Georges St-Pierre to be inducted into UFC Hall of Fame this summer as MMA legend ends his stellar 15-year career
GEORGES ST-PIERRE has been named as the latest inductee into UFC’s Hall of Fame.
The announcement was made during the MMA promotion’s UFC 249 pay-per-view on Saturday - their first event since the coronavirus outbreak.
UFC president Dana White said of the 38-year-old GSP: “Georges St-Pierre is a pioneer of Canadian MMA who helped build the sport globally.
“He is the most famous athlete to ever come out of Canada and one of the greatest martial artists of all-time. We’re proud to induct him into the UFC Hall of Fame Class of 2020.”
St-Pierre (26-2-0) will be officially inducted into the Hall of Fame later this year.
The icon will enter the “Modern Wing” - honouring fighters who made their debut during the era of unified rules and who are at least 35 or retired over a year ago.
His name will now join Forrest Griffin (2013), B.J. (The Prodigy) Penn (2015), Urijah Faber (2017), Ronda Rousey (2018), Michael Bisping (2019) and Rashad (Suga) Evans (2019).
St-Pierre walked away from MMA after defeating Johny Hendricks at UFC 167 in 2013, a victory that marked a ninth straight title welterweight title defence.
After saying he needed a break from fighting, he triumphantly returned four years later at UFC 217 for one final clash, stepping up to middleweight to take the championship from Bisping.
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He then gave up the belt due to health issues, revealing he had ulcerative colitis.
St-Pierre then officially announced his retirement in February 2019.
He said: “There’s no tears. I’m very happy to do it. “It takes a lot of discipline though to retire on top. It was a long process in my mind but it’s time to do it.
“Only a few people have done it. And I always said that I want to retire on my own and not be told to retire.”