Sherdog’s Top 10: Phenoms

Georges St. Pierre had crossover appeal. | Photo: D. Mandel/Sherdog.com

6. Georges St. Pierre

Now seemingly retired, the greatest welterweight and perhaps the greatest fighter of all-time was a true phenom in his youth. St. Pierre started his career at 20 and within two years had defeated real competition on the regional circuit in the form of Ivan Menjivar, Thomas Denny and Pete Spratt to punch his ticket to the big show.

The Quebec native dominated Karo Parisyan in his Ultimate Fighting Championship debut and then destroyed Jay Hieron to earn a shot at the vacant welterweight title. He was only 23 at the time, and while he came up short in a competitive outing against former champion Matt Hughes, St. Pierre’s star was clearly on the rise. He confirmed that by beating the tar out of Frank Trigg, Jason Miller and Sean Sherk before a razor-thin victory over B.J. Penn earned him another shot at Hughes. When he first captured UFC gold, St. Pierre was 25 and had been a professional for only four years. Ups and downs, namely the enormous upset loss to Matt Serra, still lay ahead, but so, too, did the best years of St. Pierre’s career.

From the very beginning of his run in the UFC, it was clear St. Pierre was not only a big-time prospect but also a representative of a fundamental shift in the landscape of the sport. He was young, incredibly athletic and well-rounded in a way that nobody else really was at the time. Even more important, he was the first fighter who offered a real shot at crossover appeal outside the narrow confines of MMA.

Number 5 » Bas Rutten pegged her for greatness in a short segment on “Inside MMA,” and the Los Angeles MMA scene was abuzz with talk about the brutality of her training sessions and her off-the-charts killer instinct. It turned out that she had charisma to match.