One of the biggest fights ever that got away from us, was Georges St-Pierre vs Khabib Nurmagomedov.
It’s a fight that over the years has been rumored and spoken about by both fighters, but unfortunately just never came to fruition.
The history of Georges St-Pierre vs Khabib Nurmagomedov
The first time this fight surfaced as a possibility was back in 2018, a year after the Canadian retired after winning the middleweight title against Michael Bisping at UFC 217.
Georges ‘Rush’ St-Pierre explained in an interview with valuetainment last year, that he asked the UFC if he could come back and have that fight, but the UFC rejected the idea as they had different plans for the Dagestani champion at the time.
Although both Khabib Nurmagomedov and St-Pierre were on board, the promotion didn’t allow for the fight to materialize because they wanted ‘The Eagle’ to be as active as possible.
Even more recently, the matchup seemed like it could happen, but in grappling instead of MMA. Despite that, it once again didn’t come to fruition.
St-Pierre reveals what his gameplan would’ve been in an MMA fight against Nurmagomedov
Talking on the Pound 4 Pound podcast this week with Kamaru Usman and Henry Cejudo, the 42-year-old spoke about the dream super fight against Khabib and revealed how he would’ve approached the Russian puzzle.
“My strategy if I would’ve gone against Khabib, would be to keep the fight as much as I can in the middle and not being afraid to go for takedowns. I would’ve maybe been one of the only ones who would’ve tried to take him down. I’ve put down everyone that I’ve fought.” St-Pierre said.
Although many have tried, only two succeeded with Gleison Tibau and Abel Trujillo being the only ones to take Khabib down throughout his 13 UFC fights.
“I think I would’ve beat him because if he would’ve come to put pressure on me, I would’ve put him down. I would have the confidence to try to go for a takedown.” the 42-year-old added.
Being known for his relentless and controlling wrestling style, Nurmagomedov’s striking was subject to a lot of criticism throughout his UFC tenure. Despite that, he did score a knockdown in his grudge match with Conor McGregor, connecting with a big overhand right.
“Khabib has a very good overhand right and he’s very good at measuring distance and creating a dilemma in the mind of his opponent, between a takedown and an overhand right.” GSP told Usman and Cejudo.
“He’s at his most dangerous when he puts you with your back against the fence because he’s a master at chain wrestling. My style is different, my style is more in the middle I’m very good at using fakes and creating distractions to get to your legs, I’m more of a dynamic guy.” GSP added.
The reason this fight was highly sought after by the fans, is because of how competitive it would’ve been, with both former champions being extremely dominant. Unfortunately, time has now passed with this being one of the biggest ‘what ifs’ in MMA history.