Georges St-Pierre believes that Demian Maia is “in his prime”, and will inevitably become champion at 170 pounds in the future.
St-Pierre will square off with middleweight champion Michael Bisping at some point in the third quarter of this year. Should “Rush” beat the champion, he will join the small and exclusive club of the UFC’s two weight world champions.
The UFC’s plans for St-Pierre will become much clearer after the fight with Bisping. Given that the fighter was afforded an immediate title shot following a three-year absence from the sport, it is not beyond possibility that the Canadian MMA legend could drop to welterweight as champion of the middleweight division, and challenge the title-holder at 170 pounds. In this scenario, “GSP” could potentially become only the second fighter ever to hold two UFC titles in separate weight classes, simultaneously, after Conor McGregor.
Georges St-Pierre, however, will insist that it is the “big fights” which will dictate the path he will follow on his second stint in the UFC (via MMAFighting):
“I walk around at 185, 190 pounds. I’m going to fight at 185 right now,” St-Pierre said recently on The MMA Hour. “I even know some guys who fight at 155 (who) walk around in the offseason at a bigger weight than I am. I can possibly fight in those three divisions. But I’m back for one reason, I want to make history. I’m going to be 36 years old when I’m going to fight, and it’s all going to depend on what’s going to happen and how it’s going to happen.”
And if the Tri-Star Gym pupil eye a shot at his old title, there is one man he believes could potentially offer the biggest threat to his ambitions:
“Demian Maia is very, very skilled,” said St-Pierre.
“I see him as a very big threat right now for the title. I think he’s going to win over (Jorge) Masvidal, and I think he’s going to win over (Tyron) Woodley if he fights him. He’s older and he’s in his prime right now. I think he reached his perfect timing between physical, mental, and his game. I think he’s just so good at what he does. He’s like a blade of a katana. I think his blade is very sharp, it’s perfectly polished. He’s going to be very hard to stop right now.”
Maia is among the favorites to land a title shot against current champion Tyron Woodley in his next defence of the welterweight crown, but must first get past the difficult challenge of Jorge Masvidal at UFC 211 in Dallas, Texas in May.
