The Quest for Immortality
Even at the earliest stages of St-Pierre's career, his incredible agility, speed, blend of skills, and mental focus marked him as the next great welterweight, the man anointed to take the mantle from Matt Hughes. He has since been consistently ranked in the top 5 P4P greatest mixed martial artists in the world, an honor he shares with Anderson Silva. It can be reasonably argued that GSP has already secured the title of greatest welterweight ever if he never fights another day in his life. He's held the belt for 1,800+ days, beating Hughes' record of 1,577. He's defended his belt six times, again beating the previous record held by Matt Hughes (5). Yet even with those accomplishments, he isn't even near scratching the surface of Hughes' amazing professional record (45-9) with twenty-five fights in the UFC. Matt Hughes' scalps include Akihiro Gono, Hayato Sakurai, Sean Sherk, Frank Trigg x2, Royce Gracie, BJ Penn, and even one against GSP himself. GSP's certainly has just as many, if not more, impressive wins to his credit. But ... will that resume stand the test of time if GSP's athleticism fades and he's left battling a .500 record like so many greats that have lost the magic touch? Will that resume stand against a wave of new talent swarming into the division, including Rory MacDonald, Johny Hendricks, a lighter Demain Maia, Dong-Hyun Kim, John Hathaway, Erick Silva, and more? So much of GSP's perceived greatness is the expectation that the second half of his career will mirror the first. He's only 31 years old. Another great champion, a real contender for the GOAT, looks far less impressive at that age in comparison. Anderson Silva at age 31 (16-4) had yet to even make his debut in the UFC, coming off a DQ loss to Yushin Okami. The Spider has since rattled off 17 straight wins with 10 title defenses. Imagine if GSP were to accomplish something similar, combined with his 22-2 record and 12 title matches with 6 defenses already? It would be quite frankly a feat unparalleled. And yet it is all within his grasp. Immortality is just within reach ... If he can overcome his knee injury and ring rust and beat Condit. If he can beat Condit and perhaps Diaz after, then he'll have the chance of the biggest MMA fight in history with Anderson Silva. If he can maintain his body and his skills like Silva far into his thirties or even forties, GSP could build the greatest MMA resume ever. Better even than Emperor Fedor himself. If.