Three Fights That Made GSP A Superstar
MMA legend Georges St-Pierre confirmed his arduous and oft-discussed return to fighting last week after more than three years away from active competition.
The longtime former UFC welterweight champion’s comeback arguably couldn’t come at a better time for the UFC with 2017 off to a slow start and not much in the form of mainstream starpower with Ronda Rousey potentially set to never fight again and Conor McGregor uncertain at best to fight in the cage during 2017 thanks to his heavily promoted potential boxing boxing fight with Floyd Mayweather.
With Anderson Silva, Jon Jones, and Fedor Emelianenko recently suffering their own respective downfalls lately, St-Pierre is considered by many the greatest mixed martial artist in the sport’s history, and indeed, he’s the one who walked away with the belt – and his dignity – in tow. He’s putting that all on the line to return to the octagon this year, and because he is, many fans of the sport who have just recently begun watching fights thanks to the enormous drawing power of McGregor and Rousey could most likely use a refresher on St-Pierre’s real greatness.
To do just that, we took a look at three fights that made St-Pierre one of the biggest stars in the sport. Enjoy.
Georges St-Pierre vs Matt Serra 2 – UFC 83
The highly anticipated rematch between St-Pierre and Matt Serra had been in the making since St-Pierre suffered, arguably, the most shocking upset loss in MMA history. Going into their first match-up at UFC 69, St-Pierre was the overwhelming favorite coming off his knockout victory over welterweight legend Matt Hughes.
After defeating a champion as dominant as Hughes, St-Pierre was crowned the next big thing in the division before ever stepping back into the octagon to defend his shiny new belt. St-Pierre had the look, the fighting style, and the mindset to reign over the welterweight division for years to come… or so we all thought.
On fight night, everyone expected to witness a spectacular win by St-Pierre in his first title defense. This fight would end rather quickly, right? Well, the fight did end spectacularly and quickly, but in a way no one in the building or watching at home anticipated. St-Pierre walked into the cage looking like he was well-trained, in shape, and ready to go. Serra sported a sly smile on his face, and a looseness that you would not expect someone who was supposedly being led to the slaughter.
When the bell rang and the fight started, viewers waited with baited breath for the moment when St Pierre would unleash his devastating skill set on the reality star. The feeling of anticipation turned to shock and befuddlement halfway through the first round. Serra unleashed a furious attack, knocking St-Pierre to the ground and throwing punch after punch until the referee stepped in and stopped the fight. Matt Serra was crowned the new welterweight champion of the UFC. Did that really just happen?
The rematch came at UFC 83 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada; St-Pierre’s hometown. They fought over a year after Serra’s welterweight coronation. The stage was set for either another upset win by Serra or a redeeming victory for St-Pierre in front of his hometown. The crowd of 20,000 plus roared when St-Pierre’s walkout music began to play; the cheers were deafening. The first lyrics of the song made a clear statement, “I’m back!”
From the opening bell of the fight St-Pierre showed what should’ve happened in the first fight. As soon as Serra closed the distance for his attack, St-Pierre took him down, held him there, and slowly chipped away at him with a barrage of strikes including punches, elbows, and knees. It was the St-Pierre all his fans had come to expect. After the first round, the one overriding thought that went through people’s minds was “when and how will St-Pierre finish this?” Whether the fight was on the feet or on the ground, Serra did not have a chance to do anything but defend against St Pierre’s attacks.
Towards the end of the second round, St-Pierre took Serra down again, held him down, and beat him up with a barrage of vicious knees to the body until finally the referee stepped in to stop the fight. St-Pierre did his signature backflip in celebration, embraced his coaches and teammates, and buried the hatchet with his defeated rival. St-Pierre thanked everyone who helped him with a special thanks to the fans who stood by him during a humbling defeat.
With this redemptive win over Serra and his status as a superstar reaffirmed, St-Pierre and company focused their attention to rest of the division and the dangerous contenders who awaited the new champion.
Georges St-Pierre vs. BJ Penn 2 – UFC 94
This match-up at UFC 94 marked the first superfight in the modern MMA era. Before Conor McGregor held two belts in two divisions at the same time, lightweight champion BJ Penn stepped up to challenge the welterweight champion St-Pierre for a title Penn once held.
However, for St-Pierre, this pivotal bout was not a chance to redeem a loss, but to solidify his previous win over Penn and continue his reign as welterweight king. If Penn won, it would mark the first time two belts would be held simultaneously by one fighter.
Their first match-up at UFC 58 was a close split decision win for St-Pierre. During the fight, one could easily see why St Pierre came away with the win, but the look of both fighters afterwards told a different story. St-Pierre walked away from the fight with a broken nose and bloodied face, while Penn looked merely like he just finished a hard workout. In the lead up to the rematch, Penn repeatedly referenced the damage he inflicted on St Pierre as proof of who “really won the fight” that night.
In an effort to appeal to more casual MMA fans as well as the hardcore fans, the UFC produced a special countdown series, “UFC Primetime,” to chronicle the training camp and lives of the fighters before the fight. From the first episode, both fighters were a study in contrasts.
St-Pierre was born, raised and trained in the brutal cold of Montreal, Canada, while Penn grew up and trained in the warm, picturesque setting of Hawaii. One look at the training camps of each fighter told its own story. St-Pierre trained with a who’s who of fighters the likes of Nate Marquardt, Donald Cerrone, and newly-crowned light heavyweight champion at the time, Rashad Evans, while Penn trained with mostly family and friends.
When asked about the importance of the fight, St-Pierre spoke of fighting for something bigger than a belt; it was about fighting for a legacy. When Penn was asked the same question, he found it difficult to verbalize his own sentiment, saying, “I want to do this because…I just want to do it, man.”
On fight night, the differences between the two fighters manifested.
St-Pierre, as per the usual, walked into the cage looking as Joe Rogan commented he looked, “like he’s sculpted out of granite, while Penn looks like a regular athletic guy.” From their first exchange, St-Pierre looked to be in control. Penn was in defensive mode as soon as the fight started. St-Pierre set the pace, never received any damage, and punished Penn with consistent takedowns and ground and pound.
Towards the end of the fourth round, Penn had nothing left in the tank to fight off St-Pierre’s attacks. Being the world-class grappler he is, he still could not prevent St Pierre from getting into dominant positions and dishing out innumerable strikes. When the bell rung to end the round, Penn was the one looking bloody and beaten as St-Pierre looked fresh and ready to go into the fifth round. Penn’s corner took one look at him and told the referee to stop the fight. St-Pierre left no question as to who the superior fighter was on that night. The win was a defining one that solidified his lofty spot as one of the top pound-for-pound fighters in the UFC.
Georges St-Pierre vs. Carlos Condit – UFC 154
For St-Pierre, this battle started the day he seriously injured his knee and was out of commission for over a year to heal from reconstructive surgery. Before dealing with the blood, sweat, and tears of getting back into fighting shape to regain his title, St-Pierre had to deal with the painful process of getting his knee back to full strength. In many ways, his fight back from injury was more grueling and frustrating than any fight St-Pierre previously fought in.
St Pierre suffered a torn ACL during a routine training session for a bout versus the top contender at the time, Nick Diaz. An injury of this magnitude has been a career killer. While St-Pierre battled with his injury, Diaz fought Carlos Condit for an interim title with the winner facing St-Pierre when he was ready to fight again. Not only did he deal with the agony of knee surgery and rehab, but also the heartache of seeing someone else fight and win the title he worked for his entire career. When Condit won the fight in controversial fashion and was crowned the interim champion, St-Pierre began to prepare mentally and physically for the upcoming battle.
However, at the beginning of the training camp for the upcoming fight, there was a great deal of uncertainty regarding St-Pierre’s ability to even train again. One of St Pierre’s coaches described it generously as “one slow process.” He had to learn everything all over again; jabs, takedowns, takedown defense. St-Pierre was not even able to compete with amateur fighters during these initial training sessions. With the pressure mounting and the fight date scheduled, he powered through the grueling workouts and training sessions and was as ready as he could possibly be.
When fight night arrived, there were more questions than answers. One of St Pierre’s coaches, Firas Zahabi, was quoted as saying, “was his instinct there? Were the jitters gonna be under control? Was he going to hesitate to pull the trigger?”
As St-Pierre walked into the cage, he looked in shape, focused, and poised to have his hand raised in the end. When the bell rang and the fight started, he looked in top form and was getting the best of the striking exchanges, finishing takedowns, and beating Condit up with big elbows from inside the guard.
Just as everything was going according to plan, however, with St-Pierre doing all the things he needed to do to win convincingly, Condit unleashed a head kick that sent GSP to the ground and silenced everyone watching.
Condit pounced like a lion on his prey and did everything he could to finish the fight. St-Pierre somehow kept his composure and intelligently defended himself, taking a number of brutal hits before somehow getting back to his feet. In doing so, he showed the heart of a true champion by not letting another shocking Matt Serra-like loss happen.
St-Pierre resumed his dominance in the fight, winning the contest unanimously and proving he was back as the best welterweight in MMA. Now, St-Pierre is tasked with the huge goal of proving he can do it once again at almost 36 years old, and while it’s no doubt a more than difficult job, judging on the adversity he overcame to win the three fights mentioned above show nothing is impossible for one of MMA’s greatest stars.
