Former UFC welterweight and middleweight champion Georges St-Pierre thinks the discussion surrounding who is the best fighter in the world right now in the UFC is relatively easy and pointed straight to current welterweight king Kamaru Usman.
St-Pierre has been retired from the game of MMA for a few new years now, opting to leave the competition and go back into retirement life following his win over Michael Bisping at UFC 217. Before that, he had taken a four-year hiatus from the sport after a long tenure as the UFC’s welterweight champion and arguably the greatest welterweight of all time.
In a recent interview with Bleacher Report’s Tom Taylor, St-Pierre gave some insight on what life has been like away from the sport, and more specifically his thoughts on the current welterweight titleholder.
“I think Usman, right now, is the best pound-for-pound,” St-Pierre said of Usman. “In terms of performance, I think he’s one of the best right now and he’s an active competitor.”
Usman is in the middle of his title reign in the UFC and is chasing many of the records that St-Pierre set during his own time as the welterweight champion. He is coming off of back-to-back successful title defenses against Jorge Masvidal and is widely expected to fight top contender Colby Covington in a rematch of their previous bout later this year.
As of right now, the UFC ranks Usman as the second-best pound-for-pound fighter in the promotion behind former UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones. After previously voicing a desire to fight for the heavyweight title, Jones and the UFC have been at an impasse regarding a contract dispute and he’s been inactive since early 2020.
Fans around the MMA community have made their predictions over what a rhetorical fight between Usman and St-Pierre would look like with both fighters in their primes, but the 40-year-old St-Pierre seems content on remaining retired despite intriguing options to fight Usman or former lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov.
Do you agree that Kamaru Usman is the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world?