Former two-division UFC champion Georges St-Pierre has long been considered the greatest MMA welterweight ever, and perhaps the greatest fighter ever. However, reigning UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman just defended his belt for the fifth time and some fans and analysts are now considering “The Nigerian Nightmare” as the best 170 pounder ever.
Former UFC bantamweight and flyweight champion Henry Cejudo also believes Usman is the welterweight GOAT as well. During a recent episode of his podcast, “The Triple C & Schmo Show” alongside MMA personality The Schmo, Cejudo gave his take on the welterweight GOAT talk.
“Of course, without a doubt [Usman is the greatest welterweight of all time],” Cejudo said via MMANews.com. “I mean GSP has done some amazing things but GSP has also had close fights.
“You can almost put an asterisk when he fought Johny Hendricks. He’s had close fights before and like I said before, Kamaru Usman is putting people away, he’s hurting people, I mean he’s literally knocking people out essentially. He wasn’t able to do it against Colby Covington but you can’t deny it, man.
“Those numbers don’t lie and there’s a reason why Kamaru Usman is pound-for-pound and the crazy thing about it too is that there is a lot of room for improvement that I see with Kamaru Usman.”
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Usman Extended His UFC Win Streak to 15 Last Weekend
Usman headlined UFC 268 on November 6, 2021, against his bitter rival, No. 1-ranked welterweight Colby Covington. Usman and “Chaos” met in the middle of the Octagon inside Madison Square Garden in New York City, and the two battled for five rounds.
And in the end, The Nigerian Nightmare got his hand raised over Covington once again, winning by unanimous decision. The victory extended Usman’s UFC win streak to 15, one away from tying former UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva’s record.
Usman has a professional MMA record of 20-1, with nine wins by KO/TKO and one by submission. The only blemish on The Nigerian Nightmare’s record came in his second professional fight, losing to Jose Caceres by first-round submission in May 2013.
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Georges St-Pierre Returned in 2017 & Won the Middleweight Belt
“GSP” defended the welterweight belt nine times between 2008 and 2013, defeating the likes of Johny Hendricks, Josh Koscheck and Nick Diaz during the stretch.
St-Pierre (26-2) has two losses on his professional MMA record, losing to Matt Serra and Matt Hughes. GSP avenged both of those losses, however, defeating Serra once and Hughes twice.
After vacating the welterweight title in 2013, GSP went on an MMA hiatus until 2017. He returned and challenged then-middleweight champion Michael Bisping for the Englishman’s belt and won it by third-round submission.
St-Pierre vacated the 185-pound championship weeks later.
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Ex-UFC Champ Doesn’t Think Georges St-Pierre Is the Best Ever