The 2010s, arguably the most important decade in the history of mixed martial arts, is coming to a close. One reason why the past 10 years have been so pivotal to the sport is the sheer talent that exists across all divisions – men and women, from flyweight (which didn’t even exist until February 2012) to heavyweight. Simply put, the number of great fighters to grace cages and rings across the world never has been higher.
Here at MMA Junkie, we’ve put together a staff-wide, composite ranking of the top 10 fighters of the past decade, which we’ll reveal Monday-Friday until Dec. 27. Today, we reflect on No. 4: Georges St-Pierre.
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[autotag]Georges St-Pierre[/autotag] entered the decade already a superstar, but it was what he did in the last 10 years that pushed his status to greatest of all time.
The longtime welterweight king entered 2010 with a bang. St-Pierre (26-2 MMA, 20-2 UFC) already was champion in one of the toughest weight classes in the UFC. He was riding a six-fight winning streak and was 12-1 in his past 13 bouts. The list of opponents who fell short to him prior to 2010 was more than impressive. St-Pierre topped the likes of Jason Miller, Frank Trigg, Sean Sherk, B.J. Penn (twice), Matt Hughes (twice), Matt Serra and Jon Fitch.
In his last fight before entering 2010, St-Pierre established himself as one of the biggest names in the sport. The Canadian defended his title yet again in the biggest pay-per-view event at that time, UFC 100, which was headlined by a gigantic rematch between Brock Lesnar and Frank Mir. St-Pierre defeated the very dangerous Thiago Alves in a dominant decision.
It’s impossible to deny St-Pierre was more than established before this last decade, but the man was far from done.
In the last 10 years, St-Pierre took seven trips to the octagon and each time he left with a victory, a belt wrapped around his waist, and always a little something extra for the record books.
In 2010, St-Pierre answered the call twice and overcame polar-opposite challenges. He beat knockout artist Dan Hardy and decorated wrestler Josh Koscheck to prove again his uniquely well-rounded game.
The following year, St-Pierre only fought once, but that title fight had the magnitude of several pay-per-views combined.
Against Jake Shields, who was on a 15-fight winning streak and was the Strikeforce middleweight champion prior to vacating the belt and signing with the UFC, St-Pierre defended his belt in the headlining act of UFC 129.
The event stands today as the biggest UFC event in North America. St-Pierre picked up a dominant decision win in front of a home crowd of 55,000 Canadians. It was a massive and historic event that not only shined light on the magnitude of St-Pierre’s stardom, but also the growth of the sport.
But a true champion is not only tested inside the cage. He’s also put on trial outside of it. Following the monumental win over Shields, St-Pierre was forced to face challenges that would end most athletes’ careers.
St-Pierre was scheduled to defend his title against Carlos Condit (but originally against Nick Diaz – it’s a long story) at UFC 137 in 2011, but was forced to withdraw due to knee injury. He then tried to come back in a bout against Diaz in early 2012 at UFC 143, but a torn ACL had the champion back on the sidelines. It was a shocking discovery to a fanbase that had many questioning the future of the champion.
Instead, Condit ended up fighting and defeating Diaz in the main event of UFC 143 to become the UFC interim welterweight champion and set himself as the clear No. 1 contender in the division upon St-Pierre’s return.
With no tuneup fight following rehab for his torn ACL, St-Pierre came back to his home city of Montreal in late 2012 to take on Condit in an effort to unify the welterweight titles. The story within the 25-minute war that earned a “Fight of the Night” bonus that night couldn’t have been a clearer reflection of St-Pierre’s career comeback at the time.
Much like the rest of his career as champion, St-Pierre showed dominance through his world-class wrestling and completely controlled Condit early on in the fight. But in Round 3, things took an unexpected turn. Condit connected clean with left head kick that sent St-Pierre wobbling to the canvas. Hurt, but with the heart of a champion, St-Pierre fought back to avoid getting finished and won the last two rounds. It was a huge test for his career.
From there, St-Pierre defended his belt two more times against Nick Diaz in a grudge match and Johny Hendricks, who at the time had the MMA world enchanted with his knockout power. After his decision victory over Hendricks, which many found to be controversial, St-Pierre decided to vacate his belt and take a break from the sport.
He came back four years later and won another UFC belt in a new weight class. At UFC 217, St-Pierre choked out middleweight champion Michael Bisping to join the select few who have held UFC titles in two different weight classes. It was a colossal accomplishment that set him as an all-time great.
St-Pierre hasn’t fought since.
What’s remarkable about St-Pierre’s achievements this past decade is that they were really done in just five years, given his time away from the sport due to injury and the four-year break he took from MMA. Yet, despite being absent for a good chunk of the decade, the longtime welterweight king remains one of the biggest names in combat sports and one of the most revered fighters today.
It’s impossible to talk about the 2010s without mentioning Georges “Rush” St-Pierre, who is No. 4 on MMA Junkie’s Fighters of the Decade list.
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