Ending the Debate: Georges St. Pierre is the Best Fighter in the World

Josh Koscheck told Dana White that he was “positive” that Georges St. Pierre wouldn’t stand up with him before last night’s main event. I guess he was wrong.

St. Pierre silenced all of his critics who said he did nothing but take guys down and lay on them by staying on his feet and destroying Koscheck for a full 25 minutes.

Utilizing a hard jab, St. Pierre left little doubt as to who was the superior striker as early as the first round, when after connecting with just six or seven punches he was able to cause Koscheck’s eye to swell shut. The rest of the fight followed suit, as GSP was able to outclass Koscheck on foot, where Koscheck later admitted he wanted the fight to take place.

St. Pierre has now won an incredible 30 straight rounds and dominated everyone the UFC has put in front of him for the last ten years, yet there is still a debate over who the Pound for Pound best fighter in the world is, as many people still give that title to UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva.

That, to put it bluntly, is brainless.

I agree that Silva is a fantastic fighter in his own right, and his current win streak is unprecedented. Yet, he has not faced the quality of opponents, or looked as indestructible as St. Pierre.

While St. Pierre has shown no glaring weakness inside the Octagon, Silva was out-wrestled by Chael Sonnen for 4 ½ rounds before pulling off an unlikely triangle from his back.

The Sonnen fight is actually what convinced me that St. Pierre was the superior fighter. The most common explanation for pound-for-pound is if both fighters were the same weight, who would win. GSP is consistently called one of the best wrestlers in MMA, and there is no reason to believe that he would not be able to take Silva down.

St. Pierre has also proved to be very hard to hit, and it is doubtful that Silva would be able to knock him out before being taken down. Once the fight hit the mat, GSP would be able to pummel him with punches much like Sonnen did, but would have the poise to not get caught in a submission.

Anderson Silva is one of the best fighters in the world and will likely retire as the greatest middleweight of all time. However, until he improves his take down defense, he’s only the second best fighter on the UFC roster.