UFC Hall of Famer Georges St-Pierre believes Ilia Topuria will end his fighting career as the greatest fighter to ever compete in the cage.
Georges St-Pierre makes a strong case as the UFC’s greatest fighter of all-time, after a legendary career that featured two world title wins. St-Pierre walked away after winning the UFC middleweight championship over Michael Bisping at UFC 217.
Despite his retirement, St-Pierre remains a key fixture of the UFC’s past, present, and future. He continuously mentors athletes and is a frequent presence at major UFC events worldwide.
Fighters like Ilia Topuria, Islam Makhachev, and Alexander Volkanovski are all charging into the UFC’s GOAT conversation in 2026. Topuria, who won a second UFC title at UFC 317 last year, could potentially fight for a third title by the end of the year.
St-Pierre is a popular UFC GOAT pick, but he believes one of the names mentioned above is quickly making a case to surpass his accomplishments.
Georges St-Pierre: Ilia Topuria will end career as the UFC GOAT
In a recent interview with Alvaro Colmenaro, St-Pierre made a bold prediction about Topuria’s legacy.
“Absolutely, I think if Ilia Topuria continues as he is doing, stays at this level, he will be the best of all time,” St-Pierre said of Topuria.
“He just needs to stay focused, without distractions.” (h/t Bloody Elbow)
Topuria has dealt with personal issues away from the Octagon that have postponed his UFC career, but the lightweight champ is targeting a return to the cage this summer. Justin Gaethje won the interim UFC lightweight title at UFC 324 last month and is the most logical option for Topuria’s next fight.
But Topuria could potentially move up to welterweight and vacate his title for a shot at a third belt. If that happens, becoming the first UFC fighter to win a title in three weight classes would be hard to ignore as the arguable UFC GOAT.
It’s hard to be considered the UFC GOAT without the title defenses. But we’re in a different era where champions don’t stay in their division long enough to pile up 10+ defenses anymore. Or they pick and choose who to defend their belt against.
It’ll be tough for anyone to top the runs of Silva, Jones, GSP, or Demetrius. Or my personal GOAT Fedor.
Maybe not the GOAT. Certainly seems to be the front runner for best of the current generation.
Only a GOAT can anoint a GOAT
Not a chance. They guy so far only fought after their prime aging fighters and made it pretty obvious he doesn’t intend to stay for long or take on true contenders. He will never surpass Bones and frankly, I am not sure why everybody is talking about him and not Islam right now.
No he won’t. He isn’t going to fight long enough. I’ll bet he defends the lightweight belt one time, moves up to 170, and tries to capture that one too. Whether he fails or succeeds, he will not be the GOAT. Nobody fighting right now has the capacity for divisional dominance. That’s what makes a GOAT.
He definitely won’t top those runs because he fights for money and not legacy. He wants to capture as many belts as possible while maximizing his income, which is the Conor strategy. He wants to retire after a while and go to boxing.
Sadly the guys who want to be long reigning champs are a dying breed. Yall (the forum) didn’t know what yall had with Adesanya.
He has but one title defense, but won two belts. The point is, from now on, unless he loses, it’s all title defenses so yours is a moot point. GSP is not saying Ilia is the GOAT just yet, but that he will be if he stays focused.
He’s only 27! Unless he retires super young like Khabib, he can sure make his mark as the GOAT. Tough to do, and not a given, but GSP thinks so. I won’t argue ha ha.
Pantoja got hurt, Yan might make 2 title defenses, Volk is gonna retire soon, Islam doesn’t fight frequently enough, Khamzat will probably be stripped before he fights again, Pereira only has a few fights left, heavyweight barely has a champion at this point. There is no dominance happening.
Topuria won’t fight long enough.
I’d say it’s the amount of quality wins that get you into that GOAT conversation, not necessarily title defenses. DJ had a million title defenses but did it in a WMMA tier division.
Take Jones:
A level wins: Shogun, Rampage, Machida, Rashad, Gustafsson 1, Glover, Cormier X2
B level: Bader, Vitor, Chael, Gustafsson 2, Gane (questionable), Stipe (questionable at that age)
At least 12-14 (possibly even more), mostly dominant in all, no real losses.
GSP:
A: Penn X2, Hughes X2, Fitch, Shields, Condit, Diaz, Hendricks (questionable win)
B: Sherk, Koscheck X2, Alves, Bisping
Also about 14, mostly dominant, avenged all losses.
Topuria:
A: Volk, Holloway, Oliveira
B: Emmett
Great start, still a lot of work to do. But I will say if he adds Gaethje, Arman and Islam to his list, I’d go ahead and add him to the conversation due to sheer quality of competition.
it’s hard when islam ran from him
Why do you say that?
BTW he’s 29, not 27 Still, if he retires at 35, that’s 6 years from now. Unless he stays as inactive as he has been so far and as most champs not named Pereira, Merab or Adesenaya, that coud be 10-12 fights!
Look at what HE said. It sounds like a man that wants to have lots of title defenses.
Good for the fighters that want to make the most money and get out. We ain’t paying their bills after they retire.
I say that because he said he wants to leave mma soon and go to boxing. Don’t have a link or anything but it was an interview.
Damn, I love Oliviera and Hall, those gifs are rough!