If Georges St-Pierre Leaves the UFC, Does It Hurt His Legacy?

Georges St-Pierre will always go down in UFC history as not only one of the best champions in the organization’s history, but one of the best fighters ever. Now, the former UFC welterweight champion is confirming rumors that he has left the UFC.

When GSP first entered the UFC, he came in like a bull rushing at a matador, blowing through many of his opponents in impressive fashion and making himself out to be a serious contender in the welterweight division of the mid-to-late 2000s.

To date, his only losses have come at the hands of two people who share the same first name and who had their own little feud at one point, as well. Matt Hughes and Matt Serra have faced St-Pierre a total of five times. Both own wins over the legend, but they also own at least one loss.

In the span of less than three years, GSP faced Hughes, whom he considered his hero at the time and admitted to feeling intimidated when being face to face with him, and Serra, someone he seemed to profoundly underestimate, thereby resulting in one of the biggest upsets in UFC history.

After losing to Serra, St-Pierre came back a few months later to defeat contender Josh Koscheck. Then, he beat his old nemesis Hughes for the interim belt, all while his other nemesis, Serra, was injured. Then, Serra and St-Pierre finally met again four months later in St-Pierre’s home country of Canada, where the Montreal native handily defeated the champion to finally get his belt back.

After the championship win over Serra, GSP went on a five-year run as a dominant and valiant champion. He defended his belt nine times, a welterweight record which will probably remain the division record for many years to come.

Now, with his release possibly being a reality — the UFC continues to dispute it — the question remains: What could have happened if he made his return to the UFC?

Would he have been able to prove himself as an immediate contender? Would he show the hunger and drive to get back to championship status? UFC President Dana White sure doesn’t think so, a point which he has reiterated many times in recent memory.

Regardless of what the UFC brass may think, it’s not a stretch to think GSP could have come back and sent shockwaves through the division. However, it doesn’t look like we’ll get a chance to find out. Even if St-Pierre does come back to the sport of MMA, it would be with Bellator or the World Series of Fighting. While these are strong promotions, neither would put GSP in the position to face top competition, the likes of which he was dominating for years in the biggest and best combat organization in the world.

It’s true what they say: All good things must come to an end. Unfortunately, this one ended way before it should have.