When the UFC announced that the second UFC Primetime series would feature Georges St. Pierre and Dan Hardy it became clear to me that the Zuffa brass have finally decided who they want as the new face of the UFC brand. It's Georges St. Pierre.
Considering that St. Pierre has been a pretty huge star for a number of years now, it seems strange to say that St. Pierre has just now become the new face of MMA, but although St. Pierre has been a pretty big star for a while, there's always been something else standing between him and superstardom.
On his way to his first UFC title, St. Pierre ran through a murderer's row of elite welterweights of the day, including Sean Sherk, Frank Trigg, and BJ Penn. Before he won the title, many people including then-champion Matt Hughes declared that St. Pierre was the future of the division.
When St. Pierre defeated Matt Hughes, it appeared that St. Pierre was ready to settle in as the dominant welterweight in the world, but a loss in his first title defense to Matt Serra made people wonder if he they were wrong about St. Pierre.
Rather than solidifying himself atop the the UFC, St. Pierre's stock fell through the floor, and even after he reclaimed the UFC welterweight strap, two losses in title fights due to perceived mental lapses were enough to make people doubt.
Had St. Pierre not lost to Serra, he might already have solidified himself as the top pound-for-pound fighter in the world. Instead, Anderson Silva was able to claim that title.
Questions about St. Pierre's mental abilities lingered all the way until the UFC 94 fight with BJ Penn. In the build-up to the St. Pierre vs. Penn rematch, the common saying was that St. Pierre had a physical advantage, but Penn would have the mental edge.
St. Pierre's dominant victory in the UFC 94 superfight was enough to ease some of the popular doubts about St. Pierre's mental state, but what could have been a real revelation of St. Pierre's talent was overshadowed by Penn's bitter greasing allegations.
St. Pierre's next fight would be against Thiago Alves, who looked like an absolute juggernaut against Karo Parisyan, Josh Koscheck, and Matt Hughes. St. Pierre dominated the Alves fight with surprising ease.
On any other night, the magnitude of St. Pierre's victory over Alves would have created shockwaves. Instead, St. Pierre's thunder was partly stolen by Brock Lesnar's postfight antics. The mainstream media provided far more coverage to Lesnar's antics than they did to St. Pierre's win over a pound-for-pound quality fighter.
In summary, over the past three years St. Pierre has now won six straight fights and erased the doubts about his championship mentality. He's endured the allegations of greasing, and he's now headlining one of the biggest fight cards of the year, so he's going to be ignored in favor of some Brock Lesnar pro wrestling tomfoolery. This time, barring a monumental upset, St. Pierre will finally have the spotlight all to himself.
Now that St. Pierre finally has the spotlight to himself, the possibilities seem limitless. As I've stated previously, St. Pierre represents MMA's greatest single hope to break further into the mainstream.
When it comes to looks, talent, work ethic, and whatever else you want to list, if you talk about the attributes of a mainstream star, St. Pierre has it. True, he's not going to be outrageous like Mike Tyson, or an outspoken civil activist like Muhammad Ali, but he's the right image that the UFC wants to represent MMA.
Yet although St. Pierre has the right attributes to possibly take MMA to the next level of popularity, he still needs to keep winning his fights, and satisfying the demands of an audience that is always going to have the "what have you done for me lately?" mentality.
As invincible and impressive as St. Pierre looks at first glance, the stumbling blocks are already laid out in front of St. Pierre. More on that in my next article.
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