Georges St. Pierre

UFC: Khabib plans on taking Justin Gaethje to “The deepest ocean and drown him”

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There might not be a fighter more terrifying in the UFC than the lightweight champion, Khabib Nurmogomedov (28-0). When it comes to game plans, the Dagestan native makes it very clear what he plans on doing.

UFC commentator Joe Rogan posted a video on Instagram of interim champion, Justin Gaethje (22-2) training, and Nurmagomedov voiced his opinion about what will happen in a couple of months at UFC 254.

UFC 254 can’t come soon enough

The UFC has never seen a fighter like Nurmogomedov. He’s so dominant to the point that he doesn’t even appear to be human. He pushes forward and every opponent he’s faced has been taken down.

AKA teammate and former UFC heavyweight champion, Daniel Cormier, talked about how strong Nurmogomedov is yesterday on his show with Ariel Helwani. Cormier talked about how it was hard for even him to get up when Khabib had him down.

“I’m a heavyweight, I should not feel like ‘This dude’s strong’ when a 55 pounder grabs me. I was on the bottom with him and I had to actually try to get up. I can only imagine what it’s like when a 55 pounder is under him,” Cormier said to Helwani.

The UFC interim lightweight champion, Gaethje, might be the best wrestler that Khabib has fought so far. Most (including myself) don’t feel that Gaethje will be able to keep Nurmagomedov off of him.

I think that even Gaethje knows at some point he will probably be taken down. The game plan for Gaethje has to be to keep it standing long enough to hurt/finish the UFC lightweight champion.

This fight is so fascinating and UFC 254 can’t come soon enough. Justin Gaethje presents the most dangerous challenge in the lightweight division for Nurmogomedov.

If Khabib can’t get through Gaethje, he will cement himself as the greatest lightweight to ever live. Then, if he gets his dream matchup with GSP following that win, he could cement himself as the greatest fighter of all time.

UFC: Khabib Nurmagomedov – Justin Gaethje official for October 24th

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UFC president Dana White announced some pretty big news today. It was announced and confirmed that Khabib Nurmagomedov (28-0) with defend his title against interim champion, Justin Gaethje (22-2), on October 24th.

White confirmed the news to CNN. There have been a lot of questions about the future for Khabib after his father passed away. Many wondered if he would even fight again. But the fight is on.

“It’s going to happen, I can tell you right here right now,” White said. “That fight’s going to happen. Khabib versus Gaethje on October 24.”

Two more UFC fights for Khabib

Recently, it was announced by his manager that Khabib only has a couple of fights left in his UFC career. The first being his title defense against Gaethje.

Nurmagomedov is one of the sports biggest stars. He’s 28-0 and he’s one of the highest paid fighters in the promotion. However, he’s always talked about walking away early from the sport.

Dana White was asked by ESPN what he’d want to do if Nurmagomedov were to only fight two times. He said he would for sure fight Gaethje, but there was an interesting option for his retirement fight.

Justin Gaethje presents the biggest challenge to Khabib from a stylistic standpoint. However, if Khabib can get passed Gaethje, fight fans might get a fight they’ve dreamed about.

Many have wanted to see Georges St. Pierre drop down to 155 to challenge Khabib for the UFC title. White has always dismissed that because GSP would only want to fight once. But, if Khabib is also going to be walking away, the fight could happen.

Exciting times for the UFC‘s lightweight division. Khabib – Gaethje is a matchup that’s so interesting and exciting to think about because there are so many unknowns. Khabib hasn’t fought anyone with as good of defensive wrestling as Gaethje. Should be a fun fight with big implications that will follow.

UFC: Kamaru Usman Has Strong Words For Georges St-Pierre

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The situation at the top of the UFC’s welterweight division might have just gotten more interesting. Kamaru Usman recently defended his belt against Jorge Masvidal, and the champion hasn’t waited long before deciding which opponent he wants to face next. Usman picked a fighter with name value to challenge – except, it isn’t any of the current usual contenders at 170 lbs.

The fighter that Usman called out is Georges St-Pierre, the legendary former champion who was last seen almost three years ago winning the middleweight belt against Michael Bisping. The return had many fans excited to see what would happen next, after GSP exceeded expectations, but the fanbase would be left hanging as St-Pierre announced his retirement in 2019.

Usman doesn’t think that St-Pierre should remain retired.

What words did Usman have for GSP?

Calling out St-Pierre while speaking to TMZ, Usman challenged the former welterweight champion to another fight for the title.

“George can still do it. He proved it 2 years ago when he came back that he can still do it. I feel that he’s still able to do it, I feel like he’s still able to come in and be that opponent where people are unsure like, ‘You know what, we don’t know if Usman’s got this one.’ And I think Georges St-Pierre can be that guy,” Usman stated.

“I would love to test myself. I’m a martial artist just like he was a martial artist and if he still has some fire burning in that oven, let’s test it out!” Usman added.

But it’s been quite a while since we’ve seen GSP in the octagon, and there’s been no actual indication that GSP intends to come back. Some might consider it weak that Usman is targeting a fighter who has been out of action for a couple years and is currently 39 years old.

GSP’s legacy at welterweight already looks over, too. He hasn’t fought in the division since 2013 and when he once again won the belt, it was at middleweight and not welterweight.

With that being said, if the fight did ever happen, it could definitely have interesting outcomes – it would perhaps be one of the more interesting veteran against rising star bouts, as at the end of the day, GSP still has one of the best track records in UFC history despite age.

Kamaru Usman targeting Georges St. Pierre if he wins at UFC 251

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Tonight, the UFC will be taking center stage at Fight Island. In the main event you have the Nigerian Nightmare and UFC welterweight champion, Kamaru Usman (16-1), taking on the BMF Jorge “Gamebred” Masvidal (35-13).

Yesterday, both men took the podium after weigh-ins to answer some questions. Kamaru Usman was asked during the scrum about what’s next if he defeats Masvidal. While Usman insisted that he’s not looking past Masvidal, there’s one name that really peaks his interest.

“I would love Georges St. Pierre. It took him 1875 days to win 12 consecutive fights and after I beat Masvidal on Saturday, it would have taken me exactly 1875 days to win 12 consecutive fights. What better way to break the record than to fight the man,” Usman said of St. Pierre

Calling out the UFC’s welterweight GOAT

I don’t think there’s any argument against Georges St. Pierre (26-2) being the greatest welterweight in UFC history. The former two-time champion successfully defended the UFC title nine times. Following the ninth defense, St. Pierre walked away from the sport.

Four years after that, GSP returned and captured the middleweight title at UFC 217. Following that fight, St. Pierre said that he was retiring from the sport. However, in recent years, St. Pierre has teased that he would come back to the sport. Granted the only fight that was interesting to him was dropping to 155 pounds and facing Khabib Nurmagomedov.

That fight would be much more appealing than Usman for St. Pierre. GSP could win a belt in a third weight class against Nurmagomedov. There’s really not a ton to gain in him coming back to fight the Nigerian Nightmare. While I can definitely understand Usman’s desire to fight the GOAT, I don’t see that being a realistic possibility.

UFC: Should athletic commissions show live scores in between rounds?

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How many times have we heard UFC President Dana White tell his fighters or the media that you cannot leave fights in the hands of the judges. The reality of the situation is judging in MMA is far from a perfect science. Think of all of the terrible decisions we’ve seen over the years in MMA. Well, the Kansas Athletic Commission is trying something out that just might change the game.

That’s right, at tonight’s Invicta event, fighters will be able to know the scores after each round. Now, the fighters and their corners are not left guessing at what’s going on in the judges head. This is something that I’m a huge fan of. Think about it from the fighters perspective. A fighter might believe they have two rounds in the bag so they might try to coast in round three, but two judges have the fight 1-1. Now the fighter is forced to go all out in the third round knowing it’s do or die.

The UFC has been filled with terrible decisions over time. The UFC has also been filled with a bunch of fighters who completely take their foot off the gas when they think they have the fight won. Let’s think about a couple of tough decisions that went against former UFC welterweight champion, Johny Hendricks (18-8).

Decisions that could have changed UFC history

Bigg Rigg’s first tough decision loss came at UFC 167 against the great Georges St. Pierre. Anyone who was watching that night knew that Johny Hendricks was winning that fight. All 16 analysts from MMADecisions.com gave the fight to Hendricks. Going into the fifth round, everyone on those scorecards and one of the official judges had Hendricks up 3-1. However, two of the judges had the fight dead even at 2-2.

Hendricks coasted through the fifth round, and he didn’t fight with a ton of urgency. It was clear that Hendricks believed that he had three rounds in the bag. St. Pierre took the round and took the split decision to retain his UFC welterweight title. Hendricks was devastated and Dana White labeled the Nevada Athletic Commission as a “Atrocious” after the fight calling for the governor to get involved.

Less “What ifs?”

What if Hendricks knew going into the fifth round that two of the judges had it tied? Hendricks would have busted out of the gate trying to convince those two judges that there’s no way he should lose the fight. Same thing happened to Hendricks against Robbie Lawler at UFC 181.

Revealing the scores live would create less suspense before the cards are read. Now you could also see much more urgency in the final rounds of fights. At the same time, you could say that it would cause fighters to really take their foot off the gas if they know for a fact that they are up two rounds to one. It’s an interesting debate, but I’m all for the fighters knowing exactly where they stand in the eyes of the one ones that matter during a fight.