Georges St-Pierre wants to get rid of rounds in MMA

UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St-Pierre continues to be in the news more than any other fighter, from showing up on Canadian talk shows to promoting his book on tonight’s edition of “UFC Tonight,” GSP is generating hype for his brand like never before. He also appeared on today’s episode of “The Joe Rogan Experience,” and had some comments that were far different from simple promotion:

“There’s a lot of things I would change in the sport. First of all, the time, there’s no time, no round. Seriously, I believe it is stupid, the round. If you want to see who’s the best man, let them fight, you know? Fifteen minutes or maybe 25 minutes for the championship. No rounds. Why the round? Why are we trying to be like boxing? We’re not boxers — they did rounds to be like boxing to be accepted as a sport. Yeah, of course, 100 percent (there would be more finishes). No rounds. I think it’s ridiculous. 100 percent I would rather fight with a rule like this, I think it’s more honest, like, who’s the better man? Let them fight.”

Quite the outspoken views about MMA from the normally calm St-Pierre. Of course, the UFC started off with fights that had no rounds, but MMA becoming more mainstream had much to do with the implementation of timed rounds and weight classes. It’s interesting to hear GSP talk about finishes as well, as he’s still searching for his first one since 2009.

St-Pierre also danced around the topic of his next fight on “UFC Tonight,” noting that in order to fight Anderson Silva as has been rumored, he would need to go up to 185 and not come back. Johny Hendricks has been patiently waiting for a shot at GSP, but may have to wait even longer should the long-rumored fight with Silva ever materialize.

In any case, the discussion of one-round fights is an interesting debate. What would that old style translate into for today’s UFC?