GSP proves he is the best welterweight fighter ever

SINGAPORE – UFC Welterweight champion Georges “Rush” St. Pierre survived a 3rd round scare to overcome Carlos Condit by unanimous decision Saturday, November 17 in an exciting and bloody contest at UFC 154 in Montreal, Canada.

St. Pierre, widely regarded as the greatest UFC Welterweight champion in the history of the sport, was coming off a lengthy break after previous fights against Nick Diaz fell through and after suffering a knee injury.

Due to unfortunate circumstances, St. Pierre had not seen action inside the Octagon since April 30 of last year, so some ring rust was expected from the French-Canadian stalwart.

Before the fight, many fans and observers were picking Carlos Condit to win and believed that Condit was catching Georges at the perfect and opportune time with the latter having not fought in over a year.

Experts cited that the combination of St. Pierre’s ring rust and Condit’s coming together as a fighter would mean the end of an era for ‘Rush.’

They were wrong.

Unstoppable GSP

From the beginning of the fight, St. Pierre controlled the action with his superior wrestling.

In familiar Georges ‘Rush’ fashion, St. Pierre went in shot after shot after shot and took down Condit at will, going 6 for 6 on takedown attempts throughout the course of the fight.

But in an exciting turn of events, Carlos Condit landed a beautiful roundhouse kick to the head of St. Pierre that sent the decorated champion crashing to the floor. Condit proceeded to unload a barrage of punches from the half mount.

St. Pierre was then able to weather the storm and seize control of the fight once again, making a quick and speedy recovery with good defense.

If St. Pierre didn’t know what ring rust was before, he certainly knows what it is now.

“People talk about ring rust – I definitely know what it is now” said GSP — as he’s most popularly called — after the fight. “I didn’t see the kick. I got punched in the eye and my eyes were blurry. I didn’t see the kick and what you don’t see is dangerous.”

After GSP recovered and got back to his senses, he returned to what made him so efficient and unstoppable as a mixed martial artist – his exceptional wrestling skills.

From then on St. Pierre continued to takedown Condit and pound on him from the top.

Judges from cage-side scored the fight 49-46, 50-45 and 50-45 all for the winner by unanimous decision, Georges “Rush” St. Pierre.

Anderson Silva next?

It was a great effort from Condit, who looked amazing.

However, it’s just not his time yet.

Condit should keep his head held high though — he went five rounds with one of the greatest to ever step inside the Octagon and came out holding his own.

In attendance was current pound-for-pound best Anderson “The Spider” Silva who was watching with Blackhouse teammate Lyoto Machida in the front row.

A fight between Silva and St. Pierre had been talked about for quite some time now, and it’s safe to say it’s what fans want to see. UFC CEO Dana White has claimed he will definitely make the fight happen.

But St. Pierre isn’t so keen about such a matchup just yet.

“I know Anderson is here right now,” St. Pierre said. “I was focusing on Carlos Condit 100%. I need to take some vacation… and think about it to see where I put my career.” 

“I want to make the best decision for myself and the fans,” he said.

If a fight between GSP and Silva were to take place however, it would have to involve a catchweight as Silva is a much larger fighter and would have to meet GSP halfway.

The contrast of styles is interesting to say the least with St. Pierre perhaps being the best to ever take the fight to the ground and Silva being the best to ever finish fights standing up.

The UFC takes pride in their ability to pit the best fighters against each other, without all the external roadblocks that are commonplace in boxing.

Let’s hope the Georges St. Pierre–Anderson Silva fight doesn’t go the way of Pacquiao-Mayweather, into nothingness, quietly fading into obscurity.

For now though, St. Pierre should enjoy the victory in one of the finest performances in his career.

He proved against Carlos Condit that he still is and looks to be the most technically sound wrestler and most dominant Welterweight to ever lace them up. – Rappler.com

Carlos Cinco is Rappler’s boxing analyst and a sports contributor. Read his boxing stories at www.fightcardboxing.net and follow him on Twitter: @CarlosCincoFCB. All opinions expressed in this article are his own.