Time Warp Battle: 1972 Olympic Wrestler Dan Gable vs. Georges St-Pierre

“Pain is nothing compared to what it feels like to quit. Give everything you got today for tomorrow may never come.” – Coach Dan Gable

Welcome once again fight fans to another instalment of Time Warp Battle, where historical fighting legends meet today’s future Hall of Fame candidates.

Today, we’re going to look at what would happen if 1972 Olympic gold medalist—Dan Gable, were to take on one of today’s most popular and aspiring Olympic wrestling hopefuls—the UFC Welterweight Champion, Georges “Rush” St-Pierre.

For starters, please let me just say that I am not one to disparage the great athletic pioneers and most certainly the intent of Time Warp Battle is not to take anything away from the accomplishments of those who had dedicated so much of themselves to help bring their passions and sporting disciplines to the masses.

But it is nice none-the-less to speculate just how far athletes have evolved (if at all) and imagine for a brief moment, how these respected legends would do against some of today’s greatest MMA Superstars.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Dan Gable, let me just say that he was (and still is) a pretty amazing fellow.

Dan Gable was a three-time Iowa State wrestling champion who won three Big Eight Championships and earned himself All-American honours all three of those years.

Dan was also a six-time midlands champion and a three-time USA Freestyle National Champion. In 1971, Dan also became the World Champion at a competition in Bulgaria.

Two more amazing facts are that Dan won an Olympic gold medal in 1972, and he did so without surrendering a single point to his opposition.

The ability that he possessed to throw and control another human being was absolutely amazing! Truly, second to none.

I highly doubt that Georges St-Pierre would say that he was “not impressed”.

And speaking of Georges, he absolutely is an equally amazing wrestler in his own right and is currently considering the option of competing in the 2012 Summer Olympic Games (Georges previously won the 2008 Most Outstanding Fighter by the Wrestling Observer Newsletter).

In his fight against Josh Koscheck (a highly decorated Division I NCAA All-American wrestling champion) back in 2007, Georges seemed to have no problem scoring takedowns, stopping Koscheck’s takedown attempts, and maintaining top position throughout most of the fight.

Not too bad for a Canadian, eh?

Georges has also studied multiple other fighting disciplines such as: karate, boxing, muay thai, and Brazilian jiu-jitsu, making him one of the most well-rounded MMA fighters ever to step into the Octogon. Georges has been called, by many, the best pound-for-pound fighter on the planet.

So the big question isn’t who would win in a wrestling match, but who would win in a full-out MMA fight?

Before I attempt to answer that, let me just acknowledge that this is a pretty unfair comparison in my view if only because of the size difference between the two men—no disrespect intended to Dan.

Dan competed as a lightweight (150 pounds) and GSP competes as a welterweight (170 pounds). Even at a catch-weight of 160, I would have to believe that the advantage for Georges, given his size, strength and unbelievable athleticism, would just be too much for the Olympian Dan Gable to handle.

Had MMA been an available option for Dan back in the day, I have no doubt that he would have dominated the lightweight division (hmmm… I wonder how he would have done against BJ Penn?).

If researching for this article has done anything, it has turned me into a huge Dan Gable fan (I was already a huge GSP fan) and I would like to thank my friend Robert Gardner for that.

Oh and by the way, Robert believes that Dan Gable could actually beat GSP, so please check out his article as well.

Something tells me that if Dan were ever given the opportunity to fight GSP, despite the size difference, he would never have given up trying.

I admire that.

.
These are my opinions. If you don’t like them… I have others. Check them out at www.mrjamesryan.com