Doubtless one of many greatest ‘what-if’ fights within the historical past of the UFC is an excellent conflict between Georges St-Pierre and Khabib Nurmagomedov, nevertheless, former middleweight champion, Robert Whittaker has speculated the previous would possess an excessive amount of on the ft — and in any order division for the Russian to beat of their respective primes.
St-Pierre, a former undisputed welterweight champion who returned from his swansong to then seize the undisputed middleweight crown, formally retired from fight sports activities competitors following the second of these title wins again in 2019.
Nonetheless, within the time since, the Canadian megastar has been linked with a slew of second-retirement snapping returns, within the type of one other superfight towards ex-two-weight champion, Conor McGregor, and even one other welterweight title pursuit towards then-welterweight kingpin, Tyron Woodley.
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And certain probably the most notable of these profitable pairings was a recommended catchweight conflict between St-Pierre and former undisputed light-weight champion and fellow Corridor of Fame inductee, Nurmagomedov — in the end to no avail.
Robert Whittaker picks Georges St-Pierre to beat Khabib Nurmagomedov
Nonetheless, in line with former middleweight titleholder, Whittaker, if St-Pierre really ever competed towards a first-rate Nurmagomedov — he would seemingly have handed the Dagestani star his first and solely blended martial arts defeat.
“I think prime GSP (Georges St-Pierre) beats Khabib (Nurmagomedov),” Robert Whittaker mentioned on the MMArcade podcast “I feel GSP’s far more well-rounded. I feel he’s received the wrestling and the Jiu-Jitsu to sort of take away quite a lot of Nurmagomedov’s strengths.
Whittaker’s claims come sizzling on the heels of feedback from St-Pierre final 12 months, through which he revealed a possible 2020 pairing between the duo was within the works, through which he claimed he would’ve seemingly gained, as well.
“I think Khabib (Nurmagomedov) could have beat me, I’m not saying I could beat Khabib all the time,” Georges St-Pierre mentioned throughout an look on the Pound-4-Pound podcast. “I was confident enough to take that fight that I was thinking that if I take that fight, I’m going to beat him that day at that particular place, that doesn’t mean I will beat him all the time. But I was confident – maybe I’m wrong.”
“I think I would have beat him because if he would have come to put pressure on me, I would have put him down,” Georges St-Pierre defined. “I would have the confidence to try to go for it. …I think that I would have maybe been the first guy that he fought or one of the only guys that would have tried to put him down, and I’ve put down everybody that I’ve fought.”
