Sean Pierson analyzes a potential UFC championship unification bout but says no one cares about the championships.
At UFC 217, Georges St-Pierre made his return to UFC and defeated Michael Bisping to earn the UFC Middleweight Championship. On Fightful MMA's podcast Holy Smokes, Sean Pierson was asked by "Showdown Joe" Ferraro about the potential bout between St-Pierre and UFC Interim Middleweight Champion Robert Whittaker. Pierson said St-Pierre would need to make some changes if he wants to stay at Middleweight.
"I think if I'm Georges, the best bet here is to get closer to 170. I don't mean to cut weight, I mean to get back to the weight you were at. Because he did not look as smooth or as good as when he fought at 170. He wasn't as fast, his cardio wasn't as good. Otherwise, he can't clean that all up. I feel that Georges is just as dangerous as the bigger Georges," said Pierson.
Even with the extra weight Pierson saw on St-Pierre at UFC 217, Pierson argued St-Pierre would not be able to match Whittaker's striking power but St-Pierre would have an advantage in other aspects.
"He's not going to match power with Whittaker. Back when I trained with Whittaker, Whittaker's stand up skills were a little bit more wrong but his striking power was there. He was very explosive. His wrestling needed a lot of help. I think that was either his first or second UFC fight," said Pierson. "I still think Georges will have a huge advantage in the wrestling," he added.
Eventually, Pierson said he would put his money on St-Pierre in that potential title unification bout but he would be worried about how St-Pierre would fair in the later rounds against the natural Middleweight Whittaker.
Pierson was then asked what he would think if St-Pierre abandoned the Middleweight division and went back to Welterweight.
"No one cares. Belts mean nothing. I think it's a proven thing. Who gets the biggest paycheck is all that matters. It's like in WWF, the million dollar belt. That's the only belt that matters and Conor McGregor owns it," said Pierson.
Pierson also suggested St-Pierre should fight Conor McGregor at Welterweight because that would be a fight the fans would be interested in watching.
Also during the interview, Pierson discussed McGregor's actions at a Bellator MMA event in Dublin, Ireland and Bellator's upcoming Heavyweight tournament.
Holy Smokes airs Tuesdays at 3 pm on FightfulPods.com.
