(Exclusive): "I went in with the wrong mindset" - Jon Fitch reflects on challenging Georges St-Pierre for UFC welterweight championship

Jon Fitch recently reflected on challenging Georges St-Pierre for the welterweight championship in the main event of UFC 87, which took place at the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on August 9, 2008.

During an exclusive interview with Sportskeeda MMA, the former welterweight contender spoke about his thought process heading into his first UFC title fight. He mentioned that he believed he went into the bout with the wrong mindset, which resulted in him suffering his first loss inside the octagon.

He said:

"I had the wrong strategy. I was thinking that you know, he had two fights ago, he had just lost to Matt Serra and I was like, 'Well, his chin's gone. You just gotta touch him. You just gotta touch him once and that'll be the fight.' So, I went in with the wrong mindset."

Jon Fitch was correct with his assessment of his mindset as 'GSP' was able to dictate the pace of the fight, earning a dominant unanimous decision win, with the judges scoring the bout 50-43, 50-44, and 50-44. Despite the setback, Fitch bounced back as he went on to win 5 consecutive bouts that included wins over Akihiro Gono, Paulo Thiago, Mike Pierce, Ben Saunders, and former title challenger Thiago Alves.

Meanwhile, Georges St-Pierre remained unbeaten for the remainder of his UFC career and even submitted Michael Bisping following a 4-year layoff to win the middleweight championship before retiring completely.

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Jon Fitch believes Georges St-Pierre is the MMA GOAT

Despite his loss to Georges St-Pierre, Jon Fitch noted that he believes that the UFC Hall of Famer is the MMA GOAT.

The topic of which fighter is the MMA GOAT has been debated by the MMA community and is very subjective, but 'GSP's name has always been in the discussion with the likes of Jon Jones, Anderson Silva, Demetrious Johnson, and Fedor Emelianenko throughout his legendary career. Jon Fitch mentioned that the Canadian's opposition strengthens his argument, saying:

"I think he's [Georges St-Pierre] the best because the level of competition that he faced... Anderson Silva, there weren't that many great [1]85-pounders in his weight class for a long time. There's a lot of tough guys at lightweight, but I feel like not many of them dominated as long as 'GSP'...I think 'GSP' is just hands down probably the best." [27:32 - 28:28]