Georges St-Pierre will not be entertaining the prospect of returning to fight current UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman.
Usman is tied with St-Pierre when it comes to consecutive wins (12) at welterweight in the UFC and has been campaigning to fight the former 170-pound king for a while now. He most recently reiterated his desire following his title defense over Jorge Masvidal at UFC 251 earlier this month.
But for St-Pierre — who officially retired early last year — the cons of returning to the sport to face him outweigh the pros at this point.
“For me, it’s very complimentary because for a fighter, the goal is to work,” St-Pierre told TMZ of Usman wanting to fight him. “And not only for a fighter, for everybody, the goal is to do as less work possible to gain the most money. They know a fight with me will give them a lot of money and plus, if they win, they can have the legacy that comes with it. But for my part, it’s a mixed feeling. For sure, sometimes I’m watching the fight and I’m like, ‘man, I think I can beat these guys.’ Or after when I’m done training, I feel like I’m very confident. But then after I go home at night and I’m thinking about all that crazy thoughts, I’m like, ‘I’m gonna be 40 years old soon.’ Do I really want to go back into a hardcore training camp of two months, put myself in jail so to speak, and getting ready for hell?
“And I’m like, no, I don’t. I’ve done it for a very long time and unfortunately, in my sport there is too many guys that retire too late and I do not want to be one of these guys. I’m very fortunate. I’m healthy, most importantly, and I’m also wealthy. I came at the right time, the right timing, I made a lot of money and I think when I measured and calculated the pros and cons, it’s better that I stay retired.”
St-Pierre Has Praise For Usman
That said, “Rush” did reserve huge praise for Usman who he claims to love watching fight along with the other top guys in the sport today.
But again, Usman is not a fight that will lead to a return.
“Maybe, sometimes it does,” St-Pierre responded when asked if Usman is a fighter who could persuade him back. “I watch the guys fight and I’m like, ‘man, I think I could.’ It will always be like that. Maybe I’m completely out of my mind and if I go back I will get my ass kicked.
“I think for me, it’s better if I stay retired and I have other big projects right now. I still stay a big fan of the sport, I love to watch Kamaru, I love to watch all the best guys in the sport. … I saw the fight, he’s amazing. What a great fight. He’s very, very smart. Everybody talks about his physical abilities and his skills, but I think what his best attribute is his brain. He’s very, very smart. He’s very good at becoming the perfect nemesis for his opponent. And he fought almost a perfect fight. He’s an amazing fighter and he’s gonna go far, he’s gonna be one of the best if he keeps going like that.”
Interestingly though, St-Pierre did not completely rule out a return.
“Listen, the UFC know where to find me,” he added. “If they want to offer me something, they can call. You can take the fighter out of the competition, but you cannot take the competition out of the fighter. I need to stay objective and smart about my decisions and right now to come back to fight for the welterweight title against Kamaru Usman and risk it all, there’s more cons than pros. So it’s not worth it for me.”
Perhaps, he still has that one opponent in his mind.
