What Happened to GSP? Georges' UFC career at a Glance

He's taken the sport by storm for the last 7 years, but many fans feel that Georges St. Pierre transformed from an exciting fan favorite to a fighter that is often called "boring" and "safe". We've all heard the jokes: George "Safe" Pierre and Greatest Sleeping Pill, which are the farthest thing in the world from his moniker of "Rush". As a previous fan, I was wanted to better understand this transformation.

When and how exactly did this happen? Popular opinion says that he became tentative after getting devastated by Matt Serra and hasn't been the same since. I charted out his progression as a fighter in the UFC and chronicled the good, the bad and the ugly.

I believe that GSP's UFC career can be broken into 4 eras. The "New Prospect" era when he first joined. The "Vintage GSP" era, when he really hit his stride as a fighter and made a name for himself. After his loss to Matt Serra was the "Strategy" era, which transitioned into its ugly cousin: the "25 Minute Fights" era.

Below is GSP's popularity over milestones in his career. Click the chart to view full size:

My own analysis after the jump.

New Prospect Era begins with a bang

Georges St. Pierre joins the UFC and convincingly defeats the Judo master: Karo Parisyan by decision. Next is the one round destruction of Jay Hieron which earns him a title shot against the seemingly unbeatable Matt Hughes. But, GSP is starstruck by the legendary Huges and loses his first title shot by armbar. The New Prospect era has ended, but the good stuff is still to come!

Vintage GSP Era has arrived

After losing his first title shot, Georges St. Pierre comes back with a vengence and beats Jason Mayhem Miller out of the UFC, completely embarrasses Frank Trigg, and reminds Sean Sherk why midgets don't belong in the Welterweight division. An extremely competitive fight with BJ. Penn takes away some of the luster, but it's quickly regained when GSP blasted Matt Hughes with a headkick and finishes the fight in exciting fashion. During this Vintage GSP era, you would be hard pressed to find a GSP detractor. But all good things must come to an end. Matt Serra shocks the world when he puts GSP on rubber legs with an overhand right. GSP survives the initial barrage, but Serra pounces on him and he can ever be seen tapping from strikes.

Call Greg Jackson, the Strategy Era is here

It's always interesting to see a fighter return from a major loss, but GSP's first fight back was rather unexciting. He proved that he could outwrestle Josh Koshcheck, but failed to impress the audience for 3 rounds with such limited damage. Despite his new strategy for taking down his opponents, his popularity began rising as he submitted Matt Hughes and set the record straight with Matt Serra. Despite the wins, it's becoming increasingly obvious that he's relying on wrestling to neutralize fighters with any real striking ability. At this point, he's mostly still keeping it interesting, but not for long.

No Undercard fights being shown tonight! the 25 Minute Fights era is here

George St. Pierre is champ again and it something must have snapped in his head. He has decided that he will not lose the belt again under any terms. Unfortunately for us, the terms are that he is done being an exciting fighter. He will continue to become increasingly dominant, but no longer a good time. The "25 Minute Fights" era is what I consider his string of title defenses that started with Fitch, all the way through Alves, Hardy and recently Shields. The only exciting stop this train made, was a quick stop along the way to get involved in a scandal called "GreaseGate". I personally think the Hardy fight is when a large number of GSP fans were starting to exit the bus (myself included). Since then, it's just gotten worse. Arguably his two more boring fights have been Koshcheck 2 and Jake "Steaknives" Shields.

It's been a long journey with some ups and downs along the way. Will there be a 5th GSP era or will he retire on a down-note among fans.

I've come to a couple conclusions after charting this information.

Conclusion 1: GSP did not become boring after losing to Matt Serra. Rather he became boring after he won the belt back from Matt Serra, as shown by his entrance to the "25 Minute Fights" era

Conclusion 2: It's not GSP's style that is boring and he doesn't lay and pray; it's his inability to finish fights. In my opinion, all his fights have been the same style since the Matt Serra loss. The fights where he gets the finish are still fun to watch. Once he became champion again, the 5 round fights just compounded the problem.

What do you think maniacs? Did I recognize and label the GSP era's appropriately? Are my conclusions off-base?