GSP: Should I stay or should I go now?

Welterweight G.O.A.T. Georges St-Pierre spoke recently with ESPN about what might be next. He says it’s equally likely that he returns to the Octagon or he retires. But if he does fight, he has one name above the others.

“Khabib is the one I would say is the most in terms of legacy,” said St-Pierre, as transcribed by Ken Pishna for MMA Weekly. “[Tyron Woodley] is a great fighter, (but) if you ask who has got the best legacy right now in the fight game, I think Khabib is way ahead of everybody because he’s undefeated, he beat Conor McGregor, he’s got the fame… that’s what the fight game is about. It’s a stock market, who has got the highest stock?”

“I have always said that the thing that excites me the most is when I could be the first to do something. When something cannot be done and people doubt me. He’s a great champion, and in terms of legacy, I can’t think of a better fighter right now who has a better legacy than Khabib.”

“I don’t think the UFC would want me to fight for the title at 155 because they don’t want me to run off into the sunset again with the title, if that happened.”

“Right now, [my health] is going very well. And if everything goes well, I could [fight] in 2019. I think I could do it in early 2019 if everything goes well. … [But] the more time passes, the more I’m like, eck. I see a lot of stuff. It’s a lot of drama in the sport and sometimes I’m thinking would I really want to go back into that? It’s like the motivation goes down. The competitor inside of me wants me to return sometimes. I want to return sometimes as a competitor, but I need to listen to the logic as well. It needs to be worth it.”

The obvious solution is Nurmagomedov vs. GSP at 165. There is UFC division at Super lightweight, although there should be. A superfight there would be close enough to an actual title to lure GSP back, and Nurmagomedov wouldn’t have to have seizures making weight.