Georges St-Pierre: Khabib Nurmagomedov is probably the best pound-for-pound fighter on earth

During a recent visit to beautiful Moscow, Russia, former UFC welterweight champion and upcoming middleweight title challenger Georges St-Pierre spoke to RT Sport on a number of MMA-related topics. Perhaps the most interesting comment this interview produced occurred when St-Pierre was asked about Russian fighters. This question prompted him to praise undefeated UFC lightweight Khabib Nurmagomedov as one of the best pound-for-pound fighters on earth – if not the best outright.

“I think actually one of the best pound-for-pound in the world, maybe the best pound-for-pound in the world, is Khabib Nurmagomedov,” St-Pierre said. “I always said it. For me, he’s probably the best pound-for-pound. Unfortunately, I believe people don’t give him enough credit. Maybe because he’s not American, he’s not someone who talks a lot of trash like Conor McGregor, he’s someone who’s very respectful, he doesn’t make a lot of noise by talking. But the same thing, like I said before about me, is that the resume speaks by itself. You know, the guy’s undefeated, he beat everybody. I’m just sad that the fight with [Tony] Ferguson didn’t happen, because it would have been an amazing fight.

St-Pierre was then asked about his previous claims that he could make the 155-pound lightweight division, and whether he would be interested in fighting Nurmagomedov at lightweight. Apparently, his focus is simply on winning the UFC middleweight title from Michael Bisping in his next fight.

“Look, I really like Khabib,” he said. “It would be crazy. I don’t know what’s going to happen, like I said. There is Conor, there is Ferguson, there is Khabib at 155. Like I said, I don’t know that is what I’m going to plan to do. If I beat Bisping, I might stay at 185. Or I might go challenge a guy at 170. It depends. The way my body is made I couldn’t make 155. It would be a tough cut. Because I walk around at 188 – 188lbs when I wake up in the morning. I think Khabib is about the same size as me. Maybe heavier than me. A lot of 155ers are bigger than me. But it would be a tough cut. And I’m not a big fan of cutting weight. But it depends on who’s there at the right moment. Maybe it could be done, but I don’t know.”

What do you think of these comments from Georges St-Pierre? Could Khabib Nurmagomedov be the pound-for-pound king? Sound off, PENN Nation!

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 4/21/2017.