Georges St-Pierre: A loss could be 'the best thing that ever happened' to Ronda Rousey
Very few people in sports have experienced the kind of rise and fall that Ronda Rousey has felt in the past week, after sitting on top of the world one minute and then crashing to Earth after her brutal knockout by Holly Holm at UFC 193.
The number of fighters in the UFC who can relate to Rousey's pain might get whittled down to just one, with former welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre going through a painfully similar situation during his first title defense in 2007.
At the time, St-Pierre wasn't the pay-per-view megastar that he ended up being later in his career, but he still was being touted as the future of the UFC following a one-sided beatdown of UFC Hall of Famer Matt Hughes. He walked into his fight at UFC 69 against "Ultimate Fighter" winner Matt Serra as a massive favorite.
Less than three-and-a-half minutes later, St-Pierre walked out of the Octagon without his title and with a knockout loss after Serra slammed home a huge right hand followed by a barrage of strikes on the ground to snatch the gold away from the Canadian champion.
Looking at Rousey's fight against Holm, St-Pierre can see many similarities to what he dealt with on that fateful night in Dallas eight years ago.
"It's unfortunate for Ronda but I'm happy for Holly in the same time," St-Pierre told the Canadian Press. "In this game, no one's invincible. Sometimes you zig when you should zag. I needed to beat a lot of my own demons, a lot of my fear and I came back stronger.
"So in a way for Ronda it's sad that she lost, but maybe it could be the best thing that ever happened to her, in that she will come back much stronger."
St-Pierre walked away from fighting in 2013 and still remains one of the most revered champions in UFC history, but that loss to Serra is widely considered the greatest upset to ever happen in a championship fight in MMA.
For St-Pierre it was the ultimate lesson, because it educated him on the reality that everyone loses, and also fed back into him the hunger and desire to go out and win again.
Following his loss to Serra in 2007, St-Pierre never lost again for the rest of his career, which including 12 victories, beating Serra in the rematch and then defending the belt on nine straight occasions.
"The fact that I lost made me realize that I was a human being," St-Pierre said. "It was very hard to come back from a loss. I needed (the help of) a sports psychologist. Because what is very important to a fighter is the confidence and sometimes with a loss like this, you can lose your confidence.
"Actually I thought it was kind of weird but I felt better after. It taught me what it takes to become world champion and when I lost to Matt Serra, it taught me what it takes to stay world champion."
Rousey has yet to make any real statement since losing to Holm, much less make a public appearance outside of her walk from the airplane to an awaiting car after she landed in Los Angeles following the flight home from Australia.
Most of the people around Rousey believe she will come back from the loss to fight again, but there's been no timetable set on when that could happen.
