Combat sports have always been very popular and they have been getting a new lease of life among younger fans due to people like Jake Paul and KSI. But mixed martial arts in particular has seen a meteoric rise in popularity over the last decade or so. With big personalities like Israel Adesanya reaching new fans due to his love of all things anime or people like Conor McGregor making waves by becoming the first ever double champion in the UFC. Historically, a lot of combat sports fans stayed away from mixed martial arts because understanding wrestling or jiu jitsu can be very hard for casual fans, but I feel like people are beginning to get to grips with that a lot more now which has helped with the increase in viewership numbers.
While there are plenty of organizations that offer up different variations of mixed martial arts like One, Bellator etc. Today we’re going to be focusing on the biggest organization, the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). Specifically, the best representatives from Canada. There are a few names that will come to mind when you think of Canadians in the UFC, like Georges St. Pierre and Rory MacDonald, but there have been quite a lot of Canadians fighting under the UFC banner, some more successful than others. So before we start, lets get a little list together and then break it down one fighter at a time.
- Georges St Pierre (26-2)
- Rory MacDonald (23-10)
- TJ Grant (21-5)
Table of Contents
#3 TJ Grant 21-5
TJ Grant joined the UFC in 2009 as a highly decorated wrestler with a big Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu background also. He made his Debut at UFC 97, which ended in a split decision win over Ryo Chonan. He would fight under the UFC banner until May 2013, his final fight in the organisation would be a TKO win over Gray Maynard at UFC 160. Grant was seen by many as a fighter with extremely high potential, but ultimately would never really go on to reach that potential and then saw his career come to a bit of an abrupt end, having to give up a hard earned title shot due to a concussion he would never fully recover from. However, he did end his career with a very impressive 21-5 record.
Robbie Lawler Vs Rory MacDonald 2 is one of the fights I show my friends whenever I want to get them into MMA. Incredible fight that will live on in the memory of fans forever.
Source: The42
#2 Rory MacDonald 23-10
Rory MacDonald kind of speaks for himself really, he fought the who’s who of the Welterweight division including Tyron Woodley, B.J Penn, Nate Diaz and Demian Maia. While his record may not look as impressive as TJ Grants, you could argue that his list of the fighters he faced is much more impressive. Not only that but Rory was a part of one of the greatest fights of all time in the UFC, when he had his rematch with Robbie Lawler. A fight that will absolutely be in the hall of fame at some point and to this day is the one of the fights I show any friends that want to be introduced to mixed martial arts. Rory left the UFC in 2016 before he had a decent run in Bellator and the PFL but has since retired at the age of 33.
For many MMA fans, Georges St. Pierre is the greatest Mixed Martial Artist of all time, so obviously he tops our list, right?
Source: Sherdog
#1 Georges St Pierre 26-2
What can we even say about Georges St Pierre that hasn’t already been said time and time again? GSP had an incredible record featuring only 2 losses, coming by way of a TKO loss against Matt Serra and a submission loss (armbar) to Matt Hughes, 2 losses that he avenged in the rematches, he won the rematch against Matt Hughes by way of TKO (head kick/punches) and in the 3rd fight against Hughes he submitted him via armbar, quite fitting right? As for Matt Serra he avenged that loss by getting a TKO victory with knees to the body.
GSP would find himself as a multi weight champion by the end of his career, winning and defending the Welterweight Championship multiple times as well as coming out of retirement to make his Middleweight Debut in a title fight against Michael Bisping which he won in the 3rd round by way of submission, getting the W with a rear-naked choke. To this day, even with all the big names that have come and gone in the UFC, GSP is still in the discussion for greatest mixed martial artist of all time and it’s really hard to argue that he doesn’t belong in that discussion!
What do the Bookies Say?
We spent a bit of time digging the legal online sports betting sites in Ontario to look for the best odds on these big name fights and this is what we came up with. Starting out with the Lightweight title fight in February. Islam Makhachev is the man to beat in that division right now and has been on a mission for a while now, Alexander Volkanovski on the other hand is stepping up to take him on, for this one you’ll get -350 on Makhachev to take it which returns $6.42 from $5, for Volkanovski on the other hand you’re looking at odds around +275 which returns $18.75 from the same stake.
Next up, there’s Jon Jones Vs Ciryl Gane. Jones hasn’t fought since February 2020 where he won a unanimous decision against Dominick Reyes. But plenty of issues in and out of the octagon have kept him away, fans have been eagerly awaiting his return and a fight against Bon Gamin couldn’t be a bigger welcome back. Interestingly for me, Jones is actually the favourite going into this one at -138 which returns $8.63, while Gane comes in at +110 returning $10.50 from $5. Finally, we have Edwards Vs Usman, the series is tied at 1-1 right now thanks to a perfectly timed head kick from Edwards, however, up until that point Usman was plenty comfortable. Because of that, Usman is the favourite here at -275, which returns $6.81 from a $5 stake, for Edwards to retain his title you’re looking at +200, returning $15 from a $5 stake.
That’s all we’ve got for this one, are there any names you would consider being part of this top 3 that we haven’t mentioned here? For me, I think this is a pretty concrete list and outside of maybe Carlos Newton or Patrick Cote, there aren’t many names that even come close to these guys. Based on record alone TJ Grant 100% deserves to be there. Rory MacDonald has fought so many big names and Georges St. Pierre speaks for himself really, doesn’t he? GSP is constantly in the discussion about the greatest mixed martial artist of all time, so for him to not be at the top of any list featuring canadian mixed martial artists would be absolutely criminal.
Wrapping Up With A Few UFC Predictions for 2023
Time for some predictions for the upcoming title fights in the UFC, firstly the Lightweight title fight. Will Volkanovski have enough to take on Makhachev? Volkanovski is a lot stronger than he looks and in my opinion is going to be Makhachev’s toughest challenge yet. However I still can’t see him taking the W. For the upcoming Heavyweight title fight, I honestly can’t look past Ciryl Gane, he is a phenomenal athlete who is fighting a man who is going to have some severe ring rust. Then for the Welterweight title fight between Edwards and Usman I can’t see any result other than “Aaaand NEW!” here. It isn’t that Edwards is bad, but Usman was winning comfortably in the second fight until Edwards caught him with a perfectly timed head kick catching everybody by surprise. One question remains, how excited are we all for these upcoming fights?
