- Georges St-Pierre revealed that a false cancer condition was the reason he retired from MMA
- “Rush” explained why fighting always made him feel uncomfortable
Georges St-Pierre opened up about fearing he had developed a deadly disease which ultimately prompted him to retire for good.
GSP left because he had to fight a disease
Speaking on Pound 4 Pound with Kamaru and Henry, St-Pierre revealed that a condition called “ulcer colitis” was the main reason he decided to retire from MMA. At the time, the former welterweight champion thought it was cancer but fortunately, it was curable.
St-Pierre added that fasting tremendously helped him recover from it but he used to be on constant medication.
“The reason why I really retired is because it took a lot out of me and I started developing a condition called ulcer colitis, it’s an inflammation of the intestine and my last fight when I fought, I try to eat to gain weight and I have a very hard time gaining weight and I force myself to eat and maybe the doctor told me that’s probably why and I developed that,” St-Pierre began.
“When I get diagnosed with ulcer colitis, in terms of stress, I got relieved but also I started doing intermitted fasting and it cured all my symptoms. I’m no longer on medication. I used to be on severe medication. I used to go to bathroom and it was a lot of blood, I thought maybe I had cancer but I was telling myself during training camp I was like, ‘Whatever it is I’m going to wait until the end of the fight because to find out what it is you need to do what they call a colonoscopy, it’s a camera they put and for that they put you on laxative and I was trying to gain weight not to lose weight so I was like whatever it is I’m going to fight and see what it is after,” he added.
GSP never wanted to fight
Another shocking revelation St-Pierre made was about what he truly felt about fighting. According to GSP, he was passionate about the preparation and “Science” of fighting but he never wanted to hurt somebody.
“I’m going to tell you something guys, I never liked it. I never liked to fight I liked the sport the science of it. I like to go train in the gym the camaraderie that I have with my training partner, the science of it, the freedom that fighting gives me, the money, access of thing that others doesn’t have, I love it but the grind of knowing you’re going to fight Saturday night against that killer, that’s going to try to rip your your head off, I’m like no I don’t like it I mean, it put me in a very uncomfortable situation,” St-Pierre confided.
“Some people liked it but I never liked it. If I could close my eyes and snap my fingers and fast forward to the end of the fight, I would have done it every single time,” he added.
St-Pierre last competed professionally in MMA at UFC 217 in 2017 where he dethroned Michael Bisping to become the UFC’s middleweight champ. He was reportedly set for a grappling match with Nick Diaz last year but the bout was eventually scrapped.
During his reign, St-Pierre successfully defended his welterweight title nine times which made him the division’s all-time leader in title defenses. He logged a pro MMA record of 26-2.
Watch St-Pierre’s full interview below:
