UFC 217: Career Rundown - Georges St. Pierre

GSP. Three letters that are etched into the minds of any MMA purist as a moderniser of the UFC's welterweight division, becoming arguably the most dominant champion in the division's history. However, following the recent explosion in popularity of the UFC, largely due to the success of the likes of Conor McGregor and Ronda Rousey, there may be a generation of younger fans unaware of the significance of the small French-Canadian.

So for them, as much as anyone else, let me spell out why Georges St-Pierre is one of the best true mixed martial artists in history. From the age of seven, GSP trained in the full contact Kyokushin form of karate, claiming his first All-Canadian junior championship at just 11 years old, and retaining the title for five consecutive years from 1992 to 1996. This martial arts training expanded into Brazilian jiu-jitsu, wrestling and boxing by the time St-Pierre was 16, leading to the Canadian becoming a professional fighter in 2002.

Having gone 5-0 in his native Quebec, with all coming before the final bell, GSP was called up to the big leagues in 2004, making his UFC debut against Karo Parisyan at the end of January. Nine months and two victories later, he got his first experience of challenging for gold.

GSP's career has been largely dominated by a series of intense rivalries, some more heated and bitter than others. The one that saw him break onto the scene was against Matt Hughes, the former welterweight champion, who was hailed as a pioneer of the division. While 'Rush' suffered his first career defeat in their first encounter at UFC 50, he would gain redemption for the loss about two years later, in a moment that many see as a 'passing of the torch'.

With Hughes coming into the twilight of his career, albeit at the relatively young age of 33, GSP pounced, with the now iconic head-kick and punches combination enough to hand the Canadian his first title. This would be the first of 12 wins in title fights - a record that remains today.

However, this reign would not last long, as St-Pierre would fall foul of one of the biggest shocks in UFC history. After the conclusion of the Ultimate Fighter: Redemption series, Matt Serra was handed a shot at the welterweight title, though few suspected he would come close to matching GSP. Despite going in at odds of 7/1, Serra dropped 'Rush' with a strong jab, before finishing him with ground and pound in the first round. This would be the last time that the Canadian tasted defeat, gaining a measure of redemption over Serra at UFC 83 to start his second, and final, title reign.

Interestingly, despite being in the organisation for the combined time of more than 20 years, GSP has only been on the same card as his UFC 217 opponent Michael Bisping on two occasions. Having shared the stage with the Brit as he reclaimed his title from Serra, the last time was more than eight years ago, at UFC 100, where the pair enjoyed rather differing fortunes.

The Canadian has long been known as one of MMA's 'nice guys', refusing to get drawn into trash talking, regardless of the jibes being thrown his way. He has certainly had to take his fair share of shade from the likes of Josh Koscheck during his time coaching The Ultimate Fighter, and Jason 'Mayhem' Miller, but none matches the feisty attitude of Nick Diaz in the run-up to his title defence at UFC 158.

True to character, the Stockton native was relentless in his attempts to get under the skin of GSP, criticising everything from his management to his corner team. In particular, he questioned a number of the Canadian's practices in previous fights, including the now notorious 'greasing' during the UFC 94 title defence against BJ Penn. As usual, this did little to affect the calm demeanour of St-Pierre, who again conducted a technical masterclass to win a comfortable unanimous decision.

There was little comfortable about his final bout against Johny Hendricks, however. The power-puncher was able to land repeated shots on GSP like no-one before, creating swelling under both eyes, as well as numerous cuts and bruises on his face. To the neutral, it certainly appeared that the Canadian had finally relinquished his title, but the judges disagreed. Both Sal D'Amato and Tony Weeks saw the fight 48-47 in favour of St-Pierre, handing him the split decision win.

It's worth mentioning that this was nearly four years ago, since which time GSP has struggled with a number of personal problems outside the cage. While the much ridiculed 'alien' encounter has taken the headlines, St-Pierre himself has talked about battles with anxiety and depression. These conditions can be debilitating for people living regular lives, so one can only imagine the impact they had on the former champion.

But as he enters the cage in New York City, it does raise a few questions. How will he cope under the pressure and the big lights once again. Will ring rust play any part in the early rounds? And will his decision to move to middleweight come back to bite him, particularly coming in against a bigger man in Michael Bisping?

It's set to be a barnstorming main event, but which way do you think it will go? Let me know your thoughts either in the comments or on Twitter @TheWeighInMMA.

MMA Awards: The Case For... Cub Swanson vs Doo Ho Choi

Matchmakers have a notoriously difficult job. Much like referees, they go largely unnoticed if they do their role properly, but it is extremely obvious when they get it wrong. However, there are those infrequent moments when they get it perfectly right, handing fight fans up and down the world with those perfect contests that last long in the memory.

2016 was a good year for fights across a number of promotions and divisions. Minus perhaps the heavyweights, the argument can certainly be made that in 2017, we now have the deepest array of fighters across all weight classes in the sport's history.

As a result, some of the match-ups seen last year have been truly spectacular, and the winner of the 'Fight of the Year' will have truly earned it.

Often, the best events come from the card with the least hype. Following the juggernaut that was UFC 205, with its stacked card and three title fights, UFC 206 looked very much like the red-headed step child of the family, especially when the initial headliner, Daniel Cormier vs Anthony Johnson, was cancelled due to injury, leaving an awkwardly-shoehorned interim featherweight title bout as the main event.

Step forward the co-main event and third fight of the card. These were two absolute barnburners, with Donald 'Cowboy' Cerrone's picture perfect headkick KO of Matt Brown surprisingly playing second fiddle to the quite ridiculous battle between Cub Swanson and Doo Ho Choi. Though it was touted as a 'fun fight' in the lead-up, few would have expected the 15 minute war that ensued.

Originating from what was considered an ambitious call-out by the Korean Superboy, the fight had been in the works for a while, and was seen as the first real test of Choi's UFC credentials. In the lead-up, most commentators felt that Cub would be one step too far for the youngster, and would ultimately outclass him.

As with most things in the highly unpredictable sport of MMA, they couldn't have been more wrong. While Choi admittedly took a while to warm up, the fight proved to be the very definition of back and forth. Quite honestly, how either of them made it to the final bell with their heads still attached is amazing, such was the power and ferocity of some of the punches thrown. In particular, the Korean Superboy may have one of the best chins in the sport at present, taking an incredible amount of punishment and continuing to survive and throw strikes. I seem to recall one of his countrymen being famous for something similar - Korean Zombie 2.0 anyone?

Perhaps the best thing about the contest, however, is that it demonstrated the best of each of the three main disciplines in MMA, namely kickboxing, wrestling and jiu-jitsu. The feeling throughout was that the fight could be stopped at any moment, with both fighters going through moments of jelly-legged trouble, in addition to submission attempts and battles for positional control. Unsurprisingly, once the crowd caught its breath, it showed its appreciation with a huge standing ovation at the end of the second round.

The real reason that this fight stands out from its competition for this award is that it's the only non-main event contest. Take a look at the list. From Bisping/Silva to Henderson/Chandler, every one of the other fights has benefitted from an enormous amount of promotion as part of the UFC or Bellator's PR machine, meaning that many will have bought their tickets with the express intention of watching the main event. I've seen it first hand at UFC 204 - while Bisping vs Henderson was not by any means an exceptional fight, the atmosphere generated by its significance made it feel all the more entertaining and impressive.

While the Cub/Choi fight received a bit of attention as a main card bout, it was by no means hyped by the UFC, and the fact that it stands out as one of the best fights of the year underlines the quality of the contest itself, rather than benefitting from a more electric atmosphere. There's no doubt that after this fight, both will be in main events in the near future, with Swanson already set to headline against Artem Lobov later this year.

Do you agree with this choice? Let me know your thoughts either in the comments section or on Twitter @TheWeighInMMAChandkler