Stop me if you’ve heard this one before:
“GSP is boring.”
“GSP doesn’t have the killer instinct anymore.”
“GSP has become a lay-and-pray fighter.”
“GSP has been EXPOSED!”
Do any of those statements sound familiar?
Georges St-Pierre has been one of the most dominant fighters the MMA history. He will no doubt be remembered as an all-time great, and will surely become a UFC Hall of Famer.
So why have fans become so critical of GSP lately?
Well, the truth is, it’s harder to make arguments against those criticisms than it is to defend him.
Fighters that GSP couldn’t finish, such as Jon Fitch, Jake Shields and Dan Hardy, have all been finished after their fight with GSP (hence the “GSP has been EXPOSED!” meme). And it certainly doesn’t help that he isn’t set to come back to the octagon until summer due to knee surgery.
However, these setbacks might not really be a bad thing after all. When he comes back, Georges St-Pierre will have something to prove.
He will have to prove that he is still the king of the welterweights and can put on a show while defending his crown. I believe that the GSP that we will see is the motivated fighter we saw in the Serra, Hughes and Penn rematches.
Georges’ comeback opponent will be the winner of Carlos Condit vs. Nick Diaz, and the fact that these two guys have a “finish or be finished” mentality supports my theory. Whoever wins, these are fighters who refuse to leave it to the judges, and GSP knows that.
GSP will prepare for that. And GSP will come with the same mentality on that fight and make a huge statement.
This will be a GSP with something to prove, and if Nick Diaz wins, he will be fighting a guy that he genuinely dislikes (maybe even hates, as Dana White said). This will be a GSP with a chip on his shoulder.
The Georges St-Pierre with a chip on his shoulder is the best one we’ve seen.
I believe in GSP. And if the healing goes well with his knee as reports have stated, I believe Georges St-Pierre will return with a vengeance and put on some exciting fights, and show why he has dominated his weight class as long as he has.
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