UFC fans all around the world constantly debate who would win if you paired up champions of today versus champions of yesterday. For example, what would happen if Israel Adesanya fought Anderson Silva when he was in his prime.
One of the fighters that constantly finds himself in those debates is former UFC middleweight and welterweight champion, Georges St. Pierre (26-2). The former champion always finds himself in debates on who would win in pinning him against today’s champions.
A fun debate was always what would happen if a prime GSP took on Khabib Nurmagomedov. While GSP is certainly not in his prime, this is a fight that almost materialized and the UFC tried to make this fight recently.
However, Nurmagomedov is retired and it’s a fight we will never see. Another debate is around whether or not GSP could defeat Kamaru Usman. Could GSP’s style and skills compete with the elite welterweights of today?
Well, one of the best welterweights in the UFC certainly doesn’t think so. Colby Covington (16-2) said this week on the MMA Roasted Podcast that GSP would be light work and said there is no way that GSP could defeat him.
Who’d win in the UFC: GSP or Colby Covington?
Covington said of the former UFC champion, “I don’t think I could beat Georges St-Pierre. I know I’d beat St-Pierre. He was able to take a lot of guys down and hold them down and ground and pound. He’s not taking me down. My cardio is completely different. I’ve never been taken down in the UFC Octagon, so he’s not going to be the first.â€
Covington continued, “His striking was very basic, very kindergarten. He didn’t have a lot of tricks. He just had that really good jab, but that’s pretty easy to counter if you’re moving your head and using footwork. I think Georges St-Pierre would have been a very, extremely easy fight for me.â€
I will say this about what Covington is saying, GSP would definitely have to use more of his striking against today’s UFC welterweights. GSP really relied on taking his opponents down and controlling him during his dominant run.
I just don’t see him being able to take down Covington or Kamaru Usman. That said, I’m not sure they could take GSP down either which means it could become a striking matchup. With that, I do believe GSP could hang with either man.
Do I believe that GSP would be the dominant champion he was in today’s UFC world? No, I really do not. However, I do think he’d be in that mix of the elite along with guys like Usman and Covington. It would’ve been fun to see how a prime GSP would do against these guys who are at the top now.