Ask anyone to name the greatest mixed martial artists of all time and it won’t take long before you hear the name Georges St-Pierre.
St-Pierre faced and defeated tough opposition during his legendary welterweight title run before he returned to the Octagon at UFC 217 to win the middleweight belt.
With UFC 315 taking place at the Bell Center in Montreal on May 10, the former champion is in town with St-Pierre previously weighing in on Saturday’s main event.
‘Rush’ also took part in a fan Q&A event on fight week where he was joined by several fellow legends of Canadian MMA, including Rory MacDonald who reflected on his remarkable career.
St-Pierre was asked by one fan to list off the fighters that would make it onto his MMA Mount Rushmore and though he named many of the usual suspects, his top pick was somewhat surprising.
Georges St-Pierre names Royce Gracie as the top spot on his MMA Mount Rushmore
The MMA Mount Rushmore is always going to be something that’s debated by fans but it’s always interesting to get the opinion of a legend like Georges St-Pierre.
For starters, if you’re sticking to just four spots, it’s incredibly hard to argue that ‘Rush’ isn’t making his way in even if there are compelling cases for other iconic competitors.
The greatest welterweight of all time has the third most consecutive title defenses in UFC history at nine so his credentials speak for themselves.
But, with ‘GSP’ removing himself from the running, he listed four names that you’d usually expect to see in the running.
“Well, there’s a lot of guys that can be there. First, Jon Jones, Demetrious Johnson, Anderson Silva, Khabib [Nurmagomedov].”
St-Pierre went on to make an argument for three other candidates who also deserve to be highlighted, even if one of them never competed in the UFC.
“Also, [Conor] McGregor could be there because he brought the sport to a different level. Prime Jose Aldo, prime Fedor Emelianenko, there’s a lot of guys that could be there.”
After St-Pierre had finished his list, he quickly realized that he’d left off the most important name.
David Loiseau, who was the first French-speaking Canadian to fight in the UFC having debuted in 2003, raised another fighter that has to be in the conversation.
St-Pierre didn’t just agree that the man who started it all in many ways should get a mention, he named him as the top pick.
“Royce Gracie, for me, is my number one.”
Georges St-Pierre could have a pivotal role at UFC 315
Georges St-Pierre isn’t just in attendance for UFC 315 fight week to speak to the fans, he has an important duty to attend to on fight night itself.
The former two-weight champion will be cornering his teammate, Aiemann Zahabi, as the Montreal native takes on the aforementioned Jose Aldo.
However, that might not be the only time that St-Pierre steps inside the Octagon at the Bell Center after he stated that it would be an “honor” to wrap the welterweight belt around the winner of the main event.
Belal Muhammad is set to defend the 170 pound title against Jack Della Maddalena and who knows, maybe the UFC will try to get ‘Rush’ to put the winner over.