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MMAjunkie’s ‘2017 Comeback Fighter of the Year’ is a pretty obvious choice
Filed under: Featured, News, UFC
It didn’t take a lot of brainstorming to come up a winner for this year’s “Comeback Fighter of the Year” in MMA.
When you go away for four years, then come back and fight a weight class up from where you once dominated, and you win a title by choking the champ unconscious, you stand to get the honor.
To little surpise, the “Comeback Fighter of the Year” for 2017 goes to Georges St-Pierre.
St-Pierre (26-2 MMA, 20-2 UFC) vacated his welterweight title in a surprise move in 2013. He left only rumors, really for the reasons why he decided to walk away – though the move never really was called an actual retirement.
In the first part of 2017, after many months of rumors, “GSP” confirmed the comeback was a real thing, and UFC President Dana White announced he’d return at middleweight, not welterweight, to challenge then-champ Michael Bisping (30-8 MMA, 20-8 UFC).
Their fight finally went down, after some delays, in the UFC 217 main event at Madison Square Garden in New York in November, and St-Pierre choked Bisping out with a third-round guillotine to become just the fourth two-division champion in UFC history.
My general rule of thumb has always been, if you’ve been inactive for more than a year, I’ll automatically pick against you. It’s your job as a fighter to convince me to come back around before those famous MMAjunkie staff picks have their publish button hit. If you’ve been out for two years, no way. If you’ve been out for four? C’mon. No way you’re winning your comeback fight – not when it’s against a champ 15 pounds up from where you always fought.
But St-Pierre, clearly, is a different level of fighter. He might as well be … well, an alien.
Of course, nothing with St-Pierre can be all that simple. Only a few weeks after winning the title, St-Pierre announced he had ulcerative colitis, a condition that would need to be figured out before he can commit to another fight – and one that might make it harder for him to fight at middleweight.
So the champ vacated the belt he had just won, and now, after what certainly was a fairly monstrous payday, his future once again is uncertain – even if his longtime coach, Firas Zahabi, would love to see him fight Conor McGregor for what would be another huge paycheck.
But regardless of how things turned out eventually, just coming back, period, after four years to beat someone of Bisping’s caliber was a pretty amazing feat.
What do you think? Did anyone else come close to topping St-Pierre for “Comeback Fighter of the Year” in 2017? Sound off in the comments.
Also see:
- MMAjunkie’s ‘2017 Comeback of the Year’: Darren Elkins lives up to ‘The Damage’ nickname
- MMAjunkie’s ‘2017 Under-the-Radar Fighter of the Year’: A champion before joining UFC
- MMAjunkie ‘2017 Upset of the Year’: Thug Rose! Thug Rose! Thug Rose!
- MMAjunkie’s ‘2017 Breakout Fighter of the Year’: UFC newcomer wasted no time rising up
- MMAjunkie’s 2017 ‘Newcomer of the Year’: Despite late slip-up, Californian made mark in hurry
- MMAjunkie ‘2017 Round of the Year’: Absolutely menacing highlight
- MMAjunkie’s ‘2017 Robbery of the Year’: The MMA gods giveth, and they taketh away
- MMAjunkie’s ‘2017 Coach of the Year’: Former champion becoming standout instructor
- MMAjunkie’s ‘2017 Gym of the Year’: New entrant makes immediate impact
For more on the upcoming MMA schedule, check out the MMA Rumors section of the site.
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