Georges St-Pierre has been given a strong endorsement from his longtime coach.
For years, St-Pierre and Anderson Silva were neck and neck in a battle for the top pound-for-pound spot. Those who sided with St-Pierre felt he had faced stiffer competition. Others in favor of “The Spider” held the former middleweight king’s title defense record in high regard.
Time has passed and a lot has changed. Silva was popped for banned substances in 2015 and 2017. Jon Jones, who had been inserted in the pound-for-pound talks also failed drug tests for UFC 200 and UFC 214. In the minds of many, that only leaves two fighters who can lay claim to the “greatest of all time” spot. The other is Demetrious Johnson.
In the mind of Firas Zahabi, it isn’t up for debate. He explained why to Fight Hub TV (via MMAFighting.com):
“He’s No. 1, no doubt about it. Who else could there be? Give me a name. Conor [McGregor] hasn’t defended a title. [Fedor] had too many losses. [Anderson] had too many losses and you know what happened. The testing didn’t go well. [Jon] – testing. There’s nobody else! There’s nobody else. I’m not just saying that because I train him. Put me aside, the guy is the greatest martial artist of all-time. That’s it. He did it. Let’s give him his due props. He worked for it, he deserves it. If another name comes along that does more than what he did, I’ll be happy to say that there’s a new best of all time … Demetrious Johnson is No. 2 in my opinion.”
St-Pierre’s legacy didn’t need a boost, but his most recent outing did just that. He captured UFC middleweight gold by submitting former champion Michael Bisping. This made St-Pierre one of the few fighters to hold UFC gold in two different weight classes. He joins an elite class featuring B.J. Penn, Randy Couture, and Conor McGregor.
During his time as the welterweight king, St-Pierre made nine successful title defenses. That’s just one shy of Silva’s previous record. He has an astonishing professional mixed martial arts record of 26-2.
The list of opponents St-Pierre has defeated makes the record even more impressive. He’s beaten the likes of Matt Hughes, Penn, Jon Fitch, Jake Shields, Carlos Condit, Nick Diaz, Bisping, and many more. At the time, most of St-Pierre’s opponents were considered to be in their prime.
Do you think Georges St-Pierre is the greatest mixed martial arts fighter of all time?
