The SBP Archives - Your less than frequent dose of SBP!

Sportsnet conducted an online poll asking its visitors to vote for Canada's best athlete for 2008, and receiving a whopping 89% of the vote was Ultimate Fighting Championship's Welterweight champ, Georges St-Pierre. Now these online polls need to be taken with a grain of a salt. It's very easy to stuff the ballot box, and GSP's competition was pretty thin (ever hear of Chantal Petitclerc?). But still, who would have thought as little as two years ago a mixed martial artist winning such an award, much less being considered for a nomination? GSP has the charisma, class and skill that may be one of the many parts needed to help UFC become more accepted in the mainstream.

I can fully understand why many would be turned off by the sport, primarily it can be quite bloody and extremely violent. And surprisingly, some fights can actually be very boring. Unless you're educated to appreciate the different holds and submissions the fighers execute, you might find it as about as exciting as watching a game of checkers. But I believe UFC will be the sport to take over the lull boxing has given its fans. The latter sport is on the decline, and there are few fighters with the star power guys like Mike Tyson had in their heyday to carry it.

UFC has a big star in Brock Lesnar who will need to garner more victories to show his title win wasn't a fluke. But aside from that, UFC needs a strong undercard of fighters the public can cheer for and admire. GSP fits that bill perfectly, and is truly a "good guy" in the world of MMA.

And I am proud to say he is a fellow Canadian.