GSP: 5 Reasons The Greatest UFC Welterweight Ever Should Stay Retired

1. With Every Loss Avenged, His Legacy is Secure

Do you know how rare it is to go out on top? That's what drove Matt Hughes to suggest GSP retire. Talking to the Canadian Press, he said "If I was GSP, I€™d probably hang them up. Here I am a guy that lost my (last) two fights and I€™d love to get back in there (to finish on a win). And Georges got his hand raised the last fight." GSP has avenged every loss on his record - all two of them, over Matt Sera and Matt Hughes. He beat Sera brutally to take his belt back, and beat Hughes twice after a loss in their first meeting. He's knocked off legends (Hughes, Penn), top contenders (Hendricks, Condit), and outright tough fighters (Diaz, Hardy, Alves, Koscheck). His record reads like a who's who of the UFC welterweight division between 2004 and 2013. You can argue that Hendricks did more damage in their fight, but MMA is scored by rounds, not as a whole, and every judge recognized that both fighters clearly won two rounds, and it all came down to a single frame - a frame where GSP attempted a sub and controlled, and Hendricks did little. It wasn't the best fight to go out on, if you look at his career, but it was a win over the best challenger in the UFC welterweight division at the time. And there's the old idea that to win the belt, you have to definitively beat the champion. Hendricks was almost finished in the GSP fight early on via submission; Hendricks can't say the same of his effort. So here's what you have: a champ who defended his belt against the best, nine consecutive times. He was welterweight champ twice. He beat legends Matt Hughes and B.J. Penn twice. Defeated a rogue's gallery of opponents through his career: Ivan Menjivar, Karo Parisyan, Jason Miller, Frank Trigg, B.J. Penn, Matt Hughes, Sean Sherk, Matt Sera, Josh Koscheck, John Fitch, Thiago Alves, Dan Hardy, Jake Shields, Carlos Condit, Nick Diaz, Johnny Hendricks - there's not a can to be found on his record. GSP doesn't need to come back. His legacy as the best welterweight of all time, and one of the greatest Mixed Martial Artists of all time, is more than secure.