Kamaru Usman Says He Could Have Beaten Georges St-Pierre in His Prime

Former UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman believes he was good enough to defeat Georges St-Pierre in a fight, although he insists that mixed martial arts has no single greatest fighter of all time.

Usman made the remarks during an episode of his Pound 4 Pound podcast with former UFC champion Henry Cejudo, where they discussed the long-running debate over who deserves to be called MMA’s greatest of all time (GOAT).

According to Usman, fighters from different generations cannot be compared directly because the sport has evolved, with each era producing athletes who excel in different aspects of the game.

“There is no greatest of all time. There is (a) greatest of your time. That is what that is: greatest of your time, not greatest of all time, because they are different skill sets,” Usman said.

He explained that modern fighters are developing skills and combinations that were less common in earlier generations, pointing to the growing technical variety in the sport.

“This generation is good at one skill, this generation is good at two skills, this generation is good at mixing it up. Now you have got little ninjas that are 15, 16, 17 years old doing spinning triple back kicks, flips and all of this stuff,” he said.

Despite his admiration for St-Pierre, who is often mentioned alongside him in discussions about the greatest UFC welterweights, Usman believes he could have defeated the Canadian during his own prime. He was, however, careful to present that view as personal confidence rather than an established outcome.

“I am a humongous fan of Georges St-Pierre, and I think Georges St-Pierre is great. I think in his time he was the greatest. And me being the competitor that I am, that I was, I think in my time I was good enough to beat him. But that is my opinion. That is not saying that is exactly what would have happened,” Usman said.

He added that St-Pierre, whom he described as a fierce competitor, would probably have backed himself to beat fighters from other generations as well.

“I am sure he felt, because he was a dog, he felt he could have definitely beaten everybody,” Usman said.

The discussion also touched on Petr Yan, who retained the bantamweight title against Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 333 and has been described by some as the greatest fighter in the division. Cejudo, however, was reluctant to place Yan in that category, pointing to his record of only one title defence.

Known as the Nigerian Nightmare, Usman won the UFC welterweight championship by defeating Tyron Woodley in March 2019. He went on to make five successful title defences before Leon Edwards dethroned him in August 2022.