On November 17th, at the Bell Center in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, UFC Welterweight Champion Georges “Rush” St-Pierre made his return to the Octagon to defend his title against Interim Welterweight Champion, Carlos “The Natural Born Killer” Condit in UFC 154.
GSP made a triumphant return against Condit, but it was not without a struggle. The match could quite possibly go down as Fight of the Year. Condit attacked GSP the only way a “Natural Born Killer” would, keeping the fight at a distance with his jabs and kicks.
Condit was even able to rock GSP in the third round with a wicked high kick to the head that sent the Canadian reeling on his back. The crowd was stunned as they saw Condit pounce on their fallen champion like a jungle cat.
The moment showed eerie similarities to the GSP vs. Serra 1 match back in 2007 at UFC 69, in which Serra was able to rock St-Pierre and stay on him until the ref stopped the fight.
This time, GSP was able to weather the storm and snatch Condit into his guard before he could do any more damage. You could hear the crowd release a sigh of relief and continue to cheer for their fellow Canadian.
Once GSP got back to his feet, you could see the welt on his forehead from where Condit‘s shin landed. GSP was able to use his superior wrestling skills to take down Condit repeatedly and execute his ground-and-pound to the Interim Champion through the rest of the fight, garnering a victory and securing his spot as one of the greatest Welterweight Champions in UFC History.
GSP was able to silence the critics who were doubting him before the fight. You could still see the explosiveness in his step. You could still see the hunger in his eyes. You could not even tell that St-Pierre was on a 19-month layoff with a torn ACL. Recovery complete. The champ is back.
Now that the champ is back—and quite possibly even better—what is next? UFC president Dana White now has options that hopefully include the word “superfight” in them. According to UFC broadcaster Joe Rogan, we are in the golden era of mixed martial arts. The UFC has fighters who are taking the sport to a new level—guys like St-Pierre, Jon Jones and Anderson Silva.
Fighters of that caliber are rare, and to have them fighting in the same era is truly something to cherish. Now the question looms: Are they going to eventually face each other? If so, who would it be?
For years, everybody has been talking about a superfight with UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson “The Spider” Silva against UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St-Pierre. Both men have been dominating their divisions for years.
It wasn’t until a few weeks ago that Dana White publicly announced that a fight between Silva and St-Pierre could be a reality. Enter UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Jon “Bones” Jones. Jones has been cleaning out his division as well, and now Silva has shown some interest in fighting the young juggernaut of the light heavyweight division.
After his sensational first-round knockout of Martin Kampmann in UFC 154, you can now throw in UFC welterweight Johny Hendricks to the mix. This guy is just steamrolling over anyone that gets in his way. Knocking out Kampmann was amazing, but knocking out my buddy, Jon Fitch, is simply a wake-up call to the entire welterweight division.
Now that I have said my part, it is time to hear yours. Who should be in the next superfight? Would it be Silva vs. Jones? Or GSP vs. Silva? If Silva does fight Jones, would you be open to seeing a fight between St-Pierre and Hendricks?
Either way, the real winner in all of this is going to be the fans. Any of these matchups would be amazing to watch.
Until then, this is Balistik signing out.
Peace out.
“MMA ALL THE WAY!”
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