UFC Legend Georges St-Pierre Reveals His Take On Kamaru Usman Being GOAT

KEY POINTS

Georges St-Pierre has been hailed by some as the greatest welterweight MMA fighter of all time
St-Pierre shared his thoughts on Kamaru Usman being included in the "G.O.A.T." conversation
Usman is not bothered by all the MMA G.O.A.T. talks

Georges St-Pierre is not really a fan of the UFC and MMA’s “greatest of all time” talks, but he has an interesting take on Kamaru Usman becoming the welterweight GOAT.

Usman has had quite a remarkable run this year, having continued where he left off and defended his UFC welterweight title three consecutive times. His achievements in the promotion have had people comparing him to arguably the greatest welterweight fighter in all of MMA—St-Pierre.

Revealing his real thoughts on the subject, St-Pierre said that based on what he sees from Usman, he thinks that his fellow welterweight presents a strong case to become the greatest to ever do it.

“Well he’s on his way,” St-Pierre told Sport’s Hot Takes of Usman. “Rome was not built in a week. It took years. So, same thing with Kamaru Usman. He’s on his way.”

“He’s doing fantastic and I’m a big fan of him,” he added. “I truly believe, right now, he’s probably the best fighter right now, and probably the best active fighter in the UFC. He’s doing very well. Only the future will tell us.”

Georges St-Pierre is expected to return to the UFC at some point after vacating his middleweight title in December last year. Pictured, St-Pierre of Canada celebrates with trainer Freddie Roach (R) following his victory over Michael Bisping of England in their UFC middleweight championship bout during the UFC 217 event at Madison Square Garden in New York City, Nov. 4, 2017. Mike Stobe/Getty Images

Indeed, Usman and St-Pierre were the two most successful welterweights the UFC has ever had.

As things stand, St-Pierre, who last fought in the UFC in 2017, had a total of nine successful title defenses, four more than Usman’s five.

Despite trailing behind the 40-year-old, “The Nigerian Nightmare” previously stressed that he’s not chasing the record of St-Pierre or anybody else in the sport.

Usman also insisted that he is not thinking about being the greatest of all time and that he will let the people decide on that when his career is finally over.

“I’m not placing that greatest of all time [tag] on myself,” the reigning UFC welterweight champion said. “By the time I’m said and done with my career, I’m going to let you guys do that.”

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - FEBRUARY 13: In this handout image provided by UFC, Kamaru Usman of Nigeria reacts after his victory over Gilbert Burns of Brazil in their UFC welterweight championship fight during the UFC 258 event at UFC APEX on February 13, 2021 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)

But while St-Pierre appears convinced that Usman is closing in on the said recognition, he earlier pointed out that the appointing of the greatest fighter of all time will always be “a subjective thing.”

According to GSP, different fighters from different eras could be hailed as the greatest, but in terms of overall success, the rightful winner is the original UFC champion Royce Gracie.

“What does being the best of all time mean?” the French-Canadian MMA superstar said earlier this year. “If it's to compare every athlete who competed at their time and who was the most dominant at their time, who had the most achievements, for me, it's Royce Gracie.”