Welterweight GOAT Georges St-Pierre credits the loss to Matt Serra in 2007 as ultimately being one of the great steps forward in his career.
It was the most humiliating thing in my career,” he said last year. I felt I let down everybody, even though it turned out to be a positive experience because it made me who I am today, a much better fighter and martial artist.
GSP never lost again, and went on to regain his welterweight belt, retire, and return to win the middleweight belt too. During a recent appearance on Michael Bisping’s Believe You Me podcast, GSP offered some sage advice for fellow former champ champ Conor McGregor, following his loss Satuday night to Dustin Poirier.
I thought Conor was going to win, and I was wrong, said St-Pierre, with characteristic honesty. I was very surprised how Poirier – his composure under the pressure. I think one of Conor’s biggest strengths is that he overwhelms his opponents with his pressure, with his presence, with all the information he gives his opponent’s brain. All that stuff that he does, the kicks, the talking, all that. He overwhelms his opponents and a lot of them, they fold under pressure. But Poirier stayed sharp and it was a real testament of how good he is. It was amazing. Now it will be really interesting to see how Conor can come back from it.
I believe Conor can come back from that loss. He’s the kind of fighter, I believe, he fuels himself on confidence. When he’s confident, that’s how he performs at his best. He likes to act confident ***pantomimes the Billionaire Strut***, fake it until you make it, he plays a role that he’s very confident. Maybe, deep down inside, he’s very scared but I believe he fuels himself into that, that confidence, to be loved or hated by fans, the attention. Now it will be interesting to see how he’s gonna come back from it. I believe in Conor. I believe he’s gonna come back from it. I believe he’s capable of overcoming that obstacle.
He needs to reborn. He needs to change things in his training and in his life that he believes were the causes for his failure. It doesn’t matter if it’s true or not as long as he believes. So in my case, for example when I lost to Matt Serra, I drilled myself to believe that I lost to Matt Serra because I underestimated him. Maybe I wasn’t scared enough, maybe I didn’t put as much as I should do in training, that’s what I tried to force myself to believe. Maybe it’s not true. But the important [thing] is that he believes in it so he can build up his confidence from it, because he believes it. It doesn’t matter.
He needs to find what he thinks he did wrong in his previous preparation leading up to the fight, whether it’s his training, regarding his life, or whatever, and not making the same mistake twice. It doesn’t matter if most people believe it’s bulls***, as long as he believes it himself. His confidence will grow from there and he will be able to come back a better Conor McGregor, at least as good as he was.
What do you think UG, can Conor come back better for the loss? And if so, how?
h/t Jed Meshew for MMA Fighting
