Georges St-Pierre opened up about his legendary UFC career.
Jon Jones and St-Pierre are the most discussed fighters in the GOAT conversation, with Jones being disqualified by some people for his failed drug tests. Although there aren’t many things ‘Rush’ could have done better, the MMA legend does have some criticisms of his career.
During an interview on the UFC’s YouTube channel, St-Pierre discussed regrets he had before making his Octagon return against Michael Bisping in 2017:
“I had three major criticisms in my career. One was that I never competed in the heavier weight classes. I cleaned up my division. Another one was that I was too much calculated. I didn’t take enough risks. Another one was like there wasn’t enough drama. I was kind of always the nice guy and there wasn’t enough drama to promote the fight, so when I came back I was targeting the 185 title.”
St-Pierre made his UFC debut in 2004, winning back-to-back fights before his first MMA loss to Matt Hughes. After fighting outside the UFC once, ‘Rush’ returned to dominate everyone other than Matt Serra in their first meeting. The Canadian retired in 2013 and then returned for one last fight in 2017.
Georges St-Pierre reflects on his reasoning for retiring and then returning
Former UFC welterweight and middleweight champion Georges St-Pierre was nearly unbeatable after losing to Matt Serra in 2007. Before retiring in 2013, ‘Rush’ won twelve consecutive fights against several legendary opponents, including BJ Penn, Matt Hughes, Carlos Condit, Nick Diaz, and more. During the same interview with the UFC, St-Pierre detailed why he retired by saying:
“When I left I didn’t know at the time if I would have come back. The sport was different. I was fighting against performance-enhancing drugs and I felt like I was fighting against a lot of things and no one was on my side… I just wanted to get out of the radar, take some time for myself. I was always liked to train… The stress of the competition reached a point that it was unbearable for me.”
St-Pierre would fight one last time in 2017, winning the UFC middleweight championship against Michael Bisping. He had this to say about his decision to fight again:
“I decided to come back after more than four years because the sport changed and they were testing athletes, they had USADA doing random testing, so the sport became much more clean. It changed a lot of the landscape of the UFC because of it, but it was more fair. I think it is very important.”
St-Pierre was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame modern-era wing with the 2020 class. ‘Rush’ currently holds the UFC record for control time, top position time, and takedowns landed. More importantly, he earned the eternal respect of MMA fans worldwide.
