Kamaru Usman targeting Georges St. Pierre if he wins at UFC 251

Mar 2, 2019; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Tyron Woodley (red gloves) and Kamaru Usman (blue gloves) during UFC 235 at T-Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports

Tonight, the UFC will be taking center stage at Fight Island. In the main event you have the Nigerian Nightmare and UFC welterweight champion, Kamaru Usman (16-1), taking on the BMF Jorge “Gamebred” Masvidal (35-13).

Yesterday, both men took the podium after weigh-ins to answer some questions. Kamaru Usman was asked during the scrum about what’s next if he defeats Masvidal. While Usman insisted that he’s not looking past Masvidal, there’s one name that really peaks his interest.

“I would love Georges St. Pierre. It took him 1875 days to win 12 consecutive fights and after I beat Masvidal on Saturday, it would have taken me exactly 1875 days to win 12 consecutive fights. What better way to break the record than to fight the man,” Usman said of St. Pierre

Calling out the UFC’s welterweight GOAT

I don’t think there’s any argument against Georges St. Pierre (26-2) being the greatest welterweight in UFC history. The former two-time champion successfully defended the UFC title nine times. Following the ninth defense, St. Pierre walked away from the sport.

Four years after that, GSP returned and captured the middleweight title at UFC 217. Following that fight, St. Pierre said that he was retiring from the sport. However, in recent years, St. Pierre has teased that he would come back to the sport. Granted the only fight that was interesting to him was dropping to 155 pounds and facing Khabib Nurmagomedov.

That fight would be much more appealing than Usman for St. Pierre. GSP could win a belt in a third weight class against Nurmagomedov. There’s really not a ton to gain in him coming back to fight the Nigerian Nightmare. While I can definitely understand Usman’s desire to fight the GOAT, I don’t see that being a realistic possibility.