Their careers remind me of: - both were great fighters, and great champions - both fighters had 2 defeats in their careers - both fighters avenged their 2 defeats; in the ring - both fighters achieved a capital win in their last fight: a.) Georges St-Pierre was the welterweight champion, who in his last fight became the middleweight champion b.) Lennox Lewis defeated the next generation heavyweight champion in his last fight
Not a bad comparison at all, one of the few MMA fighters that could resemble a boxer's career, for example I don't know if MMA has evolved enough for a Jon Jones to be comparable to any ATG boxer
Thank You. Jon Jones could be compared to Roy Jones Jr. The first and so far the only defeat of Jon Jones was disqualification (as well as the first defeat of Roy Jones Jr.).
People forget that when Georges St-Pierre lost to Matt Hughes in their first fight, he only had 7 pro fights under his belt. In contrast, Matt Hughes had already fought in 40 professional fights with a record of 36-4. Granted, GSP had beaten quality fighters like Pete Spratt, Jay Hieron and Karo Parisyan. However, there was a tremendous gulf in experience between the two fighters. GSP wasn't ready for that fight, and he was thrown to the wolves far too early. Compare that to Jon Jones who had 13 fights before he stepped up against Shogun for the title. To be a fair, a loss is a loss. Matt Hughes outclassed him in that fight. But we always have to put these fights into proper context. Plus, I've always rated Matt Hughes as a tremendous fighter. Despite his striking deficiencies, he had a truly remarkable ground game. He never got the credit he deserves as a submission grappler. I think Matt Hughes would have beaten Khabib at a 165 pound catchweight fight. That's just my opinion, though. The GSP-Lennox Lewis comparison is a good one. They both were very high IQ fighters. True masters of their sports. They were both tremendous athletes and were capable of making world class adjustments during a fight. They both had somewhat suspect chins and were questioned for their mental toughness during their career, only to silence those criticisms later in their career (Lewis vs Vitali and Holyfield, GSP vs Bisping, Condit and Hendricks). Most importantly, both of them knew when it was time to call it quits and hang up their gloves while they were on top.
