Controversy

GSP vs. Hendricks Scorecard: Did Johny Hendricks Really Beat Georges St-Pierre?

The judges agreed on four of the five rounds. The welterweight title came down to the first one - and every media scorecard gave the fight to Hendricks.

By Jashan Oct 12, 2026 · 7 min read

At a glance

1ResultSt-Pierre by split decision - 48-47, 47-48, 48-47
2The judgesSal D'Amato and Tony Weeks for St-Pierre, Glenn Trowbridge for Hendricks; referee Mario Yamasaki
3The splitAll three judges agreed on rounds 2 to 5; only round 1 divided them
4The statsSignificant strikes 101-85 to St-Pierre; total strikes 142-125 and control 5:27 to 2:52 for Hendricks
5The mediaEvery media score on MMADecisions went to Hendricks
6Our card48-47 Hendricks

What was at stake

In November 2013 Georges St-Pierre was 24-2, on an 11-fight winning streak, and making the ninth consecutive defence of the UFC welterweight title. Johny Hendricks, 15-1, was the No. 1 contender; he had earned the shot by beating Carlos Condit at UFC 158 that March. The sportsbooks made St-Pierre a clear favourite, at roughly -200 to -240 depending on the book.

The official scorecards

Each judge's card, round by round, as reported by CBC and the Globe and Mail; Fox Sports and MMADecisions agree. Scores are written St-Pierre first.

Judge	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	Total
Sal D'Amato	10-9	9-10	10-9	9-10	10-9	48-47
Tony Weeks	10-9	9-10	10-9	9-10	10-9	48-47
Glenn Trowbridge	9-10	9-10	10-9	9-10	10-9	47-48

Referee: Mario Yamasaki. Every round was scored 10-9.

UFCStats prints the same three cards from Hendricks' side, which makes D'Amato and Weeks look like the dissenters at a glance. Every other source, MMADecisions included, names Trowbridge as the one judge who scored the fight for Hendricks, and the round-by-round cards above are the ones two outlets agree on.

As split decisions go, this one is simple. All three judges gave Hendricks rounds 2 and 4, and all three gave St-Pierre rounds 3 and 5. That left the fight, and the title, to round 1. D'Amato and Weeks gave it to St-Pierre; Trowbridge gave it to Hendricks. Had one more judge seen the first round Trowbridge's way, Hendricks would have left as champion.

Round by round

Round 1 - St-Pierre 2-1 (D'Amato and Weeks)

St-Pierre started the way he usually did: he took Hendricks down inside the first 15 seconds and tried a guillotine. Hendricks got out of it, worked St-Pierre against the fence and took him down in turn. The damage came in the clinch, where Hendricks' elbows opened a cut above St-Pierre's right eye. Significant strikes: St-Pierre 19, Hendricks 18; total strikes 27-26 to Hendricks. Each man completed one takedown, and Hendricks had 59 seconds of control to St-Pierre's 34. All three of Sherdog's round scorers gave the round to Hendricks.

Round 2 - Hendricks (all three judges)

Hendricks' best round. His left hand hurt St-Pierre - ESPN described a left uppercut that buckled the champion's legs, and Sherdog's play-by-play had St-Pierre stumbling - and Hendricks kept after him, driving knees into his thigh against the fence. St-Pierre was never knocked down, but he spent the round reacting. Significant strikes: Hendricks 30, St-Pierre 28; total strikes 37-30. Neither man tried a takedown. Every judge gave Hendricks the round.

Round 3 - St-Pierre (all three judges)

St-Pierre's cleanest round. He went back to the jab and the leg kicks - all ten of his leg kicks landed - and out-landed Hendricks 31-15 in significant strikes, the widest margin of the fight. Hendricks scored a double-leg takedown late, too late to change the round. Even Dana White, who had Hendricks winning everything else, gave St-Pierre the third.

Round 4 - Hendricks (all three judges)

The sources disagree on how this round went to the ground. ESPN saw an outside trip by Hendricks; Sherdog's play-by-play says St-Pierre slipped and pulled Hendricks into his guard. The official statistics side with Sherdog: they record one Hendricks takedown attempt in the round and no takedown. Either way Hendricks finished on top, landed an elbow that drew blood, and then stood and let St-Pierre up. Significant strikes: Hendricks 18, St-Pierre 14; total strikes 41-24, with 2:07 of control for Hendricks. Again the judges were unanimous.

Round 5 - St-Pierre (all three judges)

ESPN noted Hendricks smiling at St-Pierre in the fifth, but the round was the champion's. He landed a right hand, put Hendricks on his back twice in four attempts, the second time off a body kick, and finished the fight attacking a kimura at the horn. The striking was thin, nine significant strikes to four, and St-Pierre held 1:54 of control to Hendricks' 1:06. All three judges gave him the round.

What the numbers say

The official statistics, round by round (St-Pierre first):

Round	Sig. strikes	Total strikes	Takedowns	Control	Knockdowns
R1	19 – 18	26 – 27	1/2 – 1/1	0:34 – 0:59	0 – 0
R2	28 – 30	30 – 37	0/0 – 0/0	0:00 – 0:37	0 – 0
R3	31 – 15	32 – 22	0/0 – 1/2	0:00 – 0:38	0 – 0
R4	14 – 18	24 – 41	0/0 – 0/1	0:24 – 2:07	0 – 0
R5	9 – 4	13 – 15	2/4 – 0/0	1:54 – 1:06	0 – 0
Total	101 – 85	125 – 142	3/6 – 2/4	2:52 – 5:27	0 – 0

St-Pierre's defenders start with the headline number: he landed 101 significant strikes to Hendricks' 85 and out-landed him in three rounds. But the whole 16-strike gap comes from round 3, which nobody disputes. Take that round away and the other four are level at 70 significant strikes each. Hendricks landed more total strikes, 142 to 125, held the dominant position for 5:27 to St-Pierre's 2:52, and did the damage that showed: the cut in round 1, the hurt in round 2, the blood in round 4. Nobody was knocked down.

FightMetric, which compiles the official statistics, also published its own Effectiveness Score for the fight. It had Hendricks ahead, 364 to 315, as CBC and the Globe and Mail reported in the days after.

Round 1 is where the stat sheet stops helping. It was 19-18 in significant strikes, one takedown each and a 25-second difference in control: on paper, a coin toss. What the numbers cannot show is which strikes mattered. Hendricks' clinch elbows cut the champion; St-Pierre's best moment, the guillotine, came to nothing.

The media did not see a coin toss. Every media score on MMADecisions went to Hendricks - Sherdog counted 15 of 15 in 2013, and the page lists 16 today. ESPN.com and Yahoo scored it 48-47 Hendricks; Sports Illustrated had it 49-47 Hendricks, with round 3 a 10-10 draw.

How we scored it

Round	MMA.SOCIAL	Why
R1	10-9 Hendricks	The cut above St-Pierre's eye, more time in control (0:59 to 0:34) and one more total strike; St-Pierre's early takedown and guillotine attempt were his only clear moments, and significant strikes were 19-18.
R2	10-9 Hendricks	He hurt St-Pierre with the left hand and won the exchanges, 30-28 significant and 37-30 total.
R3	10-9 St-Pierre	Jab and leg kicks, 31-15 in significant strikes; Hendricks' takedown came too late.
R4	10-9 Hendricks	Top position, 2:07 of control, 41-24 in total strikes and the elbow that drew blood.
R5	10-9 St-Pierre	Two takedowns, 1:54 of control and the kimura attempt at the horn.
Total	48-47 Hendricks

Round 1 is the only real argument, and it is closer than the media's unanimity suggests. St-Pierre landed one more significant strike, matched Hendricks' takedown and tried to finish a guillotine. But an escaped submission attempt is not damage, and the cut was. Hendricks also out-landed St-Pierre in the clinch, 14 to 10, and spent longer in the better position. Give St-Pierre round 1 and you are giving him the round in which he was cut and out-worked at close range on the strength of one early takedown.

That is not the same as calling it a wide robbery. The judges agreed with almost everyone on four of the five rounds; they disagreed with the room on one close one. But a title changed hands - or did not - on that one round, and on our card it was Hendricks'.

What happened next

"The judges ripped my heart out tonight," Hendricks said, and "I thought I clearly won the fight." Dana White went further. "I'm blown away that Georges St-Pierre won that fight," White said. He had scored every round except the third for Hendricks, he pushed for an immediate rematch, and he called for a government investigation of the commission that appointed the judges.

St-Pierre had other news. He said he was stepping away: "I need to hang up my gloves for a little bit." He cited personal matters, including trouble sleeping, and would not say more. On December 13, 2013, he vacated the welterweight title and took a leave of absence.

Hendricks won the vacant belt at UFC 171 on March 15, 2014, beating Robbie Lawler 48-47 on all three cards, and lost it back to Lawler at UFC 181 that December by split decision. St-Pierre stayed away for four years. He returned at UFC 217 on November 4, 2017, and submitted Michael Bisping with a rear-naked choke in the third round to win the middleweight title. Hendricks kept asking for the rematch, even at middleweight. It never happened.

The verdict

GSP vs. Hendricks was one close round scored the wrong way, with the welterweight title riding on it. The judges agreed on rounds 2 to 5, and so does almost everyone. Round 1 was Hendricks' on damage and control; two judges gave it to St-Pierre, and the champion kept his belt and then walked away from it. On our card Hendricks won 48-47, as he did on every media score MMADecisions recorded.

Full fight stats: St-Pierre vs. Hendricks. The rest of the night: UFC 167. More disputed cards: the fighters with the most disputed losses, most split-decision wins and most UFC title fights.

Sources

Questions

Who won GSP vs. Hendricks?

Georges St-Pierre, by split decision at UFC 167 on November 16, 2013. Sal D'Amato and Tony Weeks scored it 48-47 for St-Pierre and Glenn Trowbridge scored it 48-47 for Hendricks. Every media score on MMADecisions had Hendricks winning, and so does ours, 48-47.

What was the GSP vs. Hendricks scorecard?

All three judges gave Hendricks rounds 2 and 4 and St-Pierre rounds 3 and 5. Round 1 decided it: D'Amato and Weeks gave it to St-Pierre and Trowbridge gave it to Hendricks, for totals of 48-47, 47-48 and 48-47.

Was GSP vs. Hendricks a robbery?

It is widely called one. Every media score on MMADecisions went to Hendricks, and UFC president Dana White said he was "blown away" that St-Pierre won. The fight turned on a single close round, the first, in which Hendricks cut St-Pierre.

Who landed more strikes in GSP vs. Hendricks?

St-Pierre landed more significant strikes, 101 to 85, and the entire difference came in round 3. Hendricks landed more total strikes, 142 to 125, and had 5:27 of control time to St-Pierre's 2:52.

Why did GSP vacate the title after the Hendricks fight?

St-Pierre said after the fight that he needed to step away, citing personal matters, and on December 13, 2013, he vacated the welterweight title. He returned four years later at UFC 217 and beat Michael Bisping for the middleweight title.

Did GSP and Hendricks have a rematch?

No. Dana White pushed for an immediate rematch and Hendricks asked for one for years, but St-Pierre vacated the title instead and the two never fought again.