It seems as though there’s a slight possibility that the UFC could use Conor McGregor before year’s end. McGregor hasn’t competed inside the Octagon since November of last year when he headlined UFC 205 from Madison Square Garden opposite Eddie Alvarez. “The Notorious One” downed “The Underground King” in the second round of the bout […]
It seems as though there’s a slight possibility that the UFC could use Conor McGregor before year’s end.
McGregor hasn’t competed inside the Octagon since November of last year when he headlined UFC 205 from Madison Square Garden opposite Eddie Alvarez. “The Notorious One” downed “The Underground King” in the second round of the bout via knockout to capture the lightweight throne, becoming the first dual-weight champion in UFC history in the process.
Shortly after McGregor was forced to vacate his featherweight title and decided to take some time off from competition in order to enjoy the birth of his first child. That break was short-lived, however, as McGregor then signed on to make his professional boxing debut against Floyd “Money” Mayweather.
The Irishman would come up just short as he suffered a 10th round TKO loss after eating a barrage of unanswered shots. Now the MMA world awaits his return; which will likely come against interim lightweight champion Tony Ferguson, who defeated Kevin Lee in the main event of UFC 216 to capture the gold.
Recently UFC President Dana White spoke to the Los Angeles Times‘ Lance Pugmire and revealed that McGregor’s next fight could be finalized by the end of the week. White has until the end of the week to determine the main event for the UFC’s pay-per-view (PPV) event on Dec. 30 in Las Vegas and is hoping McGregor can compete on the card (quotes via Bleacher Report):
“That’s all this week,” White said. “We’re working on that [main event]. I have to have it done by the end of the week.”
Following Georges St-Pierre’s riveting third-round submission to win the middleweight title from Michael Bisping in the main event of last Saturday’s (November 4, 2017) UFC 217, several high-profile fights sit on the bargaining table for the UFC’s newest two-weight champ. The obvious one is a unification bout with current interim middleweight champ Robert Whittaker, who […]
Following Georges St-Pierre’s riveting third-round submission to win the middleweight title from Michael Bisping in the main event of last Saturday’s (November 4, 2017) UFC 217, several high-profile fights sit on the bargaining table for the UFC’s newest two-weight champ.
The obvious one is a unification bout with current interim middleweight champ Robert Whittaker, who is currently recovering from a knee injury suffered while winning the interim belt versus Yoel Romero at July’s UFC 213. It’s a fight that UFC President Dana White insists will be next for GSP, yet there’s another high-profile bout that would out-draw this fight in spades.
That’s St-Pierre’s oft-discussed super fight with lightweight champ Conor McGregor, a bout that’s gained a ton of steam since St-Pierre officially won the middleweight title amidst speculation about his effectiveness after four years off. Both fighters would potentially hold up their respective divisions to make it happen – although that’s nothing new with McGregor – but it would also almost certainly be the biggest fight the UFC could stage at this point, and perhaps ever.
If and when either fight happens, St-Pierre is already favored over McGregor and an underdog to Whittaker according to early odds recently released on Bovada.com. According to their numbers, St-Pierre is a -150 favorite over McGregor, who came in at +120, and a -135 underdog to Whittaker, who is currently a -165 favorite.
This marks a change from the initial release of the odds yesterday, when St-Pierre was a -160 favorite over +130 dog Whittaker. Many hardcore fans believe the much younger Whittaker would defeat St-Pierre after trouncing Romero and Ronaldo Souza in 2017, and apparently the betting public agreed enough to skew the odds in Whittaker’s favor – and by no small margin – in just one day’s time.
Who do you believe should be favored in St-Pierre’s prospective bouts in the foreseeable future?
The MMA world got its first look at Georges St-Pierre, Version 2.0, Saturday at UFC 217—and the early returns were spectacular.
St-Pierre not only defied the odds by taking the UFC middleweight title from Michael Bisping via technical submission,…
The MMA world got its first look at Georges St-Pierre, Version 2.0, Saturday at UFC 217—and the early returns were spectacular.
St-Pierre not only defied the odds by taking the UFC middleweight title from Michael Bisping via technical submission, he shocked us all with the style he used to do it.
Conventional wisdom said St-Pierre would have to employ a steady diet of takedowns and top control if he had any hope of defeating the larger, stand-up-oriented Bisping. In other words, most everybody expected a vintage GSP game plan, utilizing the same strategies he used from 2006 to 2013, as he built a legacy as the most dominant welterweight in the company’s history.
What folks saw in the Octagon last weekend was something radically different. Instead of that safe and steady wrestling-based action plan, GSP largely fought—and beat—Bisping on the feet, ultimately using strikes to set up the rear-naked choke that rendered The Count unconscious near the end of the third round.
It was, in a word, amazing.
In defeating Bisping the way he did, this 36-year-old reboot of St-Pierre simultaneously elevated expectations for the second phase of his career and stoked numerous questions about exactly what kind of middleweight champion he’s going to be.
Certainly there’s no shortage of challenges for him at 185 pounds—including interim champion Robert Whittaker and a murderer’s row of top contenders. On the other hand, trainer Freddie Roach has said he wants St-Pierre to return to 170. There is even some talk that this comeback could be one-and-done for him.
For his part, GSP himself has been decidedly noncommittal about his future.
“This is not really my real weight,” St-Pierre told UFC color commentator Joe Rogan in the cage immediately after the fight. “I did it for the challenge.”
We know the UFC will want St-Pierre to unify the middleweight title by fighting Whittaker. UFC President Dana Whitesaid as much at the UFC 217 post-fight press conference. New Zealand native Whittaker, too, would no doubt like to score a lucrative matchup with St-Pierre, perhaps as soon as UFC 221 in Perth, Australia, on Feb. 11.
Leading up to the Bisping bout, St-Pierre had also said that his new UFC contract includes the stipulation that he must defend the 185-pound belt. But against whom?
Now that’s a fairly vexing question.
The answer will ultimately tell us a lot about how St-Pierre plans to approach this comeback.
UFC 217 certainly gave us some clues.
Perhaps most importantly, St-Pierre seemed refreshed and relaxed during his return to the Octagon after four years away. He appeared to legitimately enjoy the spectacle surrounding UFC 217, laughing his way through his final staredown with Bisping at Friday’s weigh-in.
This was in stark contrast to the guy who didn’t seem to be having any fun during his final welterweight title defenses in 2013. When he announced his extended hiatus following a particularly hard-fought split decision win over Johny Hendricks at UFC 167, St-Pierre indicated the pressures of being 170-pound champion had taken its toll on him, psychologically as well as physically.
The lengthy break looks to have done wonders for him.
He even appeared more carefree inside the cage.
St-Pierre’s vaunted athleticism was still there. So were his crisp jab and the active punching combinations that found their way to Bisping’s face more often than not. He even flashed just enough of his spinning kicks to remind us that before he fashioned himself into one MMA’s best offensive wrestlers, St-Pierre began his fighting life as a kyokushin karate stylist.
Was his willingness to mix it up on the feet with Bisping a sign that the new St-Pierre is going to offer a looser, more exciting product during his fights?
Or did he just gamble that it would be too difficult to consistently take the bigger man down and therefore was forced to beat him with striking?
If it was the latter, maybe he was right: St-Pierre had somewhat less success in the grappling department, where he was mostly unable to keep Bisping down. On the one occasion when St-Pierre did put himself in a good spot on the ground, Bisping cut him open on the bridge of the nose and forehead with a series of slashing elbows.
If you squint hard enough, the end result of this victory might even be a bit troubling, if you are a St-Pierre fan.
For starters, by winning the middleweight title, he’s essentially put himself back in the same position that drove him from the sport in the first place. He’s a UFC champion again, immediately faced with the task of warding off a gaggle of dangerous contenders.
Second, while he was able to surprise Bisping on the feet, St-Pierre’s biggest strength historically—his wrestling—was less effective. If he can’t recreate the same striking dominance against younger, more dangerous middleweight opponents, does that spell bad things for him?
Aside from Whittaker, the new middleweight titlist could face tough immediate challenges from former champions like Luke Rockhold and Chris Weidman as well as perennial top contenders such as Yoel Romero and Jacare Souza.
Is he really going to want to do that?
Now that St-Pierre is older and wiser, perhaps he’ll have learned to handle the stresses of being champion better than he could before. If not, there is little chance that he’ll be interested in diving back into the rinse-and-repeat schedule of defending the title against the toughest people in the world a few times a year.
Luckily for him, there are numerous other big-money bouts at his fingertips.
Depending on how things go in Anderson Silva’s upcoming bout against Kelvin Gastelum on Nov. 25, perhaps the Silva vs. St-Pierre superfight that never came together during their primes could finally be booked.
Bleacher Report’s Jonathan Snowden has already thrown his hat in the ring in favor of Conor McGregor. St-Pierre and McGregor could conceivably meet at either 170 or 185 pounds in a bout that would no doubt shatter the UFC’s previous pay-per-view record for buys.
There is also welterweight champion Tyron Woodley, who lacks a clear-cut next challenger after Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson defeated Jorge Masvidal at UFC 217.
Considering what St-Pierre told Rogan, he may well still consider 170 pounds to be his “real weight.” If he gave up the middleweight title and returned to his old stomping grounds, it would certainly be for a superfight against McGregor or an immediate title shot against Woodley.
Does that mean it’s unreasonable to think St-Pierre has designs on becoming the fighting champion the middleweight class has been hungry for since Bisping won the title in June 2016?
Perhaps…perhaps not.
Just as it has always been, it’ll be hard to know exactly what’s in St-Pierre’s head until he decides to let the rest of the world in on it.
What we do know for sure after UFC 217 is that after four years away from the cage, he’s still got it.
It appears that UFC interim middleweight champion Robert Whittaker will get the next fight against newly crowned UFC middleweight champion Georges St-Pierre and he feels good about his chances to the be the next challenger for the former UFC welterweight champion. As most fight fans know, GSP made his long-awaited return to the world-famous Octagon […]
It appears that UFC interim middleweight champion Robert Whittaker will get the next fight against newly crowned UFC middleweight champion Georges St-Pierre and he feels good about his chances to the be the next challenger for the former UFC welterweight champion.
As most fight fans know, GSP made his long-awaited return to the world-famous Octagon over the weekend at the UFC 217 PPV (pay-per-view) event in the main event and choked out Michael Bisping to become the new middleweight champion.
Whittaker noted in a recent interview that the outcome of this fight was somewhat of a surprise to him due to the fact that he picked Bisping to defeat St-Pierre.
With UFC 217 over, UFC officials are attempted to set up a bout between Whittaker and St-Pierre to unify the title. If this bout was to happen, then he likes his chances based on what he saw while sitting cageside for the second UFC event at Madison Square Garden.
“To be honest, he looked slower than he’s ever been,” Whittaker said of St. Pierre’s performance, according to Australian website news.com.au. “He’s just as crafty. You can see the intelligence is still there. His fight IQ is still there. He obviously hits harder at middleweight. But I hit hard, and I hit fast — and much harder and faster than Bisping. And I have much better defense than Bisping. So it looks good.”
If you recall, Whittaker became the interim champion after winning a unanimous decision over Yoel Romero in a five-round war in July at UFC 213. Keep in mind that this fight is not a guarantee due to the fact that it remains to be seen if GSP will stay in the division after claiming the belt from Bisping. UFC President Dana White has gone on record by stating that Whittaker would be his next opponent.
This all comes down to which weight GSP wants to fight at. There is still a chance that he moves down to welterweight and fights champion Tyron Woodley to reclaim the belt he never lost before retiring in 2013. Then you have the potential superfight with UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor.
GSP said before UFC 217 that he was contractually obligated for at least another middleweight fight. Thus, that means that Whittaker is at least in the conversation to land a showdown with St-Pierre.
“I can’t even put it into words,” Whittaker said. “I was a massive fan of him when I was younger — and when I was at welterweight, as well. Every welterweight in the world aspired to become something like him. If I got the privilege of fighting him? Man, dream come true.”
“I’m happy to wait,” Whittaker said. “Fighting a legend like that is worth the time. My wants have to go on the back seat a bit for him. He’s a living legend, and in respect, I’ll do that. But if he’s going to hang around at middleweight we’ll touch gloves eventually. I’m confident.”
Robert Whittaker isn’t losing sleep over Georges St-Pierre’s performance at UFC 217. Whittaker is the interim UFC middleweight title holder. He was in attendance inside Madison Square Garden in New York City. “The Reaper” witnes…
Robert Whittaker isn’t losing sleep over Georges St-Pierre’s performance at UFC 217. Whittaker is the interim UFC middleweight title holder. He was in attendance inside Madison Square Garden in New York City. “The Reaper” witnessed St-Pierre’s triumphant return, submitting Michael Bisping to capture the middleweight title. Speaking with news.com.au, Whittaker said that while St-Pierre is […]
All of the sudden, Georges St-Pierre has a lot of leverage with the UFC. In a surprising outcome to many, the longtime welterweight champion returned to the Octagon after almost four years off and submitted Michael Bisping in the main event of last Saturday night’s (Nov. 4, 2017) UFC 217 from Madison Square Garden in New […]
All of the sudden, Georges St-Pierre has a lot of leverage with the UFC.
In a surprising outcome to many, the longtime welterweight champion returned to the Octagon after almost four years off and submitted Michael Bisping in the main event of last Saturday night’s (Nov. 4, 2017) UFC 217 from Madison Square Garden in New York City, and now the fight game is his proverbial oyster.
Now that he’s the middleweight champ, the fans who said it was a travesty for Bisping to be fighting a former welterweight who had never fought at 185 after four years off will almost definitely be calling for him to defend his new belt, and indeed UFC President Dana White insists that unifying the belts with interim champion Robert Whittaker will be next for “Rush.”
It’s a fight that makes the most sense in terms of pure meritocracy, something that the UFC was founded on and also an aspect of mixed martial arts (MMA) we don’t see a whole lot of in this trash-talking, star-driven era of today. To illustrate that point, a point of view that’s surfaced from many experienced media members in the fight game is that St-Pierre should take on lightweight champion Conor McGregor, who also has an interim champion waiting to take him on in his own division, in what would almost assuredly be the biggest MMA fight of all-time.
That potential over-the-top booking, which would conceivably take place at 170 pounds where both men have fought in the UFC, comes at a time when the promotion needs a truly huge fight (Mayweather vs. McGregor doesn’t count as their own), and it’s no secret UFC owners Endeavor could use a smashing pay-per-view hit after a yearlong slump in 2017. St-Pierre vs. McGregor is a huge fight – it would feature two champions who are the two biggest names in the sport at the time.
The fact that the larger St-Pierre would be heavily favored due to his dominant wrestling and grappling doesn’t really matter because we’ve seen the decision-making process for booking fights in today’s UFC has more to do with dollar signs that actual sport. Without a true star like either McGregor or St-Pierre in 2017, they’ve struggled to build any momentum, so it would be kind of silly to not book the star power-driven bout now that they actually have one.
The financial ramifications of the bout would be obvious – it would make more money than any other mixed martial arts bout in the sport’s 24-year history. But it could really only happen if both fighters abandoned their current titles because leaving two of the UFC’s best divisions held up even longer after a full year of inactivity already would leave the legitimacy of the UFC in serious question, something many fans already believe has happened this year. Maybe St-Pierre could cut all the way down to lightweight to challenge McGregor for a third UFC title, but that would take quite some time and the entire promotion can’t wait for his next move.
They already do that with McGregor. Two fighters holding up basically everything from 155 to 185 pounds would just be too much.
If both keep their titles and book the fight at 170 or a catchweight, then the actual value of UFC championships will have to be put in serious question. They’d be more like flashy pieces of pseudo-importance the promotion attaches to pay-per-views rather than true gold to be defended.
Overall the discussion is a difficult one. St-Pierre vs. Whittaker and McGregor vs. Ferguson just don’t have that same zing that a St-Pierre vs. McGregor super fight does. Few, if ever, really do. There are just some issues with it being booked right away. It may be a bit of a copout, but I’m not saying it is or is not the right fight to book at this time. If young fighters like Whittaker and Ferguson want to fight for the titles in their prime, perhaps it’s best for St-Pierre and McGregor to abandon the official belts and sign on for the biggest sort of the big fights they seem to be looking for at this points in their respective careers.
The backlash directed towards McGregor and to a lesser extent, St-Pierre would probably be drowned out by the sheer volume of checks being cashed. If that’s enough for McGregor to potentially put his legacy in question, well, this is prizefighting at the highest level, after all.
Do you think the UFC should strike while the iron is hot with potentially their biggest fight of all-time?
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