"It was illegal" - Georges St-Pierre makes heartwarming remarks about UFC Freedom 250 and the sport of MMA
Former UFC welterweight and middleweight champion Georges St-Pierre was involved in the UFC Freedom 250 fight-week festivities and made a touching observation of how far the sport of MMA has come.
Georges St-Pierre has words of high praise for the UFC mixed martial arts organization and the sport of MMA as a whole.
"GSP" alluded to the evolution of MMA, going from something that was deemed illegal in many places to becoming a worldwide phenomenon.
The Canadian MMA icon addressed the topics during the UFC Freedom 250 fight-week festivities in the United States of America.
Intriguingly, Aiemann Zahabi, the younger brother of St-Pierre's longtime coach Firas Zahabi, happens to be competing in a pivotal bantamweight matchup against "Sugar" Sean O'Malley at the event.
Georges St-Pierre makes touching assertion about UFC Freedom 250 and MMA
In episode No. 7 of the UFC Freedom 250 Embedded: Vlog Series, former UFC welterweight and middleweight champion Georges St-Pierre made a special appearance.
"Rush" was in attendance for the pre-fight press conference earlier this week and appeared to be in awe of the event's grandiosity.
UFC Freedom 250 is a special event put forth by the U.S.-based UFC MMA organization to celebrate the 250th anniversary of America's independence from British colonialism.
It's been promoted as the first major combat sports event to be held at the White House, which is regarded as one of the most socio-politically revered places in the U.S.
For his part, St-Pierre emphasized the incredible evolution of MMA and the monumental achievement of the UFC holding an event at the White House. The retired MMA fighter said:
"It's unique. It's something that -- it happens probably once in a lifetime. I mean, I'm from Canada. The sport, when I first started watching, it was illegal in Canada. Now it's everywhere in the world. It's worldwide; at the White House. It's unbelievable."
Watch Georges St-Pierre's gladdening thoughts on the UFC White House event and MMA below (*comments at the 0:40-minute mark of the video):
UFC 83 -- Georges St-Pierre headlined the first legally sanctioned UFC event in Canada
A number of fans and experts often cite the UFC 69 headliner between Georges St-Pierre and Matt Serra as one of the biggest upsets in MMA history. Serra stopped "GSP" via first-round TKO to end his welterweight title reign at the event in April 2007.
Nevertheless, St-Pierre reclaimed the belt by stopping Serra via second-round TKO in their rematch, a welterweight title unifier that headlined UFC 83 on April 19, 2008.
That event, UFC 83, transpired at the Bell Center in Montreal, Quebec, Canada -- on St-Pierre's home turf. It marked the very first legally sanctioned UFC event in Canada.
Well, fast-forward to the here and now -- St-Pierre is a UFC Hall of Famer and has been all praise for UFC Freedom 250, reaffirming his love for MMA and its growth around the world.
Presently, fight fans are just hours away from witnessing the historic event that'll go down at the White House. It'll be headlined by Georgian-Spaniard MMA superstar, Ilia Topuria.
The unbeaten Topuria is a former UFC featherweight kingpin and reigning UFC lightweight champion. He'll fight former BMF champ and reigning interim lightweight titleholder Justin Gaethje.
Moreover, the co-main event has former two-division UFC champ Alex Pereira and former interim UFC heavyweight champ Ciryl Gane. They'll go up against each other for the interim UFC heavyweight championship, with reigning heavyweight ruler Tom Aspinall still on an eye injury-induced hiatus.
