Since his UFC debut at the tender age of 22, when he emerged victorious with a win over Karo Parisyan at UFC 46, George "Rush" St. Pierre has probably become the most recognizable MMA welterweight fighter in the world.

Over the past six years St. Pierre has consistently faced the best fighters in his weight class, and on the two occasions when he has fallen short, he has gone back to work and risen from defeat stronger and more focused than ever.

Along with his success and eventual dominance as welterweight champion, GSP's incredible work ethic, his undeniable good looks, and his unfailing respect for the sport, the fans, and his opponents, have all combined to turn him into a UFC icon. In a sport that is all too often headlined by bad behaviour and trash-talking, St-Pierre is proof that good guys really can finish first.

So where do you go for new challenges when you have arrived at the top? It would certainly be premature to say that GSP has run out of challenges at 170 in the UFC. After all, it was in a match involving St. Pierre himself, at UFC 69, that Matt Serra famously demonstrated that on any given day, any man can emerge victorious from the Octagon. Serra scored a first-round TKO against the champ in one of the UFC's most famous upsets.

Still, after avenging that loss when he reclaimed the belt from Serra at UFC 83, GSP has seemed more dominant each time he has returned to defend the title. With two more wins at 170, St. Pierre will match the UFC record for consecutive title defenses shared by Matt Hughes and Anderson Silva, and the list of new challengers seems to be growing short.  Taken together, all of these factors have long fueled speculation that GSP might one day choose to move up in weight and test himself in the middleweight division.

St. Pierre has now taken the time to discuss his thoughts on a move to middleweight in more depth than ever before, revealing in a video interview with MMAFighting.com that if he did decide to make the move, it would be a permanent one. Interestingly, GSP has already been working to increase his lean muscle mass.

"I'm already much bigger than I was when I fought Alves," St. Pierre said. "I'm 8 pounds bigger than I was when I fought Alves.  I used to walk around at 185, now I walk around at 193. If I do it, I need to get even more big, I need to get past 200. If I do it too, there's one thing, if I go up to fight at 185 division I cannot go back down. It's easier to go up than going back down."

GSP also revealed that there are more factors involved than a simple increase in weight. St-Pierre has given a lot of consideration to what it might mean to face a friend in the octagon, and it is clear that the thought of fighting someone he is close to is a major issue for him.

"And I have a lot of friends that fight at 185," St. Pierre said. "I will never fight a friend.  I have Nathan Marquardt, Patrick Cote, David Loisseau, Denis Kang... I have a bunch of guys that I train with that fight in that division, and I will never fight a friend. Hockey is a game, mixed martial arts is a sport, but it is not a game. You say, 'ah, I'm going to play hockey, I'm going to play football,' but you do not say, 'I'm going to play fighting.' Because, let's say I'm in mount position - I always say that example - if I'm in...