Robert Whittaker breaks down the weakness he saw in Georges St-Pierre’s UFC 217 performance

Last weekend, in the main event of UFC 217, the world watched on as former UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre returned from a four-year hiatus to defeat Michael Bisping and win the UFC middleweight belt. Of all the people watching on as St-Pierre made this triumphant return, none had quite the same interest as UFC interim middleweight champion Robert Whittaker – the man widely expected to be St-Pierre’s next opponent.

While the ever-classy Whittaker was impressed with St-Pierre’s win, he did see some holes in the Canadian’s game – mainly his speed.

“To be honest, he looked slower than he’s ever been,” Whittaker said of St. Pierre’s performance in an interview with news.com.au. “He’s just as crafty. You can see the intelligence is still there. His fight IQ is still there. He obviously hits harder at middleweight. But I hit hard, and I hit fast — and much harder and faster than Bisping. And I have much better defense than Bisping. So it looks good.”

Whether St-Pierre has slowed down or not, Whittaker considers the chance to fight him to be a tremendous honor.

“I can’t even put it into words,” Whittaker explained. “I was a massive fan of him when I was younger — and when I was at welterweight, as well. Every welterweight in the world aspired to become something like him. If I got the privilege of fighting him? Man, dream come true.”

“I’m happy to wait,” Whittaker said. “Fighting a legend like that is worth the time. My wants have to go on the back seat a bit for him. He’s a living legend, and in respect I’ll do that. But if he’s going to hang around at middleweight we’ll touch gloves eventually. I’m confident.”

Who do you think comes out on top in a fight between Robert Whittaker and Georges St-Pierre?

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 7/11/2017.