On Saturday’s UFC broadcast, it was announced that Georges St-Pierre will be inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame this summer as part of its Modern Wing.
The former two-time welterweight and one-time middleweight champion is a slam dunk selection for any MMA Hall of Fame with an argument to being the greatest of all-time.
The native of Saint Isidore, Quebec rose up through the regional MMA scene in the province and fighting for UCC/TKO before joining the UFC in 2004 two years into his career.
St-Pierre was quickly thrown into a championship fight after two wins in the promotion and met Matt Hughes in November 2004 at UFC 50. It was the start of a rivalry between the top welterweight in the UFC and the man that would assume that throne for the next generation. On that night, Hughes submitted St-Pierre with one-second remaining in the first round.
He would work his way back to a title fight, but it took him two years to do so. In that stretch, he defeated Jason “Mayhem” Miller, Frank Trigg, Sean Sherk, and a split decision over BJ Penn. In the rematch, St-Pierre was a much different fighter and no longer stood in awe of Hughes, stopping the champion at UFC 65 in November 2006.
The following fight was one of the biggest upsets in MMA history when Matt Serra, who had earned a title fight after season four of The Ultimate Fighter, stopped St-Pierre at UFC 69 in April 2007. The only person I was aware of that chose Serra to win that fight was Randy Couture. Later, stories emerged of how little preparation went into the fight for St-Pierre who admitted to overlooking Serra and only began training approximately two weeks prior.
It was a wake-up call and St-Pierre changed around his team and focus and would never lose another fight in his career.
After an interim title victory over Hughes in December 2007, it set the stage for his rematch with Serra in the UFC’s first card on Canadian soil at the Bell Centre in Montreal. St-Pierre regained the championship in front of an electric crowd and was the poster boy for the thriving sport in the country.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrqljkjLF8w
In January 2009, they put together the rematch between St-Pierre and BJ Penn, who was the lightweight champion coming up to challenge for the 170-pound title. It was an expensive promotion with UFC incorporating its first ‘Prime Time’ series documenting both men’s camps and airing on Spike TV. The fight was a massive success with St-Pierre winning the rematch. The result was both were larger draws as BJ Penn would be part of a massive card in his next fight at UFC 101 drawing an enormous pay-per-view figure alongside Anderson Silva vs. Forrest Griffin just one month after UFC 100.
In April 2011, the UFC held its first show in the province of Ontario where St-Pierre retained the title against Jake Shields in front of more than 55,000 people at Rogers Centre. Ticket demand was through the roof and likely could have drawn way more than that figure if the stadium accommodated it.
St-Pierre went through several injuries between this fight and his next, which wouldn’t be until November 2012 the major one being a torn right ACL.
He rehabbed himself back and had a tough fight with Carlos Condit at UFC 154 in Montreal featuring Condit landing a head kick that St-Pierre survived. He won the fight and immediately turned around to fight Nick Diaz in March 2013 in his home province. Later, St-Pierre stated this was a lot to do back-to-back and was expediting his burnout with the sport.
After his November 2013 defense against Johny Hendricks at UFC 167, he announced he was stepping away from the sport and would vacate his championship. A few weeks after this announcement, I did a sit-down interview with St-Pierre and it was like talking to a different human than I’d spoken with during many fight weeks. The weight of the world was off his shoulders and there was no regret about putting his career on pause.
He did not come back until November 2017, deciding to challenge middleweight champion Michael Bisping at UFC 217 at Madison Square Garden. St-Pierre became a two-division champion that night but the effects of putting on weight would ultimately end his title reign. He relinquished the title after battling colitis and didn’t want to hold up the division. This was a sense of anger for Dana White, who had repeatedly said St-Pierre would defend the title and they were hopeful of matching St-Pierre with Robert Whittaker in 2018.
He officially announced his retirement in February 2019.
