Sometimes it’s best to just stay away.

MMA and more particularly the UFC has been steadily growing in popularity in the last twenty years. The tag line “the world’s the fastest growing sport” is completely accurate. The amount of instructional videos, memorabilia, video games, and countless other products released in the two decades have been astounding and proof that the sport has gained a tremendous amount of popularity and a huge fan base. When you consider the amount of stars that have popped in that time, Randy Couture, Tito Ortiz, Chuck Lidell, Vitor Belfort, Matt Hughes, all of them had their day in the sun soaking up much of the media attention back in the early 2000’s when the sport was still in the dark ages. But there’s no doubt that the most popular fighter to spring forth from that era was former UFC Welterweight kingpin, Georges St. Pierre. GSP was the longest reigning champion during his time as an active UFC fighter. He has had countless memorable fights in the cage and was one of the main sources of the MMA explosion in the last ten years. Ever since his quasi retirement, fans and experts have been speculating whether or not GSP would step foot into the Octagon again. But the real question we should be asking ourselves is, do we really need to see GSP back in action? The short answer: no. At this point in the game it’s almost nonsensical for GSP to come back. Sure there are some exciting fights he could put on. He could even challenge for the Welterweight belt, even have that long awaited match with Anderson Silva perhaps. The sad reality is that GSP coming back to action could potentially harm his legacy. Say he comes back? Say he loses? His comeback would be for no reason and he’d add a fresh loss to his ledger in the hopes of accomplishing, what exactly? GSP was already the two time Welterweight champion, reigned longer than even Matt Hughes, for the most part dominated his opposition, and is one of the greatest representatives of the sport out there. There’s nothing left for St. Pierre to prove and to come back for pure ego or even to entertain the fans once more seems entirely useless. GSP should stay retired if only to be one of the success stories of MMA, a man who went out on top and new when it was time to hang it up. There’s work to be done outside of the UFC and GSP could be the man to change the sport in an entirely different way. The sooner he realizes he’s not just a fighter, but a true ambassador for the sport, the less he’ll feel that he needs to prove anything to anyone, particularly to himself. Do you think George St. Pierre should come out of retirement? Follow Generation Iron MMA on Facebook and Twitter. Also, be sure to share, like, and comment to show your support.

Jonathan Salmon is a writer, martial arts instructor, and geek culture enthusiast. Check out his Twitter and Facebook to keep up with his antics.