Now that Georges St. Pierre has captured the UFC Welterweight title belt, its time to ask the most obvious question: “Who will be GSP’s first title defense victim?”
The way I see it, there are currently three likely candidates. The first, and my personal pick, is Diego Sanchez. “The Nightmare” is still undefeated and riding a 16-fight win streak. Sanchez will next matchup with Joe Riggs on December 13 at the next Ultimate Fight Night. Diego should be able to handle Riggs without much difficulty, and will definitely deserve a title shot.
The second possibility would be Matt Serra, winner of The Ultimate Fighter 4 welterweight crown. By winning TUF 4, Serra gets a title shot sometime in 2007 by default. When will this title shot come? I honestly don’t think Serra has any shot at beating GSP, so why put off the inevitable?
The final option would be former champ Matt Hughes. Hughes finally spoke publically today on his blog for the first time since his loss to GSP.
First off, I’d like to say that Georges fought a heck of a fight. He’s a nice guy and a well-rounded fighter and he’s going to be tough to beat.
Number two, I’d like to thank everybody for all their support and I’ve already talked to the UFC about getting a rematch sometime and they said that’s fine. I don’t know when that will be or if I will fight anyone before that, but I anxiously await a rematch with Georges because I just think I can do so much better.
So now that Hughes has confirmed he will be looking for a rematch with GSP, I guess that can put to rest the rumors that he would be retiring after his UFC contract ends. Again, I don’t think Hughes can beat GSP, so I’d like to see Hughes have one or two fights before a rematch; we don’t need to see another back-to-back schedule like we had with Andre Arlovski and Tim Sylvia.
Who do you want to see St. Pierre fight next? Make a vote and leave a comment on why you chose who you voted for.
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[...] MMA HQ: Who’s next for GSP? [...]
That’s a strange poll, seeing as Serra WILL be next for the champ unless something has changed.
That was my understanding as well, though I guess nothing has really been written in stone.
Whenever that fight is, it’s going to create a strange situation, because they both share the same Jits coach.
come on matt serra for gsp its going to be a nate quarry moment all over again i think sanchez gots the best shot at beating him even though i dont think he will
i voted for serra on this pole, jus because he should be the next fight for gsp, If it was for who has the best shot at beating gsp, i would say hughes, then diego. I love to watch diego fight, hes a true warrior, but hughes has the experience and im sure hes gonna be very determined to win hes rematch with gsp, like after his loss to BJ. Id like to see Serra get his shot, all be it a slim one.. Then diego, and although hes a tenacious kid, his only chance is on the ground.
I cant see anyone at the 170 division standing with gsp at this point, and hes got such a great ground game, nobody is controlling him on the ground, the only way i could see him losing is in a ground WAR, someone needs to get on top of him and pound on him for a while.
I can only see 3 people beating gsp, Matt Hughes, BJ Penn or Diego Sanchez.
Has anyone here seen, or heard of the guy coming out of AZ named DJ Watwood? Fight fans down here are talking alot about this guy almost like a LeBron James thing. Apparently he was full ride to Penn State for wrestling and was assaulted by a bouncer at a place called Dos Gringos in Tempe, hit the bouncer once and he died 30 minutes later. I know it sounds like a hyped up bunch of BS but these rumors check out…
By no means am i saying hop on this bandwagon, just saying that i hope someone can give me more info on this guy good or bad…
I picked Diego because he’s our home town hero. I’m from New Mexico and love to see the young guy come up the way he has the past couple of years. He does have a formitable task though. Like some of you have mentioned I agree his best chance is going to be to take GSP down and work his ground game. GSP is far more talented from his feet than Diego. I just hope this fight happens it should be a great battle, Diego has shown he has the cardio to go all five round if needed but I don’t believe this would go the distance. We’ll see if he can get past a very hungry Riggs next week and prove himself a true title contender.
HI EVERYONE REGARDLESS HOW GOOD DIEGO IS IM SORRY BUT NO WAY HE CAN HANDLE GSP…. ESPECIALLY BECAUSE MATT HUGHES COULDNT…. GSP WILL BE CHAMP FOR QUITE A WHILE I SEE IT…
DIEGO’S GROUND GAME AINT SHI T …. LOOK WHAT GSP DID TO SHAWN SHERK LOL HANDLED HIM LIKE A LIL BIOCH… Y IS GSP SUCH A POWER HOUSE F UCKIN MECHINE