GSP and 10 Fighters That Helped Grow the UFC

With the UFC becoming the global phenomenon that it is today, it's time to pay tribute to the pioneers of the company.

Pioneers like Georges St-Pierre, along with many others, brought interest, athleticism and a taste for the theatrical like no other sport could possibly muster.

Before he was a phenomenal wrestler, GSP was an aggressive striker that used his karate background and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu to defeat his opponents.

This slideshow is a dedication to those fighters that paved the way and made this sport the powerhouse that it is today, and these are those fighters.

Georges St-Pierre

If you haven't watched a Georges St-Pierre fight before he lost to Matt Serra in 2007 by TKO, then you might not understand why GSP is as popular as he is today.

Before he suffered that loss, GSP was going out and finishing fighters in impressive fashion. Since losing to Serra, he's won nine fights in a row and nearly cleaned out the welterweight division twice.

He was so dominant that in 2010, the UFC was contemplating making the dream match between Anderson Silva and GSP a reality, but that ultimately fell through because of Silva's performance against Demian Maia at UFC 112.

Before the Jon Jones' and Junior Dos Santos' of the UFC arrived, GSP was the man that displayed flashes in his fights that would bring the crowd to its feet.

Chuck Liddell

With the exception of maybe Brock Lesnar, Chuck Liddell is the most popular mixed martial artist of all time.

In a time where Randy Couture, Tito Ortiz and Liddell all had an iron grip on the light heavyweight division, it was Liddell that proved to be the best, and for that, his popularity soared—not only because he was beating Ortiz and Couture, but it was the way he defeated them. Liddell knocked opponent after opponent out, and he became legendary for his knockouts from awkward angles.

Because of his great takedown defense, he forced his adversaries to stand with him and ultimately fall before him.

Randy Couture

Randy Couture makes me proud to be an American.

The ageless veteran of the Octagon provided the UFC with one great moment after another. In fact, I can't remember one fight in Couture's career that wasn't a high-profile matchup in the UFC.

He had the classic trilogy with Chuck Liddell, an epic matchup with Brock Lesnar, UFC vs. boxing matchup with James Toney and had a great clash of styles with Lyoto Machida in his retirement fight.

From upsetting Vitor Belfort at UFC 15 to losing to Machida at UFC 129, Couture's UFC career provided many memories for the hardcore fans of MMA.

Anderson Silva

Anderson Silva is the greatest MMA fighter of all time, so obviously, he had a huge part in building the UFC.

I'm a tad bit too young to have fully appreciated Michael Jordan in his prime when he was in the NBA, so I don't take it for granted that I'm getting to see the greatest fighter to ever grace the Octagon in his prime.

With thrilling knockouts over Forrest Griffin, Vitor Belfort, Rich Franklin, James Irvin and Yushin Okami, no fighter in MMA history can match Silva's highlight video, not even Wanderlei Silva.

Silva's rematch with Chael Sonnen in the summer should be one of the highest buy-rates in UFC history, further adding to his legend in the UFC.

Matt Hughes

Before GSP was the king at welterweight, Matt Hughes was the man at 170.

Hughes was a joy for Americans to watch because of the way he implemented his strength in every fight and was able to dominate opponent after opponent.

His second fight with Frank Trigg is without a doubt the biggest highlight of his career, and the way he was able to get out of Trigg's rear-naked choke and turn it into a cage-to-cage slam was sensational.

Besides his fights with GSP and B.J. Penn, Hughes' other high-profile fight was with UFC legend Royce Gracie at UFC 60. Hughes won that won in the first round by TKO.

B.J. Penn

B.J. Penn's career in the UFC is one for the storybooks.

Penn had his first MMA fight in the UFC, and he knocked out Joey Gilbert, Din Thomas and Caol Uno to earn himself a title shot at 3-0.

In a sport that was as young as MMA, what Penn did was extraordinary and it took everyone off guard. As fans of the UFC know, Penn would go on to become one of the greatest lightweight fighters in the history of the sport and provided the UFC with one exciting moment after another.

Brock Lesnar

Whether you love him or hate him, you can't deny that Brock Lesnar brought an enormous amount of publicity to the UFC.

Lesnar's name brought the UFC its highest pay-per view buys in the company's history, and his fights with Frank Mir, Randy Couture, Shane Carwin, Cain Velasquez and Alistair Overeem created a large buzz around the company.

Lesnar received a lot of buzz for his post-fight antics against Mir at UFC 100, and you know what they say about any publicity being good publicity.

If anything, Lesnar allowed casual fans that purchased the PPV to see him to see great athletes like Jon Jones and Cain Velasquez display their skills.

Royce Gracie

If there was no Royce Gracie, there might not have been a UFC.

Not only because his family created the tournament, but if he hadn't won the tournament in the same fashion that he did, there might not have been the same amount of buzz created, which ultimately caught owner Lorenzo Fertitta's attention.

Gracie won the first ever UFC tournament, and he put BJJ back on the map.

Forrest Griffin

Along with Diego Sanchez, Forrest Griffin was the first ever The Ultimate Fighter winner, and his fight with Stephan Bonnar in the finals was a game-changer.

Because of the ratings it received on national television, it showcased to the world what MMA is all about and that ultimately created millions of fans.

Griffin won't be remembered as being the greatest fighter in UFC history, but his sprawl-n-brawl attitude and brutal honesty in and outside of the Octagon created a strong fanbase for him.

Griffin's most notable highlights in his career was his third-round submission victory against Mauricio "Shogun" Rua and decision victory against Quinton "Rampage" Jackson to win the title.

Tito Ortiz

Tito Ortiz is the original "bad boy" of MMA.

With fighters like Josh Koscheck and Michael Bisping having the persona of a WWE heel, Ortiz was the first guy that got under peoples' skin and sold tickets in MMA.

In fact, Ortiz was the fighter that got me into the sport. I saw how he acted, and I wanted to see him get beat badly. This drew me in to the sport and obviously made me a fan.

After seven years has passed, I look back at Ortiz as a smart man for the way he hyped fights and got his fans emotionally involved in the fights. His rivalry with Liddell has to be considered as one of the best rivalries in the sport.