Georges St. Pierre’s victory over Jake Shields at UFC 129 was just another Unanimous Decision win to throw on a pile of Decision wins. Some would argue he was given the best they could throw at him and even with a corneal abrasion, he beat Shields solidly…but those “some” happen not to be several UFC fighters who seem to agree that GSP has lost his mojo. Soon after GSP’s win over Shields, the media was knocking on Jon Fitch’s door to get his opinion on the ongoing criticisms of St. Pierre:
“I think, you know, I deserve some of that criticism too. But when he’s dominating somebody that well, I think it’s up to the champ to put a little more pressure on somebody in the fourth and fifth round. When you’ve secured a pretty solid lead on the scorecards after three rounds, I think a little bit more pressure, because he never really opened up more than a couple jabs and an overhand right. I mean, double up on the right, something.”
Then a less diplomatic Chael Sonnen decided to chime in with his criticisms of GSP via Twitter:
I watch hockey and rugby. Anything that has a remote chance of breaking out into a fight. Which is exactly why I stopped watching George.
*Note… Guess we should be thankful, Sonnen keeps it brief on Twitter. We figure if he was doing time for his money laundering, he’d probably have brought us a War Machine-esque Big House Blog.
And now, Matt Hughes who has been finished by Georges St. Pierre twice (TKO in 2006 and armbar in 2007) wrote in his own blog:
As for the GSP/Shields fight, I really believed GSP was going to tear Shields up. The fight didn’t go like I thought it would at all. Let me tell everybody now, I like GSP, he’s a good guy and he’s somebody I wouldn’t mind sitting next to on a plane ride or at a supper table. So don’t think that I’m talking out of bitterness for the two losses, I’m speaking through experienced eyes that have been in these situations. GSP actually looked worse in this fight than I’ve ever seen him before. I really feel like Georges fights not to lose, he just doesn’t fight to win anymore. I like Georges, I like watching him fight, I wish there was some way I could help him to get that hunger back inside of him. Georges has the potential of being so much better than what we’ve seen recently. If Jake had won one more round he would have won the fight, based on how the judges scored it. So an interesting fight and a little disappointing at being the last fight of the night.
Are these fair assessments? Darren Wong of Bleacher Report has made some good points against the criticism. And regardless of any negative reactions, St. Pierre continues to dominate the UFC promotion as its most popular and marketable fighter. He even has a mobile application coming out soon.
So…when you’re the most recognized and talked about MMA fighter in the world, you’re bound to experience both love and hate. There’s an old saying from an American showman, PT Barnum, who said, “I don’t care what you say about me, just spell my name right.” Not only do we always remember the “s” in “Georges” but who else is known simply by their initials, GSP? …Wonder if Georges St. Pierre cares so much, what these guys are saying…
It’s hard to believe that 
