With the UFC 130 St-Pierre vs. Shields event approaching there is lot of talk about GSP’s Legacy, something he often speaks of himself. Many consider him the greatest welterweight of all times. The question remains does GSP have to move to Middleweight to truly be a legend. This whole move to Middleweight is of course discussed assuming he beats Jake Shields, while Shields is no easy task for any welterweight or middleweight for that matter, for this discussion we will assume GSP wins his the fight.
George St-Pierre has arguably the most impressive record of any welterweight, second maybe only to hall of famer Matt Hughes. In GSP’s most recent fight he has coasted to victory with relative ease over his opponents. His size and top-notch wrestling leave many to question how many other challenges he has left at welterweight. With this lack of competition many fans have grown excited over the possible super fight between GSP and Anderson Silva. Silva has not commented much on the fight, but does seem very open to the possibility. When questioned GSP doesn’t give a very solid answer, he obviously has to focus on Shields and not look past this fight but his politically correct answers seem to leave more questions. He has long spoken of how he would need to bulk up in order to move up to middleweight and while no one can argue that bulking up takes time and is a wise decision he has been saying this for well over a year. While I’m sure fans can understand how he wants to take this move up in weight seriously; eventually they will question why he isn’t taking the fight.
Many fighters have jumped up in weight to challenge for the belt, or even just to challenge themselves. Some fighters have met great success while others have lost many of their ventures to higher weights but in either case they are always applauded for their efforts. Two great examples of moving up are Anderson Silva and BJ Penn. Silva has stepped up to light heavyweight on two occasions in the UFC winning both fights in the first round in devastating fashion. His destruction of former champion Forrest Griffin left much of the MMA world stunned. BJ Penn on the other hand has stepped up on numerous occasions and has had only mild success if you just look at the win loss columns. BJ however, goes down as a legend due to the fact that he has stepped all the way from lightweight to fighting a heavyweight Lyoto Machida. While losing several of his ventures to higher weight classes BJ has proved that he will fight anyone, and is confident in his skills even as the smaller fighter.
Does GSP have to move up to middleweight to true be a legend? I think GSP can be solidified as the king of welterweight without moving up. However, he will not be on many pound for pound greatest lists. If he passes up an opportunity to prove that he is more dominate not only in size but also in skill then many will start to question just how great he really is. Also passing up a super fight will make it appear as though he is afraid not only to lose but also afraid of Silva, this may not be the case at all but I predict that many could and would perceive it that way. A true champion will fight any and all comers and is not afraid to challenge anyone. If GSP turns this fight down I believe it would hurt his legacy more than losing to Silva.
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