Chael Sonnen seems high on GSP.
Georges St-Pierre returned to the Octagon at UFC 217 on Saturday in spectacular fashion, becoming only the fourth UFC fighter to win belts in two different weight classes. St-Pierre had not fought in four years struggled with UFC Middleweight champion Michael Bisping before a thrilling knockdown and follow-up choke in the third round. It was a remarkable return and the MMA world has not stopped talking about it.
Recently on his Beyond the Fight video series, former UFC Middleweight Chael P Sonnen discussed GSP’s return to the Octagon:
“People said, Georges St-Pierre with four years off, he’s not gonna be as fast as he was. Well, he wasn’t. People said he wouldn’t be big enough to just come in underneath a 185-pound Michael Bisping and just take him down like he did everyone else. Well, he couldn’t. He struggled there. People said his timing was gonna be a little bit off, he’d second guess himself after this long layoff. He did. It was the worst Georges St-Pierre I’ve ever seen, but what the world found out is Georges St-Pierre’s skills as a mixed martial artist, there’s a big gap between St-Pierre and the rest of the field.”
“Yeah it was a rusty Georges St-Pierre, maybe a little bit slower. I thought maybe his conditioning wasn’t quite what we used to see. He’s still the best in the world.”
St-Pierre’s title victory over Bisping reignited conversations about the mythical pound-for-pound standings. GSP is now once again at the top of many people’s lists, with other names like Jon Jones, Anderson Silva, Daniel Cormier, and Demetrious Johnson. Sonnen didn’t make the argument that GSP was number one, but he did clarify one thing.
“Do not ever go into a conversation about who the greatest fighter of all time is and not come out of that saying Georges St-Pierre.”
“It’s very hard to deny reality. It’s very hard to deny what we’re seeing. It’s very hard to deny a two time world champion in two different divisions that spans back to 2001 and has one loss. One loss since 2001. Beat all of the guys in the previous generation. Beat all of the guys of his generation. Beat all of the guys in the next generation, and left. He comes back four years later, changes weight classes and wins it again. I don’t know what more a guy needs to do. Georges St-Pierre is the greatest fighter to have ever done it.”
St-Pierre has a number of possible fights available next, including a unification bout with Interim Middleweight champion Robert Whittaker, a fight with Welterweight champion Tyron Woodley, and the mother of all megafights, a meeting with Conor Mcgregor at 170.
Is Chael Sonnen right? What did you think of George St-Pierre’s return?
Let us know in the comments below. Also, be sure to follow Generation Iron on Facebook and Twitter.