GSP: Pressure drove me from the UFC
GSP: “When I left, it wasn’t because of damage. It was more mental. More anxiety, nervousness. I couldn’t sleep well. I felt like I was claustrophobic.”
When UFC welterweight G.O.A.T. Georges St-Pierre left the sport in 2013, he initially cited the little-defined pressure of staying champion. He later added that use of PEDs was a concern. And for a time he championed a fighter organization effort, that has apparently faltered.
Now he is back and fights middleweight champion Michael Bisping at UFC 217 on November 4, 2017, at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York. Now in an interview with Mark La Monica for Newsday, GSP detailed more fully why he took so many years off.
When I left, it wasn’t because of damage, he said. It was more mental. More anxiety, nervousness. I couldn’t sleep well. I felt like I was claustrophobic. Too much pressure.
I had a problem at that time, too, a personal problem. It’s like a bag of bricks that you carry that you don’t have time to empty your bag. It piled up on each other. Now I had time off, I had time to empty my bag. Now I come back light.
Bisping is being trained by noted striking coach Jason Parillo, but GSP feels he has an antidote in famed boxing coach Freddie Roach, who will be with St-Pierre for his entire camp.
I need something to help me counter that, said St-Pierre. It’s like a chess game, so I got Freddie Roach.
Nobody has an ego like me. My ego is bigger than everybody. That’s what makes me stand out. My pride. I’m a very proud guy.
I want my comeback fight to be something epic, something special for the fans. I didn’t want to come back for something small. I come out all the way or I don’t come out at all.
