Top 10 Fighters Georges St. Pierre Could Beat at Middleweight Or Higher

Yesterday i wrote an article listing 10 fighters who could have success moving up a weight class.

When I checked my messages later on in the day, I was surprised to read many objections to my inclusion of Georges St. Pierre on the list.

The most egregious objections came in the following form:

Georges St. Pierre is a bully who just uses his size at welterweight, and would not be an exceptional fighter at middleweight where his size advantage would be lost.

It's the kind of objection where I just don't know exactly where to start disagreeing.

I was considering writing a rant about it and posting it on Youtube as subtitles to a scene from "Downfall," but as I discovered this morning, that's no longer an option .

Anyway, there are tons of different ways to logically argue why saying "fighters like St. Pierre are only good because of their size" doesn't make much sense.

But it's really not worth arguing.

Assuming that those objections are straightforward and honest, there is only one response:

You were dropped on your head as a child, and I don't know what else to tell you.

It's true that St. Pierre would be at a big size disadvantage against most middleweights, but I find it hard to believe that he couldn't have some real success there.

Here's a list of the top 10 elite fighters St. Pierre would probably beat at middleweight or higher if he decided to move up.

10. Dan Henderson (185 pounds)

On paper, this fight looks terrible for St. Pierre. That is, unless you've seen Henderson's last fight.

While the longstanding opinion has been that Henderson could sprawl and brawl against St. Pierre to get a knockout, the truth is that Henderson forgot what defensive wrestling is a long time ago.

Worse than that, Henderson often gasses out by the third round, if not earlier.

I find it hard to believe that St. Pierre couldn't beat the Dan Henderson who fought Jake Shields last week.

9. Demian Maia (185 pounds)

Maia is a threat against anybody on the ground, but the issue is always getting the fight there.

Maia couldn't get anywhere close to taking Anderson Silva down, and although St. Pierre is much smaller than Silva, he also has much better defensive wrestling.

St. Pierre could easily win this fight by picking Maia apart on the feet.

8. Michael Bisping (185 pounds)

Bisping is actually a fairly easy style matchup for St. Pierre.

Bisping isn't too heavy of a hitter, so St. Pierre wouldn't be overly threatened by him on the feet, and Bisping wouldn't be able to stop St. Pierre's takedowns.

7. Chael Sonnen (R) (185 pounds)

Since Sonnen (R) defended a guillotine choke against Nate Marquardt, now everybody thinks that Sonnen has become some sort of expert at submission defense.

Yes, he did not tap out.

That being said, Sonnen (R) still isn't half the submission grappler that St. Pierre is, and he's worse on the feet.

Could Sonnen out-wrestle St. Pierre to a decision?

It's possible, but it's much more likely that St. Pierre stuffs takedowns and wins a decision on the feet if he can't get takedowns of his own and submit Sonnen (R) outright.

6. Nate Marquardt (185 pounds)

Marqardt would be the superior striker against St. Pierre, but I don't think the advantage is as stark as some might think.

Making Demian Maia do backwards somersaults is great and all, but it isn't so long ago that Marquardt was getting knocked down by Thales Leites.

The true way St. Pierre wins this fight is with wrestling.

Sonnen showed that Marquardt isn't very comfortable fighting off his back. St. Pierre would have a good chance of getting the fight there and dominating position for a decision.

5. Jake Shields (185 pounds)

There are few worse matchups for Shields than St. Pierre.

Unlike Dan Henderson, St. Pierre uses his defensive wrestling very well and doesn't have conditioning issues.

St. Pierre would look like an absolute titan against Shields in the striking department, and he would batter Shields there, although perhaps St. Pierre might surprise Shields by going for a takedown or two as well.

4. Vitor Belfort (185 pounds)

Belfort could knock St. Pierre out, but he would need to do it quickly.

The knock on Belfort has always been that he struggles when he's brought into the deep water. St. Pierre would bring him there.

3. Gegard Mousasi (205 pounds)

If Mousasi has a weakness, it is his takedown defense.

Mo Lawal took Mousasi down with ease, even once he had completely gassed out. Because he is smaller, St. Pierre would need to work harder to get those takedowns, but he'd still get them.

Once on the floor, St. Pierre would have a much easier time passing guard and inflicting damage than Lawal did.

2. Forrest Griffin (205 pounds)

The former UFC light heavyweight champion would be a problem on the feet for St. Pierre because of his much larger range, but if a broken-down Tito Ortiz can get Griffin to the mat, then so can St. Pierre.

At the very worst, St. Pierre wins a decision against Griffin.

1. Randy Couture (205 pounds)

There was a time when saying "St. Pierre would beat Couture" merited a CAT scan.

Today, I don't think that is the case.

Couture isn't a particularly hard striker, and he's slowed somewhat over the years, so I think St. Pierre could batter him with leg kicks while controlling the fight with his jab.

If Couture got St. Pierre down, I think St. Pierre could get back to his feet. If St. Pierre got Couture down, I think he stays there until the end of the round.

I think St. Pierre wins this fight with surprising ease.