After a very long layoff due to injury, Georges St. Pierre will soon be stepping back into the cage to unify the UFC welterweight title belts and prove that he is still the undisputed champion of the world.
Anytime a long period of inactivity finds a fighter, it usually doesn’t come alone. It brings the theory of ring rust: that adage found in the fight game that speaks to the idea that a dulling of the senses and a loss of timing is sure to come with any prolonged period of time a fighter spends out of the ring.
This, of course, is not set in stone. Rashad Evans confounded the notion when he returned to action after a long layoff against Tito Ortiz. Evans looked as if he hadn’t missed a step as he dismantled Ortiz, dominating every area the fight took place.
As he faces Carlos Condit in November, GSP will need to look every bit as sharp as Evans did, and more. Condit is in his prime and hungry to keep the title, where Ortiz was on the tail end of a career that had seen far more defeat than victory.
When GSP climbs back into active competition, it will have been 18 months since his last fight—a very long time for a fighter to sit on the sidelines in the sport of MMA.
So, what will we need to see from the champ when the cage door closes and Carlos Condit walks into striking range?
Read on and see.