George St. Pierre nominated for an ESPY

UFC welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre (16-2 MMA, 10-2 UFC), who avenged a previous loss and reclaimed the UFC's 170-pound title with a victory over Matt Serra in April, is a nominee for a 2008 ESPY award.

ESPN today unveiled the list of 37 categories and the corresponding nominees.

St. Pierre is the lone MMA competitor on the list of finalists for the "Best Fighter" category.

St. Pierre goes head-to-head with Kelly Pavlik, Floyd Mayweather, Joe Calzaghe and Holly Holm -- all four of whom are boxers.

No other MMA fighter, event or moment was nominated for an award.

St. Pierre, a 27-year-old French-Canadian, lost his title to Serra in April 2007 but has since rebounded for three consecutive victories. In addition to his second-round TKO of Serra in April, St. Pierre defeated Josh Koscheck via unanimous decision in August and Matt Hughes via second-round submission in December. He headlines next month's UFC 87 event against top contender Jon Fitch.

The 16th annual ESPYs broadcast airs July 20 at 9 p.m. ET on ESPN and ESPN HD.

The ESPY awards (Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly Awards), a sports-achievement-recognition program created by ESPN, began in 1993. The awards have been determined exclusively via an online fan vote since 2005.

Voting is now underway at www.espys.tv.


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