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Ali Abdelaziz believes Georges St-Pierre should step out of retirement to fight current UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman in a bout to decide the greatest mixed martial artist of all time.
Abdelaziz took to Twitter to call out GSP. He wrote:
"@USMAN84kg VS GSP next let’s see who the [GOAT]"
The sudden suggestion stems from the fact that Kamaru Usman is a part of the immensely talented stable of Ali Abdelaziz's Dominance MMA. Furthermore, 'The Nigerian Nightmare' has run riot in the UFC's welterweight division so far.
Kamaru Usman has not lost a single fight in his UFC career. Let's look at whether he has reached the stage where he can be compared to Georges St-Pierre.
Why is Georges St-Pierre considered by many as the MMA GOAT?
Georges St-Pierre holds a professional MMA record of 26-2. The Canadian mixed martial artist began his career in January 2002. He quickly garnered five wins and made his way into the biggest MMA promotion, the UFC, in January 2004.
Georges St-Pierre was one of the pioneers of well-rounded mixed martial arts. GSP has always been a dominant grappler and a technically sound striker. The first seven of his professional fights comprised four victories coming by TKO, two by submission, and one by unanimous decision.
Georges St-Pierre fought Matt Hughes for the vacant UFC welterweight title at UFC 50 in October 2004. He lost the fight via round-one submission. After the loss, GSP famously told Matt Hughes that he was not impressed with his opponent's performance and would bounce back to claim welterweight gold. True to his word, St-Pierre soon won the welterweight belt.
Georges St-Pierre faced Matt Hughes in a rematch at UFC 65 and won the welterweight title via a round-two TKO. However, his first title reign was short-lived as Matt Serra pulled off one of the greatest upsets in UFC history and knocked Georges St-Pierre out in the latter's first title defense.
Nevertheless, 'Rush' Georges St-Pierre won the title back from Matt Serra and ushered in one of the most dominant title reigns in MMA history. He defended the title nine times against illustrious names such as Nick Diaz, Johny Hendricks, Jon Fitch, B. J. Penn and many more. He retired from mixed martial arts at the top of his game and returned after four years to challenge Michael Bisping for the UFC middleweight title in November 2017.
He beat 'The Count' via technical-submission in the third round to become the UFC middleweight champion, and yet again rode off into the sunset to enjoy retirement.
How does Kamaru Usman compare to Georges St-Pierre?
Purely in terms of statistics, Kamaru Usman falls short in overall and title fight wins. Therefore, it can be argued that Kamaru Usman is not quite at St. Pierre's level in the MMA GOAT conversation.
However, with his overall game and dominance improving with every fight, he is on the correct career trajectory to enter the argument as one of, if not the best ever to do it.
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