DESPITE HIS LONG ABSENCE, ST-PIERRE PACKS A PUNCH
Saturday’s thriller brought back MMA’s glory days in Canada, Danny Austin writes.
Before Saturday night’s UFC 217 event, some had argued that Georges St-Pierre’s return to the octagon was not resonating with Canadian sports fans.
If you were anywhere near Madison Square Garden this week, you knew that was wrong. Sure, it’s anecdotal, but Toronto Blue Jays hats, Montreal Canadiens jerseys and Maple Leaf flags were everywhere.
On Saturday, our guy was back and our country was ready for it.
All of that might have been forgotten had St-Pierre stepped into the ring against Michael Bisping and embarrassed himself. After four years away from competition and fighting a bigger opponent, that was always a possibility.
Instead, St-Pierre looked better than ever. His jabs were crisp, his takedowns unworldly and he showed that he’s still got plenty of power in those 36-year-old hands when he flattened Bisping with a left hook and claimed the UFC title with a rear naked choke.
In doing so, St-Pierre jumped the line in the greatest of all-time conversation and put Canada back on the MMA map.
According to UFC president Dana White, the event may have surpassed this summer’s Conor McGregor-Floyd Mayweather boxing match to become the topselling pay-per-view in Canadian history.
“We’re pretty sure tonight killed,” White said at Saturday’s post-fight news conference.
“Mayweather-McGregor has the record there in Canada and we were No. 2 and No. 3, and I’m pretty sure this beat Mayweather-McGregor.”
While the entire card on Saturday night delivered with stellar action, a big pay-per-view number in Canada would truly be attributed to St-Pierre’s star power.
While a handful of talented young fighters have emerged following St-Pierre’s dominant 10-year run, none captured the hearts and minds of Canadian fans the way he did.
After a while, it was hard to deny that Canada had fallen from its perch as the Mecca of MMA, as White had once described the Great White North in 2010.
There were some exciting moments since St-Pierre’s 2013 retirement, to be sure.
Rory MacDonald, born in Quesnel, B.C., lost to Robbie Lawler at UFC 189 in 2015 in one of the greatest matches in the promotion’s history.
Last year, Toronto proved it might still be the best fight town in the world when an electric crowd filled the Air Canada Centre for UFC 206 despite an underwhelming card.
There hadn’t been anything like Saturday night for a long time, though.
St-Pierre has a unique charisma. He tries to be a role model and hold himself to the traditional values of martial arts. He’s polite, he doesn’t swear much and is respectful of his opponents.
It’s all very Canadian, and in a sport where McGregor made trash-talking seem like the shortcut to title shots and massive paydays, St-Pierre’s inherent decentness felt like a revelation this week.
From ringside on Saturday, it was clear that even after four years away, something about StPierre resonates with fight fans.
It was going to take something — and someone — special for the UFC to come back to Madison Square Garden for a second time and somehow replicate the transcendent feeling it produced last year when McGregor beat Eddie Alvarez for the lightweight title.
As it turns out, St-Pierre was the man for the job.
With Ronda Rousey gone, Jon Jones likely done and McGregor’s future up in the air, St-Pierre strolled into the octagon, laid a beating on Bisping and took back his rightful place on the UFC throne.
For White and the UFC, there’s only one thing left to be done: Bring St-Pierre back to Canada and let him fight at home.
“Yeah, it would obviously make sense to (go) back to Montreal,” White said.
It’s all very Canadian, and in a sport where McGregor made trash-talking seem like the shortcut to title shots and massive paydays, St-Pierre’s inherent decentness felt like a revelation.