Georges "Rush" St-Pierre also known as GSP has announced that he will be holding a press conference in Montreal this Friday to fill in everyone on his plans in the UFC.
GSP has been a force to be reckoned since he began his MMA career. His very first pro fight was against tough MMA veteran Ivan Menjivar back in 2002. Two years later he made his UFC debut against Judo expert Karo Parysian at UFC 46 in 2004. He won that fight and then followed up with a TKO victory over Jay Hieron at UFC 48.
After successfully rolling past his first two opponents in the UFC, GSP was granted a title fight at UFC 50 with the reigning bad man at 170 lbs at the time, Matt Hughes. When we watched that fight we learned that the young man that was challenging for the title was going to be the future of the UFC's welterweight division, but it was not to happen on that night. St-Pierre was submitted at the 4:59 mark of the first round with an armbar that he tapped to immediately.
After losing to Hughes at UFC 50 he made his return at UFC 52 against Jason "Mayhem" Miller and won a pretty clear cut decision over Miller. That fight was followed by another challenge that GSP concurred, a match with Frank "Twinkle Toes" Trigg who was at that time the most recent opponent that Hughes had defended his title against. GSP was able to submit Trigg with the same choke that Hughes had finished him with. With another successful victory in the books, Sean Sherk was the next man that the UFC put in front of the red-hot rising star from Canada. GSP was able to finish Sherk in the second round via TKO due to strikes. Next up for St-Pierre was a hungry Penn who was looking to make a successful return to the UFC since he won the UFC Welterweight title two years earlier. St-Pierre went on to win a successful split decision victory over Penn.
With a win over BJ Penn GSP was able to gain a second title shot against Matt Hughes in November 2006 at UFC 65. St-Pierre would go on to take the title from Matt Hughes on that very night as he stunned Hughes in the second round to gain a TKO victory over the the UFC's most dominant Welterweight Champion.
This fight would begin GSP's first UFC title reign. For St-Pierre the title reign would be he short-lived as he has a hungry challenger waiting to snatch the title up from underneath him. His first title defense would be against the TUF 4 winner Matt Serra. Serra caught "Rush" in the first round and went on to earn a TKO victory in the first round.
After that defeat, St-Pierre would have to fight his way back to a title shot with Serra. He then met TUF 1 alumni, Josh Koscheck. He defeated Koscheck via unanimous decision. His next test would be his third meeting with Former UFC Welterweight Champion Matt Hughes. He defeated Hughes with the same move that Hughes beat him with in their first bout.
After defeating Hughes by submission in the second round, it was time for GSP to face off with Serra again. In that fight St-Pierre showed up with a a new found fire in his eyes that led him to TKO Serra with a vicious series of knees to the body that caused the referee to end the fight and GSP to gain his title back. St-Pierre was scheduled to face Jon Fitch as his first challenger since getting the title back. St. Pierre went on to earn a decision victory over Fitch earning his first successful title defense. While St-Pierre was making his mark in the UFC's Welterweight division, former UFC Welterweight Champion, BJ had won the UFC Lightweight Championship. The UFC put on it's first super fight as St-Pierre was placed against Penn in a fight for the UFC Welterweight title. GSP went on to win a TKO victory when Penn couldn't answer the bell at the beginning of the fifth round at UFC 94.
After his victory over Penn, the challengers continued to pile up and GSP began to knock them down. Thiago Alves at UFC 100, Dan Hardy at UFC 111, Josh Koscheck at UFC 124, Jake Shields at UFC 129, Carlos Condit and UFC 154 and Nate Diaz at UFC 158. All of those men suffered the same fate at the hands of Georges "Rush" St-Pierre. It wasn't until UFC 167 that we would see GSP struggle with an opponent in a fight. To put it as simple as possible, GSP got beat up. He even admitted it himself.He went on to win a split decision that many experts have disputed and thought belonged to his challenger, Johnny Hendricks.
After the fight, a flustered St-Pierre stated that he needed to take some time off from the sport to deal with some personal issues. Since then we have had no confirmation of whether or not he was going to retire or give Hendricks a rematch for the title. This Friday we will find out if we have seen the las of GSP in the Octagon.
Should UFC Champ Georges St-Pierre retire this Friday?--Rough Spar MMA
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