GSP: Khabib Is Pound-For-Pound Best Fighter In The World
Georges St-Pierre believes Khabib Nurmagomedov is the pound-for-pound best fighter in the world.
The former welterweight kingpin is set to make his highly-anticipated Octagon return when he challenges Michael Bisping for the middleweight throne at a date yet to be determined. St-Pierre hasn’t fought in nearly four years but believes he is at the peak of his physical career, and wants to join the ranks of BJ Penn, Randy Couture, and Conor McGregor as the only men to have held titles in different weight classes in the UFC.
‘Rush’ recently spoke to RT Sport ahead of his return to mixed martial arts (MMA) to talk on a variety of topics, but when the discussion of pound-for-pound great arose St-Pierre found ‘The Eagle’s’ name coming out of his mouth:
“”I think actually one of the best pound-for-pound in the world, maybe the best pound-for-pound in the world, is Khabib Nurmagomedov. I always said it. For me, he’s probably the best pound-for-pound. Unfortunately, I believe people don’t give him enough credit. Maybe because he’s not American, he’s not someone who talks a lot of trash like Conor McGregor, he’s someone who’s very respectful, he doesn’t make a lot of noise by talking.
“But the same thing, like I said before about me, is that the resume speaks by itself. You know, the guy’s undefeated, he beat everybody. I’m just sad that the fight with Ferguson didn’t happen, because it would have been an amazing fight.”
St-Pierre is one of the greatest fighters to have ever fought inside of the Octagon and when asked about the possibility of fighting (in his opinion) the pound-for-pound best in Nurmagomedov, the Canadian admitted it would be tough.
Despite previous claims that he believes he can make the cut down to lightweight at 155 pounds, St-Pierre began to sing a different tune as he stated that he ‘couldn’t’ drop down to lightweight as the cut would be too tough:
“Look, I really like Khabib. It would be crazy. I don’t know what’s going to happen, like I said. There is Conor, there is Ferguson, there is Khabib at 155. Like I said, I don’t know that is what I’m going to plan to do. If I beat Bisping, I might stay at 185. Or I might go challenge a guy at 170. It depends. The way my body is made I couldn’t make 155. It would be a tough cut.
“Because I walk around at 188 – 188lbs when I wake up in the morning. I think Khabib is about the same size as me. Maybe heavier than me. A lot of 155ers are bigger than me. But it would be a tough cut. And I’m not a big fan of cutting weight. But it depends on who’s there at the right moment. Maybe it could be done, but I don’t know.”
If Nurmagomedov were to make the jump up to welterweight, however, then St-Pierre could see himself sharing the Octagon with the Russian, but it would have to be a winning situation for everyone involved:
“It all depends. Everyone has different goals. It has to be win, win, win situation – one opponent, another opponent and the organization. If the organization is going to win because that is a fight that they can make money with it, and fans want to see it. If one guy wants to do it because he has something to gain by fighting the other guy.
“And same thing for the other guy. It has to be win, win, win situation. That’s why this business is very complicated. Because sometimes it’s a win, win, lose situation. So it has to be win, win, win situation for everybody to make everybody happy. That’s what makes great fights.”
