History was made earlier this evening as long-term welterweight kingpin (and one of the greatest fighters the sport has ever known) indefinitely hung up his gloves and vacated his UFC belt.
Georges ‘Rush’ St-Pierre (25-2) gave back the belt which he has called his own since April ’08 and took an indefinite hiatus from the sport in an attempt to overcome some personal issues the two-time world champion is going through.
GSP’s decision has somewhat rocked the UFC. Known as the promotions highest selling PPV star the company will undoubtedly take this loss particularly hard. There are some upsides though.
Georges has not formally retired from MMA nor the UFC, meaning he could be back at any time (depending on his mental state). The UFC will have a blockbuster on their hands if their golden boy does someday make a return to the sport. At 32 years old this is not unfeasible. The champion at the time defending his belt against the greatest welterweight of all time, who never lost the belt in the first place. It all adds up to cash!
The biggest plus is that the Welterweight division has now become one of the most stacked and up in the air divisions in the UFC. The now vacant belt will first be put on the line at UFC 171 in a main event fight consisting of Johny Hendricks (15-2) and Robbie Lawler (22-9).
A lot of fans, media, fighters and UFC brass alike already felt that Hendricks was the uncrowned champion after seemingly outpointing St-Pierre last month at UFC 167 only to lose out on the judges scorecards. It’s only fitting that the next time the title will be contested it will feature ‘Bigg Rigg’.
Robbie Lawler has been a special case. Bursting onto the scene way back in 2002 at UFC 37, ‘Ruthless’ Robbie won his first three inside the octagon before going on to lose 3 of 4 and being cut from the UFC in 2004. It took nine years and eighteen fights, but Lawler made his way back to the big show and has been unstoppable since returning in February, picking up wins over Josh Koscheck (KO), Bobby Voelker (KO) and GSP protege Rory Macdonald (SD) to earn him his shot.
With Hendricks owning 8 KO’s in 15 wins and Robbie owning 18 in 22 this one should be one hell of a title fight that fans the world over are salivating at the thought of. Add to that, that on the same night the new champ will be crowned, perennial contender Carlos Condit will fight an as of yet to be determined opponent and top ranked guys Hector Lombard and Jake Shields will go head to head and we have a division starting to churn out potential new champions and contenders at every turn.
Add guys like Rory Macdonald, Jake Ellenberger, Tarec Saffiedine, Demian Maia, Tyron Woodley, Matt Brown, Dong Hyun Kim, Erick Silva, Gunner Nelson, Thiago Alves, Martin Kampmann and the chance of a return from Nick Diaz to the mix and you have one deeply talented pool of guys looking to take the next step.
The Welterweight division just became the one to watch in 2014!
Gregg Mullen
