Why Georges St-Pierre Shouldn’t Rush To Return
The world of MMA lost one of the greatest champions in the history of the sport last year, but perhaps Georges St-Pierre should stay retired…..
Former UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre left behind his title, and the sport he had helped build back in December 2013. Just 11 months ago “Rush” fought Johny Hendricks in his ninth consecutive title defense. The result was a split decision win for “Rush”, but it was marred by the controversial status in the aftermath.
Many fans, pundits, media outlets and fellow fighters felt that St-Pierre was bested at UFC 167, and that “Bigg Rigg” should have left with the belt. Oddly enough, the decision that night was almost instantly overshadowed by the comments made by the champion post-fight. “Rush” announced he would be taking a leave of absence from the sport, vacating the title and turning the entire MMA world on it’s head.
Later citing stress, lack of solid drug testing in the UFC and the need to rest as his primary reasons for semi-retiring, GSP had seemingly had enough of the sport he once dominated. Hendricks would go on to claim the vacant strap against Robbie Lawler at UFC 181, and St-Pierre had become UFC history in a matter of months. In my mind, the ex-champion should stay that way too.
There are a number of contributing factors to that last statement, but none of them are related to any sort of dislike for St-Pierre. Let’s just take a moment to analyse the former champion’s last years in the game. I feel, as do many others, that St-Pierre’s last loss (a shocking TKO against Matt Serra in 2007) has always stuck with him. He went from having 10 finishes in 13 wins, to only picking up three finishes in his next 12 outings.
The flashy, risk-taking and fight-finishing GSP was replaced with a gameplanning, cerebral and dominant decision winner. Don’t get me wrong, St-Pierre is one of the greatest fighters of all time, even without the finishes for the last four years of his active career. His strategy, implementation and execution is second to none, and he was always in prime condition. So, back to the point….
“Rush” suffered a torn ACL in training this year, and has just got back in to training after seven months of inactivity. The MMA media is once again buzzing about the return of the UFC’s poster boy champion, but should we be so keen to see St-Pierre return? One thing that has always stuck with me is a statement I heard from famed boxing trainer Teddy Atlas, he said: “If you are weak, the sport will expose you, out of shape then it will show. There is nowhere to hide in the ring, you have to show your true colors.”
I honestly feel like St-Pierre’s best days are behind him. He was a dominant champion, but the sport has started to move past him, and I don’t think it’s all age related. The safer game plans, the admission of the amount of stress he was under, and his performance at UFC 167 are all indicative of one sobering statement: Georges St-Pierre doesn’t want to fight any more, although there is absolutely no shame in that decision.
Whether he admits it or not, it has showed in his latest fights, and will show if he comes back. This is just my opinion, and perhaps some entertainment as opposed to title-based fights could bring back the GSP of old. Either way, I just have this feeling that GSP shouldn’t be in a rush to make a comeback.
