Georges St. Pierre

By Joshua Molina
In case you didn’t know it, Georges St. Pierre returns this Saturday to fight Carlos Condit for the undisputed Welterweight Championship of the world.

The UFC has spent millions of dollars on the promotion of this fight, all built around the return of GSP, who is probably UFC’s most popular and marketable star.

The UFC in China on Fuel TV show doubled as a promotion for the return of GSP, with every other commercial seemingly showing GSP training and demonstrating his athletic prowess by running, running and doing more running. (We get it; he’s in shape).
The UFC really needs to figure out a new way to market and promote GSP. The uber-athlete, well-conditioned, muscular ball of iron gimmick is really overplayed, now like 5 fights in a row.
Maybe it’s because they don’t have a lot of recent footage of him knocking anybody out?

Condit is of course playing a bit part in the story of GSP’s return and lead-up to a superfight with Anderson Silva sometime next year. Condit has a chance to ruin a lot of the UFC’s plans. On one hand, he has a chance to play spoiler, but he also a chance to be the guy who finally dethrones St. Pierre, who has won nine straight and hasn’t lost since 2007.

It will be nice to see GSP finally get back inside the cage. We are all tired of seeing him on a treadmill.
Pound-for-pound great Anderson Silva made headlines by saying he doesn’t want to fight until late 2013. The UFC should give him the time off if he wants it. No need for White to play hardball with Silva, considering that Silva has been close to untouchable, with the exception of the first Chael Sonnen fight.

Silva also saved the UFC by stepping in to fight (embarrass) Stephan Bonnar, on a card plagued by injuries.

White should play with Silva. Stripping him of the title or crowning an interim champ won’t help. The UFC has plenty of big fights that it could make without needing Silva, who outside of fighting Chael Sonnen, isn’t a big draw anyway.

Sonnen, by the way, continues to verbally assault anyone he wants to. Sonnen congratulated Ronda Rousey for likely becoming the first UFC women’s champ once Strikeforce ends in January and then delivered this zinger: “Another fighter in the UFC who Rampage can’t beat,” referring to Rampage Jackson. Jackson recently slapped Sonnen around for his fighting style, saying he wouldn’t want to fight Sonnen because the former All-American Division 1 wrestler would just want to “hump” him.

Strikeforce Bantamweight champion Rousey is rumored to become the first women’s world champion in the UFC after Jan. 12. TMZ broke the story last week, sparking a lot of bitterness among other female fighters.

Miesha Tate said publicly yesterday that Rousey really didn’t do a lot to get women’s MMA off the ground. This may be true, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t deserve the credit she is getting from the sport’s power brokers and mainstream media.

Tate had her chance to change the course of history, but she tapped out during that moment. Tate fought Rousey tougher than anyone else has, outside of Judo competition, but she still lost. Rousey was in the right place at the right time, with the ability to back it up when it mattered.

The best thing Tate can do is start calling Rousey out and demand a title shot. If she wants to knock Rousey off her throne, Tate is in a position to do so.

The female fighters in Strikeforce should band together and not blame Rousey for her success. This is a time of sisterhood because it’s a breakthrough.
Women will likely be able to earn more money now and if UFC boss Dana White is serious about promoting women’s MMA (even after Rousey gets KO’d by Cyborg or someone else) then Rousey’s success should be celebrated, not used an opportunity for an unnecessary catfight.

Finally, all 42 World Series of Fighting fighters tested negative for performance enhancement drugs. By the looks of some of the bodies on that show, is anyone surprised?