manner congruent with just that. He’s one of few top fighters who will walk away by choice rather than being coaxed into retirement by mounting losses. Few can make that claim, and even fewer who were at the top like he once was.

St-Pierre’s Favor

But there’s a different point of St-Pierre’s retirement that won’t be talked about much yet is still a gesture embodying the class he kept throughout his illustrious tenure as champion. In retiring, St-Pierre finally – mercifully – ended the painful waiting game that began when he vacated the welterweight title in December 2013. ‘Rush’ stepped down after his highly controversial decision win over Johny Hendricks (how times change) at UFC 167.

He wanted to step away from what he felt was lax drug testing in the sport at the time. Anxiety and obsession issues were also shrouding him mentally, so he took the time off he needed to. There was little left for him to accomplish at 170 pounds, where he is the greatest to ever compete. UFC President Dana White wasn’t happy about the situation. He spent some time trashing St-Pierre in interviews for a good month.

Time Off

The UFC legend took the time he needed nonetheless. At every turn and corner, however, he could be seen talking about his return. He dropped hints and tidbits to string along the MMA world with his proverbial carrot of a long-awaited return. White insisted St-Pierre didn’t want to fight for years despite St-Pierre saying he did while remaining noncommital.

It wasn’t enough to stop White from giving St-Pierre a middleweight title shot against Michael Bisping at 2017’s UFC 217. ‘GSP’ was coming off of four years off and had never fought at middleweight. No matter, as he submitted ‘The Count’ to become the new UFC 185-pound champ. He was back and everyone was calling him the greatest of all-time all over again. But then came his next vacating. St-Pierre gave up the middleweight title right after winning it, citing a bout with colitis due to the increased food intake required to fight at middleweight.

Conflicting Views

Robert Whittaker became the official champion. St-Pierre hasn’t fought since and stayed in the news suggesting a fight with Khabib. He believed he had earned that fight due to his body of work. On paper, perhaps he had. But when you vacate two UFC title and gum up divisions with the uncertainty of your availability, the UFC starts not to care who you are unless you’re named Conor McGregor.

There’s just been too much of that lately, so the UFC did the right thing in not agreeing to let St-Pierre fight for a third title. While novel and exciting in 2016 when McGregor became the first simultaneous two-division champ, the superfight era has become played out rapidly. What it does now is prevent titles from being defended anywhere close to regularly.

Divisions Held Up

For example, flyweight and bantamweight are both in a state flux with TJ Dillashaw trying to rematch Henry Cejudo. The featherweight champion may be moving up to fight for the interim lightweight title. An entire division, women’s featherweight, may have just been killed because the champion from a weight class below knocked out the 145-pound queen. The list goes on and the UFC needs to get their divisions moving.

Sure, Khabib vs. GSP would be like printing money, but do you really want your current undefeated champion losing to a great who’s almost certainly going to retire right afterward? I can’t and won’t knock on St-Pierre’s accomplishments. He was very possibly the most cerebral, efficient, and smothering champion the UFC has ever seen. He may not have been as dominant with finishes as Anderson Silva and Jon Jones were, but he won with a style of his own. If you want to call him the outright GOAT I won’t argue.

The Waiting Game

However, it just wasn’t in the best interest of the UFC to hold up lightweight even longer than it already has been and will be. The division is a mess. Making Khabib vs. GSP would only make it worse. The sheer amount of back-and-forth in St-Pierre’s waiting game was just beginning to wear on fans and everyone involved. The ‘will he? won’t he?’ dynamic just grew old after he fought once in four years and vacated his title. I’m by no means a St-Pierre hater. He was one of the best ever and it’s refreshing to see a fighter of his status go out with his wits intact.

St-Pierre did the sport of MMA a service by being perhaps its classiest ambassador while being one of the best of all-time. You don’t see that all too much these days. But he also did the sport and the UFC a favor by ending his excruciating waiting game and retiring.

All the best to St-Pierre as he leaves a sport he helped define. We were lucky to be witnesses to his greatness. If we’re as lucky in terms of the UFC’s title pictures moving forward remains to be seen.