Michael Bisping vs. George St-Pierre Is A Mistake

Michael Bisping vs. George St-Pierre Is A Mistake
March 24, 2017 
By Ryan Porzl

On March 1st, The UFC made the announcement that former UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St-Pierre would return after a near three and a half year hiatus. However, it was also announced that he would be facing current Middleweight Champion Michael Bisping in a fight that's been teased for a couple of months. To say the very least, this has been a polarizing fight with many for it but many against it. As you can see from the title, I'm against it and will explain why this just isn't a mistake but a very bad move that only wields benefits short term while being harmful in the long term.



To start with the most obvious reason, GSP simply doesn't deserve a title shot. Now, if this was an immediate Welterweight title shot then that would make perfect sense as St-Pierre never lost the title and relinquished it so it would make sense for him to challenge for that belt. St-Pierre does indeed deserve an immediate title shot...just not in this weight class. What has St-Pierre even done to earn a Middleweight title shot? At the time of writing, St-Pierre is entering his 15th anniversary as an MMA fighter while having fought for the UFC for the past 13 years which has included 27 overall fights with 21 in the UFC but has never once competed in Middleweight either in the UFC or outside of it. Even worse is St-Pierre is coming off a three and a half year hiatus. Even at Welterweight, you could argue he doesn't even deserve an immediate shot there given how long he's been gone. Three and a half years can be a lifetime in sports and in some cases, an athlete's prime. The fact that St-Pierre took a three and a half year break only to come back to not only get a title shot but in a division he's never fought it before is ridiculous. Meanwhile, there's far more deserving individuals like Yoel Romero, Jacare Souza, and Gegard Mousasi. Romero is undefeated in UFC's middleweight division with eight wins in a row including wins over former Strikeforce Middleweight Title contender Tim Kennedy, former Strikeforce Middleweight Champion Jacare Souza, former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion & Middleweight Title contender Lyoto Machida, and more recently former UFC Middleweight Champion Chris Weidman. I know some have argued about Romero's doping violation but he served a six month suspension a year ago and followed with the win over Weidman. Souza is currently 7-1 in the UFC and on a two fight win streak with his one loss to date being a very close and controversial loss to Romero while he holds wins over former UFC Middleweight Title Contender Yushin Okami, Gegard Mousasi, and Former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion & Middleweight Title Contender Vitor Belfort. Gegard Mousasi is currently riding a four fight win streak with wins over former Title Contenders Thales Leites & Vitor Belfort as well as avenging a previous loss to Ultimate Fighter runner up Uriah Hall. He's set to face Weidman in April which, should he win, would put him on a five fight win streak. These three should be getting title shots before St-Pierre and Romero has been considered the number one contender by just about everyone from fans to journalist to people in the fight community before the Bisping/St-Pierre announcement.

This fight also doesn't do much for Bisping despite his lobbying for it. The only benefit Bisping gains is a fat paycheck but that's it. Short term, Bisping does stand to gain but long term, it's a terrible move on his part. Yes, Bisping potentially makes more money fighting St-Pierre than Romero but that's it and money comes & goes. Bisping gains nothing else from it and the minuses far outweigh the pluses. If he beats St-Pierre, so what? He will have beaten an undersized opponent, a natural welterweight, and someone coming off a three and a half year break. A loss means he will have lost to an undersized opponent, a natural welterweight, and someone coming off a three and a half year break. Bisping is also destroying his legacy by doing this. Bisping has never been the most loved MMA fighter outside his native England and has usually been one of MMA's biggest "villains" but a lot of people were happy when he upset Luke Rockhold to win the UFC Middleweight Championship given his long road to even getting a title shot much less the title. Ten long years of up and downs along with coming up short in every title eliminator fight he was ever in all the while being the best example of someone in the UFC who was so close and yet so far before FINALLY getting the opportunity and making the most of it. Now, any goodwill he got, he's since flushed away with these "money fights". First, it was against an aging 46 year old Dan Henderson and now it's St-Pierre. While it's understandable Bisping wants to make as much money as he can given combat sports doesn't have a big window in terms of careers, Bisping is making himself out to be one of the most cowardly MMA champion of all time whether he means to or not. Bisping's been champion for nearly a full year and has yet to defend his title against a top contender instead deciding on an aging legend and a legend coming off a long absence that usually fights in a division lower than his. At least with Henderson, it made some sense as Henderson was retiring after nearly two decades of fighting and the two had history with Henderson beating Bisping seven years earlier at UFC 100 with one of the most famous knockouts in MMA history. There's no excuse for this one. Regardless of whether he means to or not, Bisping comes off as someone ducking the biggest competition in his division and someone prostituting himself for a quick buck.

Like Bisping, The UFC also stands to get a short term gain but is a disaster in the long term. Like Bisping, UFC stand to make a lot of money but at what cost? The UFC has already had three questionable title fights over the last six months with this fight being the fourth while also being the second with Bisping. In October, Dan Henderson got an undeserved Middleweight Title fight against Bisping. In November, Featherweight Champion Conor McGregor talked his way into an undeserved Lightweight Title shot against Eddie Alveraz despite never having fought at lightweight in the UFC at that time and created a log jam in featherweight with this fight and his two fights with Nate Diaz. In December, Ronda Rousey got an immediate undeserved Women's Bantamweight Title shot against Amanda Nunes despite not having fought in thirteen months and was coming off getting thrashed at the hands of Holly Holm. Nothing wrong with money fights as MMA is a business and you have to walk a fine line as it's about making money but there has to be some "purity" to the sport. Those fights need to be spread around instead of one after another. By doing this, The UFC is pretty saying there's no standards with title shots as long as you're a legend or have a gift for gab. It's well known that WME purchased The UFC for four billion dollars and are trying to recoup the losses but constantly throwing one big money fight after another just hurts them in the long run. In the long run, this will be a nightmare the UFC may not be able to wake up from. Their image will suffer irreparable damage as their big thing since purchasing PRIDE in 2007 was they were the place where the best fight the best in the world. How many times did UFC President Dana White proclaim that The UFC was the place where the best fought the best three times a year? Now, it's the place where the best fight whoever makes them the most money. How many times did The UFC and it's supporters bash the sport of Boxing or other MMA promotions for doing this? People usually look at this type of fight making as the biggest reason why Boxing declined in the 2000s and why people made the "Boxing is dead" claims. The UFC has begun falling into that same trap. Even worse, The UFC is also cultivating an atmosphere where the inmates are starting to run the asylum. More and more, we're seeing fighters more interesting in "money fights" instead of facing top competition. Bisping is nowhere near the only champion pulling these stunts. Conor McGregor is the worst of the bunch to date as he won the UFC Featherweight Title in November 2015 only to cause problems within it by making no intentions of defending his title and never did as he spent 2016 going after the Lightweight Title which resulted in two fights with Nate Diaz until winning it from Alvarez this past November. Since then, McGregor has basically done what he did at Featherweight by creating a potential logjam while not making any plans to defend his title. Instead, he toyed with the idea of a Welterweight Title fight with Tyron Woodley and is now pursuing a boxing fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr. Speaking of Woodley, he too has shown more interest in money fights over defending against contenders as he showed reluctance to face top contender Stephen Thompson before facing him twice.

This fight also hurts morale in the UFC. Fighters are likely going to get more and more frustrated when fighters get undeserved title shots. Jacare Souza has already gone on record with his frustration and stated he has no problem walking away and retiring if a title shot continues to elude him. Souza is probably far from the only one as there's probably many fighters who are getting frustrated by being overlooked in favor of money fights. Bellator and ONE continue to do well and Rizin is now around so there's other places for fighters to go. If they feel overlooked, they can go elsewhere. Some of the fighters know the people behind the other companies. Guys like Souza, Gegard Mousasi, and other Strikeforce alumni could always reach out to Scott Coker and see if they can get something in Bellator. Fighters who are Japanese or who know the old PRIDE execs could potentially get a gig in Rizin. Fighters have already begun testing the open market with some leaving after getting better deals so it's safe to say if they keep getting passed up then they'll go somewhere else. What's the worse that could happen? They're not fighting the best? Well, some champions aren't either.

Lastly, I can't speak for anybody else but GSP/Bisping doesn't come off as a dream fight or some big "money fight". Granted, I don't frequently go on MMA forums like Sherdog's but this fight didn't seem like one fans were clamoring for before it was announced. Honestly, there's better and more interesting fights out there. For GSP, it would be more interesting to see him face Tyron Woodley for the belt he never lost especially given how dominate he was in the Welterweight division for so many years. If GSP wants to fight in the Middleweight division then a fight with Johny Hendricks and while Hendricks isn't the same fighter he was three years ago, GSP hasn't fought since and their last fight was a controversial decision in GSP's favor so why not settle it once and for all? As for Bisping, title defenses with Romero and Souza are far better. Not only that but if The UFC wants to put Bisping in there with a legend then maybe Anderson Silva who is back in the winners circle and though Bisping holds a win over him, it was considered controversial with some thinking Silva should've won. Honestly, this fight just seems to have little reward and UFC could make better ones without doing another "money fight" so quickly.

Most of us all look forward to the return of the man most consider the greatest Welterweight of all time but this isn't the fight he should be returning to. It's also a headache that The UFC and Bisping could've avoided and may haunt them in the long run. It'll be interesting to see how it plays out but continuing down this road could hurt the UFC and it may too late once they realize it.