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Is Georges St-Pierre the greatest of all time?


Georges St-Pierre made his professional MMA debut in 2002. From 2002 through 2013, he amassed a record of 25-2 and became the longest reigning UFC Welterweight champion in history.

One of his two losses in that span came at the hands of Matt Hughes in 2004, a future UFC Hall of Famer and multi-time champion, widely considered the greatest Welterweight on the planet prior to St-Pierre's rise to prominence.

His other loss came in 2007 to Matt Serra in what is widely regarded as one of the biggest upsets in MMA history. St-Pierre would avenge that loss in dominating fashion just over a year later in April of 2008, after defeating Josh Koscheck and Matt Hughes in back to back fights in 2007.

The victory over Koscheck at UFC 74 moved St-Pierre's record to 14-2. That victory came in 2007. He would remain undefeated in 11 more fights between 2007 and 2013, moving his record to 25-2. Most of his wins came in dominating fashion despite not finishing an opponent since UFC 94 in 2009.

He would step away from MMA after defeating Johny Hendricks by split decision at UFC 167, citing a need to rest and recover as well as concerns over a lack of steroid testing in the UFC.

After walking away in 2013, St-Pierre was already in the conversation as being the greatest of all time. Every time the conversation would start, the names thrown out were Anderson Silva, Jon Jones, Demetrious Johnson and Georges St-Pierre.

Then came UFC 217.

Four years after he last stepped foot in a UFC cage, St-Pierre made his return to the promotion. Rather than compete at Welterweight, however, St-Pierre chose to move up to Middleweight and challenge Michael Bisping for the Middleweight title.

Many expected there to be obvious signs of "ring rust" after so long away from the sport and while Bisping wasn't necessarily the most feared champion, he was a champion for a reason.

Which is what made it all the more surprising when St-Pierre seemed to pick up right where he left off in 2013. Despite some cardio issues where St-Pierre was noticeably tiring as early as the second round, he was able to secure takedowns and utilize his movement and takedowns to win the first two rounds.

In the third round, St-Pierre would drop Bisping and follow it up with elbows and punches from the top. Bisping defended himself fairly well before making a critical mistake in his attempts to get back to his feet. St-Pierre capitalized, took Bisping's back and sank in the rear-naked choke. Moments later, Bisping was unconscious and St-Pierre was the new UFC Middleweight Champion.

A 26-2 record, undefeated since 2007 and now capturing a title in a higher weight class after four years away from the sport, becoming only the fourth man to hold titles in two different weight classes in UFC history.

Georges St-Pierre was already in the G.O.A.T. conversation in 2013, his performance at UFC 217 may have ended that conversation once and for all.
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