All-time great and two-weight class UFC champion Georges St. Pierre is finally going to the Hall of Fame.
Promotion officials announced during UFC 249 that Canada’s GSP, who held gold at welterweight, and later middleweight, will be inducted into their Hall of Fame, Class of 2020. St. Pierre will join the Hall’s Modern Wing.
“Georges St-Pierre is a pioneer of Canadian MMA who helped build the sport globally,” UFC President Dana White said in a press release subsequently distributed to media outlets. “He is the most famous athlete to ever come out of Canada and one of the greatest martial artists of all-time. We’re proud to induct him into the UFC Hall of Fame Class of 2020.”
St. Pierre (26-2) joined the UFC in 2004, winning his first two fights with the promotion. His third would come against Matt Hughes, with the vacant 170lb title on the line. GSP would come up short, finding himself submitted via an arm-bar. It was the first of just two career losses, both of which he would later avenge.
After falling to Hughes, the Canadian would win five straight fights, including a title eliminator with B.J. Penn. That cashed his ticket to a rematch with Hughes, where he’d win the welterweight title for the first time. However, a shock upset against Matt Serra, coming off a win on The Ultimate Fighter, saw GSP lose the belt in his first title defense.
He never lost again. St. Pierre defeated Josh Koscheck, won an interim title in a third fight with Hughes, then decimated Matt Serra in their rematch to reclaim the 170lb title. He would defend it on nine consecutive occasions, defeating the likes of Carlos Condit, Nick Diaz, Penn and Koscheck again, Jake Shields, Jon Fitch, Dan Hardy, and others — all in their prime.
He became a star in Quebec, welcomed MMA to Ontario with a massive fight at the Skydome (in 2011, against Shields), and became on of the biggest international stars the UFC had ever seen.
Then, after speaking out on the UFC’s lack of drug testing, and following a close fight with Johnny Hendricks at UFC 167 in 2013, he walked away from the sport. While not officially saying he was retired, St. Pierre stayed gone for four years — before returning in 2017, for a single fight against middleweight champ Michael Bisping at UFC 217.
GSP submitted the British champ, claiming a title in a second weight class. He later relinquished the belt. After a potential fight with Khabib Nurmagomedov fell through last year, he officially retired from the sport.
St. Pierre is one of only seven fighters in UFC history to hold titles in two weight classes. His owns the record for most strikes landed (2,591), most takedowns (90), is second in title fight wins (13), and third overall for wins in UFC history (20).
