"They don’t know the art of fighting" - Georges St-Pierre slams Islam Makhachev's critics, labels Russian as "brilliant" after UFC 322 win

Islam Makhachev might have become the new UFC welterweight champion, but that wasn’t enough to impress some quarters of the MMA world.

The Russian dominated Jack Della Maddalena after moving up a weight class at UFC 322. Makhachev nullified Maddalena’s game plan and secured a unanimous decision win after five rounds.

The Russian also became the latest UFC double champion after dominating the lightweight division. Some MMA analysts and stars have praised Makhachev for his feats, and the latest one is Georges St-Pierre.

‘Rush’ is widely considered one of the greatest MMA stars and also held two UFC titles. St-Pierre was speaking on Adin Ross’ podcast and didn’t agree with the criticism aimed at Makhachev:

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“I was there. I witnessed his performance last Saturday. It was freaking brilliant. Unbelievable. I don’t think he even took a punch. It’s unbelievable. A lot of people that were there [said] ‘oh, it was a decision’ people who say that, I am sorry, because they don’t know the art of fighting. They have no idea, they don’t understand the art of fighting.”

Check out Georges St-Pierre's comments on Islam Makhachev below:

‘Rush’ also claimed that Makhachev was the No.1 pound-for-pound fighter and lauded him for beating Maddalena.

“His performance was freaking amazing. Yeah the fight was not a flawless victory with a crazy submission or a knockout but going up in a weight class and beating Jack Della Maddalena like he did is freaking hard.”

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Jon Anik believes Islam Makhachev could become bigger than Georges St-Pierre

UFC commentator Jon Anik was witness to Islam Makhachev’s dominance at UFC 322. The commentator also lauded the Russian’s performance and believed he could be on the way to unseating Georges St-Pierre as the greatest MMA fighter.

Anik was on The Anik & Florian podcast and added that current UFC bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili could also be on the same path as Makhachev towards greatness:

"Y'all must've forgot. We all must've forgot... I'm glad that he's [Makhachev] not making the weight cut. This man should be celebrated. We talk about Merab Dvalishvili being on a trajectory to be the greatest male mixed martial artist of all time, and he’s very much on a trajectory to unseat Georges St-Pierre and anybody else you want to mention. So is Islam Makhachev. You saw how comfortable he was at 170 [pounds]? Now he's saying he could wrestle for 50 minutes?"

Edited by Saiyed Adeem Karim