https://youtube.com/watch?v=77_wVgVCWlA
In celebration of the UFC’s 30th anniversary, Jon Anik, Daniel Cormier and Din Thomas break down the Ultimate 30 All-Time …
our next athlete continues this Welterweight Title lineage on the all-time roster and you got to think this selection was unanimous we had four unanimous selections this man is an international and Canadian Superstar of the highest order mixed martial arts royalty any conversations surrounding the greatest of all time are sure to include three letters GSP the greatest champion in UFC welterweight history ladies and gentlemen George St Pierre a lifelong martial artist George Rush St Pierre represented a seismic shift in the evolution of the modern fighter his all-around style perfectly Blended disciplines making him a formidable Force both on the feet and on the ground the future has become the present George St Pierre dominant in every phase of the game in a lot of ways he is the perfect fighting machine the welterweight division was his kingdom George St Pierre is the Undisputed Welterweight Champion you want to talk about a dominating Victory it is going to be so hard for anyone in this division to stop this over the span of seven years GSP racked up 11 title fight victories over some of the sports most notable names he’s a man who’s beaten the best of the best that they put in front of him inside of the octagon and out St Pierre exuded class and professionalism that made him the face of mixed martial arts and put Canadian MMA on the map he has all of the attributes that you would want in your Champion there is an energy like never seen or heard before 55,000 in attendance they love George St Pierre after a four-year Hiatus GSP returned for one last challenge stepping up to middleweight to face the champion Michael bisbing at Madison Square Gard the rest as they say is history oh PP drop SP P he’s out he’s out cold George St Pierre is a two division UFC champion absolutely remarkable it was merely an eventuality that the UFC Legend would be inducted into the Hall of Fame and in 2020 They Came Calling and his name was added to the modern erow Wing he’s a true champion inside and outside of the Octagon worshiped by many and respected by all George St Pierre was in a class of his [Music] [Applause] own and of course what an incredible gesture by George St Pierre when he was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame in 2021 who was his inductor none other than the fellow UFC Hall of Famer ho Gracie but you run out of superlatives DC when you talk about a guy like George S Pierre in my mind the personification of the evolution of an MMA fighter and as a two-time United States Olympian you have just marveled over the years at this man’s ability with no amateur wrestling background to become arguably the greatest wrestler in MMA history well you look at George C Pierre and you recognized immediately you were watching something so different than anything we had seen in the UFC before and while we had seen Matt Hughes do a good job of mixing the Arts in mixed martial arts we had never seen anybody go between him so fluid we had never seen anyone that was so comfortable if he couldn’t take it on he would just stand with you and I’ll strike you we didn’t know anyone that was so comfortable if you were too good in the Striking just taking down and grappling with you he was never in danger even when he fought great Brazilian jiu-jitsu athlet they never had a chance because he never gave them much opening to get anything done he was the evolution he was the person that moved the entire sport forward as hoist did it in the beginning it was George St Pierre that took us from the mixed martial arts of the ’90s and early 2000s into a mixed martial arts where you go wow this thing is going to get bigger and the athletes will continue to get better and better and better if they’re going to be like GSP yeah I think part of that was because of the way he actually navigated through a fight right like he was always so present and aware of where he was in a fight if he was on his feet and he knew that you were a good Striker his footwork was so fluid and smooth he’d be switching stances and throwing kicks to keep you off get you to rush in then he shoot that beautiful double leg taked down I me his timing was always so perfect we always talk about Izzy right Ed asagna oh it it took him so short a time to become the world the middleweight champion of the world two years he just got here George St Pierre made his debut in ‘ 04 by 06 he was the welterweight champion of the world Not only was the welterweight champion the world he had fought eight times he had lost a championship opportunity worked his way back and won the belt in two years and then he lost the belt to Matt sah came back and he dog walked mattarah won the Bel my friend come on man he beat Matt Sarah in 08 was the UFC champion until he retired in 13 he was great but even outside of the cage he was such a classy professional he’d show up in a tire he was the first guy to show up in ties and show up and and and and and dressed apart and looked smooth and and he made it cool to be to be classy and cool to be a nice guy in MMA in a sport that was always so volatile with people you could never figure out who you fighting when you fight him you don’t know if he’s going to out wrestle you or going to submit you or if you’re going to strike comes out this way comes out change stands so you don’t know who you fight if he’s GNA kick if he’s gonna punch so it was it’s very hard to figure out you set up a whole strategy to fight a left-handed person and you get there he shows up with right hand it’s like what and you fight you set up your strategy to fight a wrestler and he strikes okay you change you want to strike with him he takes you down it’s like ah you can’t find out who you fighting it’s very hard to describe I know you’ve got some personal experience that we’re going to get into with Josh kosek at UFC 124 but you have some when it comes to Thiago Alves at UFC 100 and this was the night upon which I think George St Pierre made the takedown a thing of beauty but you had Alves going in there you thought he was a lot I mean you know we were training this guy for mon once cuz we thought he was we thought Thiago Alves was the one we were like all right Thiago Alves was the best Striker on the team his takedown defense was impeccable we was like this is the guy we was already planning the celebration party already planning a party y we was like yeah we got this one in the bag as soon as that fight started he got taken down that first time we all started buttoning up the coach like it’s trying to get out of here man it was there was a beat down in the five SE one and that’s when like you said and that’s when you knew that George St Pierre was just different he was light years ahead of everybody else that crowd reacting to every takedown was just something that I’ll never forget as sort of a formative MMA fan at that time got your boy Josh kek pretty good huh yeah we had him ready we thought I saw Josh kosek in phenomenal shape I saw Josh kosek win the NCAA tournament and I said he’ll never lose to this guy he’ll take him down he’ll out wrestle him we saw Josh kosek lose a split decision to him the first time they fought so we thought we had cleaned up all the holes we get to Canada it’s the loudest Arena I’ve ever been in first jab bang kek ey broken fight’s over now he dominates him takes him down when he wants out strikes him when he wants it was a non-competition between two of the best mix Rush artists in the world because George was just that good this dude for not having a background in wrestling had timing that allowed him to take down Johnny Hendricks multiple time NCAA Champion that allowed him to take down Josh kosek NCAA champion and everyone else along the way I got to go back to that jab because if I was teaching a course on a jab that’s it that’s it that’s that’s the video I’m pulling out Josh kek George St Pierre his movement the way he moved in and out with that jab how stiff how straight it was how effective it was because I remember there was a time in MMA in the early days of MMA where people thought the jab didn’t work and then so if I want to if I put me in Harvard and let me teach a course on MMA and when we talk about the jab that’s the video I’m pulling out George St Pierre Josh KOST he became the sporting face of a nation in Canada and we continue to reap the benefits of his prime right as we continue to go to the great white North but what he was able to do in headlining UFC 129 55,000 strong there in Toronto haven’t had many of those instances in UFC history Melbourne a few years ago but that was one of the more special nights in these 30 years georg’s importance to Canadian mixed martial art ja it was never more evident than when he was named the Canadian athlete of the Year mixed martial artist right yeah a hockey player wins it every year in Canada yeah Mixed Martial arti don’t win that there’s a George St Pierre statue in his hometown he’s not just he’s not just a great mixed martial artist he really is as John stated earlier the face of a country and if not for GSP I don’t know if we have the fact we do in Canada today I don’t think we do he’s got so much respect for the history of the sport how did it come to pass that you inducted him into the Hall of Fame he asked me cuz he grew up watching me so so had you had much of a personal relationship with him up that times he asked me to come in to watch his fights remember watching him and Johnny Hendrick yeah after the fight he’ kick everybody out of the locker room call me in and goes did I win that fight because it was a decision very close and and I was like yeah you won you out kick you out punch you out take down did everything I think you won and I can be very clean straight up yeah and he goes but look at my face how come I’m like I was like dude you’re white you’re Canadian gets up come on right last thing I want to get to on George St Pierre so he leaves the sport after his win at UFC one67 and then he comes back four years later and submits Michael Bisping to become a two Division champion wins the UFC middleweight title and uh I guess if anyone can come back after that type of layoff and realize success probably a great like GSP I mean it says a lot about his character that he stayed in shape during that off time and he’s always ready and prepared and we know how good of a boxer Michael bising is and George was forced to stand with him because he was having trouble taking him down yeah not only did he stand with him he drops him with the left hook and he takes Mike’s back and submits him it just showed you that as he aged that knock on him of not being aggressive and not being a finisher wasn’t his present anymore because he went at mic like he needed to finish him and he did just that and in the nature of clear objectivity he was also the master strategist he liked this match up dud I will say that for sure