No, it is not Anderson Silva, as I don’t think losing four of your last six fights allows you to lay claim to that title.
George "Rush" St. Pierre will return after a four-year layoff to fight Michael “The Count” Bisping for the middleweight championship later this year. GSP has never fought at 185 lbs. in his UFC career.
The last time we saw St. Pierre was his controversial split decision victory over Johny Hendricks at UFC 167. That was November of 2013. So, assuming this fight does not happen in the next six weeks, St. Pierre will not have lost in the UFC in over 10 years. That loss was the upset to Matt Serra, which was viciously avenged 376 days later.
Ironically, the TKO victory over Serra at UFC 83 was the last time GSP finished an opponent. His win over B.J. Penn at UFC 94 was a corner stoppage. Since then, GSP had defended the welterweight title seven more times, each time winning by decision. The Hendricks win was the only decision that was not unanimous.
Bisping on the other hand, has won his last five fights, including winning the middleweight title over Luke Rockhold at UFC 199 last June. Often regarded as the poster-child for UFC’s United Kingdom fanbase, the win over Rockhold was the last win on US soil for the former Ultimate Fighter winner. “The Count” is one of the more polarizing fighters currently under UFC contract. His mouth is great for sound bites, and it’s always fun to watch it be closed when getting knocked out...thanks Dan Henderson.
Up until the win over Rockhold, Bisping was in that dreaded class of “Best fighter never to have won a UFC title.” The class also included both Diaz brothers (Nate and Nick), Kenny Florian, Diego Sanchez, Glover Teixeira, and Donald Cerrone. Now Nick Diaz did win championships in Strikeforce and the WEC, but when Scott Coker is the president of your organization I wouldn’t recommend touting that championship belt in public.
I discussed St. Pierre’s lack of finishing fights. Over his illustrious career, St. Pierre has been into the “championship rounds” nine times (insert the Ed Rooney soundbite from “Ferris Bueller's Day Off” at your leisure). Bisping has only gone past three rounds four times.
St. Pierre is a polarizing figure due to his tactics of “lay and pray.” One of the most accomplished wrestlers in UFC history, St. Pierre even considered trying out for the Canadian National Wrestling team several times, in hopes to qualify for the Olympic Games. Once GSP has his opponent on the mat, the chances of them getting back up before the end of the round are essentially non-existent.
Bisping on the other hand is a power puncher, who can look like a fish out of water when taken down. He has a history of calling out fighters, then mysteriously something happens to have that fight postponed. Where St. Pierre holds the UFC record for the most wins in title fights (12), Bisping has the record for most controversial decisions in UFC history. He won against Matt Hamill at UFC 75, Thales Leites at UFC Fight Night: Bisping vs. Leites, and most recently the Henderson rematch. All three fights took place in the United Kingdom. The Hamill fight was the UFC equivalent of the WWE’s “Montreal Screwjob,” and whomever thought Bisping was unanimously better than Henderson, despite being rocked several times must have been watching a Bellator card on tape delay.
As you can tell, it’s no secret who I am pulling for in this fight. I just wish it had happened a few years ago, before GSP tore his ACL in training, and Bisping was more of a fighter than a second-rate commentator.
-JC24