St. Pierre Restores Order in the Welterweight Division
It was a little over a year ago that Matt Serra shocked the world beating Georges St. Pierre to become Welterweight Champion of the UFC. Some say it was the biggest upset in the history of the UFC and others claimed it was a fluke. No matter how you looked at it, Serra had the belt and St. Pierre had questions to answer about his lack luster performance.
For the next 12 months St. Pierre had to prove to the world and himself that he had the mental toughness to be a true champion. Critics everywhere said he had the physical abilities to be the best fighter ever if he could simply get his mind right. St. Pierre, known to his fans as GSP, did just that. He dealt with his personal issues, started working with a sports psychologist, and revamped his management and training partners.
GSP started his journey back to the belt by beating Josh Koscheck at UFC 74 becoming the #1 contender to the winner of the upcoming championship fight at UFC 79 between Matt Serra and Matt Hughes.
That fight however, never happened due to a serious back injury to Serra leaving his future as a fighter in jeopardy. That meant someone had to step up and fight Hughes and that fight would be for the interim welterweight title due to the uncertain return of Matt Serra. Of course, St. Pierre jumped at the opportunity and he found himself in a title fight sooner than he had originally planned. The fight became a reality and the two former champs went to war for the third time.
GSP walked through Matt Hughes with a second round submission victory that made him interim champion. St. Pierre was not satisfied with this honor. He had unfinished business with Serra and he hoped Serra would recover giving him a chance to redeem himself and end the questions about his mental toughness.
Fortunately for St. Pierre, Serra was able to recover from the injury and UFC President, Dana White, set the bout for April 19th in St. Pierre's hometown of Montreal, Canada. In a sold-out arena in front of over 21,000 screaming Canadian fans, GSP imposed his will on Serra, and in just under 10 minutes defeated the champ to reclaim his title.
Serra had no answers for the younger, quicker and stronger St. Pierre and after the fight, both fighters showed class giving each other the proper respect they both deserved. The sold-out house of GSP fans got exactly what they wanted and St. Pierre lifted a huge weight off his shoulders and restored order in the welterweight division.
By Dave Hiza - Between Rounds
Anderson Silva: Pound for Pound the Best Fighter in the World
Anderson Silva traveled to Columbus, Ohio with one goal in mind. That goal was to beat Pride’s middleweight champion Dan Henderson at UFC 82: Pride of a Champion on March 1, 2008.
Like every other 185lb fighter he has faced so far in the UFC, Silva took control of the fight and won via submission at 4:52 of round 2. This unified the Pride and UFC middleweight belts and gave Dan Henderson his second straight loss in the octagon.
With this victory, it is safe to say, “Anderson Silva is pound for pound the best fighter in the world.” He has cleaned out the middleweight division in the UFC and hasn’t gone past the second round inside the octagon.
People try to make the argument that Fedor should still be considered the best in the world. Those critics need to face the facts and realize Fedor has not fought a top heavyweight in over two years and his competition has been sub par. Anderson on the otherhand, has defended his belt against the top middleweights in MMA and made all of them look inferior as far as skills go.
Bottomline: Anderson Silva is the best fighter in the world and after cleaning out the UFC’s middleweight division, there is no telling who the UFC will match him up with next.
