“Of course, my goal was to win the title, but everybody has their path, their own journey, and it’s important to accept what was and adapt and move on in life,” said the 42-year-old. “I’m super grateful that a lot of people give me props.”
Those props are well deserved for a fighter who deserves his place on the list of the best to never win a UFC title. The first French-Canadian to fight in the Octagon, Loiseau’s nine-fight UFC slate may sit at 4-5, but when he was on, he was someone no one wanted to get near on fight night.
That was first evident on April 25, 2003 when Loiseau made his debut against Mark Weir in Miami. Already 8-2 with wins over Joe Doerksen, Shawn Tompkins and Tony Fryklund, “The Crow” halted England’s Weir in less than four minutes, yet when the fight was over, his only thought was getting his teammates to join him in the promotion.
“I finish the fight, first-round knockout, and then I meet Dana White,” Loiseau said. “Back then it was Dana White, Joe Silva and the staff. He said, ‘Great fight, kid, and I said, ‘I got training partners that are down, they’re ready, they’re amazing. One of them is Georges. Look out for him. He’s the next guy coming up.’ You know what happens after that.”
What happened was a St-Pierre win over UFC vet Pete Spratt in November 2003, and two months later, the future hall of famer was in the big show, fighting Karo Parisyan.
Together, Loiseau and GSP were the talk of the MMA world, opening the door for their Canadian peers. St-Pierre would be the first to get a shot at a title, losing to Matt Hughes at UFC 50, while Loiseau was finishing up a stint back home with the TKO promotion before beginning the three-fight winning streak that earned him his first crack at championship gold.
Those three knockouts of Gideon Ray, Charles McCarthy, Evan Tanner established him as the clear number one contender for Franklin’s title, with his finish of McCarthy earning immortality on highlight reels. What followed was a UFC 58 headliner for the belt on a card entitled USA vs Canada. It was then that the Montrealer truly realized the impact he was having on the sport back home.
„Let me tell you something – I got a lot of hate mail, but ever since I retired a few years back, if you knew the amount of emails or DMs I get regarding my fight with Rich Franklin – people think that’s one of the best fights they’ve seen. They love me for the heart that I showed. They say I had the best elbows in the sport, my ground-and-pound, I get so much love for my spinning back kick against Charles McCarthy. It’s little things like that. If you look at my career, I always respected everybody, I never complained, I never pointed fingers for my losses, I always showed love for the UFC and never turned my back on them after my career. That’s how I was brought up, and I kept my integrity. That’s very important to me. Every fight that I fought, I signed on the dotted line, so I have zero regrets for everything that happened in my career. I’m actually very proud.“
