Florian: Why GSP may never fight again
Kenny Florian: “What is he going to accomplish here that’s going to elevate his status that much more?”
In 2013, welterweight G.O.A.T. Georges St-Pierre decided to stop fighting after ten successful title defenses. He cited the miserable mental pressure of staying on top, and later added that everyone was on PEDs. After three years GSP decided to return to the Octagon, and a year later, after extended negotiations, he returned at UFC 217 to defeat middleweight champion Michael Bisping, and become only the fourth fighter in league history to win a world championship in two divisions.
St-Pierre will now defend his title vs. interim champion Robert Whittaker, or drop to welterweight and challenge Tyron Woodley, or have a superfight at 170 vs. Conor McGregor. Or he could again vacate the title and stop fighting.
I think for Georges, I wouldn’t be surprised if this is his last fight,” said Florian, as transcribed by Jed Meshew for MMA Fighting. “Does it get any better than this? What is he going to accomplish here that’s going to elevate his status that much more? Does he need to defeat the 205-pound champion, maybe fight Stipe Miocic? Those aren’t realistic things. Even going up to 186, everybody doubted him. ‘This is going to be too much. Michael Bisping has been more active, he’s a bigger guy.’ I don’t know if it gets better than this.
II really don’t think, as much as Georges wanted to get what he felt he deserved, but I don’t think it was necessarily about the money. This wasn’t a Georges St-Pierre saying ‘Man, my bank account is low. I really need to get some funds here.’ It wasn’t about that. Georges is fine on money. I think more than anything else, he had something he needed to prove to himself. Being away for four years, I felt like he finished his career on top and wanted to come back and show everybody that in these days where USADA is kind of overlooking the sport, I want to come back and show what I can really do. At 170 pounds, he has already done it all. He wanted to do something different at 185 pounds and challenge himself. He did that against a phenomenal champion in Michael Bisping and I think that this is probably his last fight.
He’s one of the best competitors I’ve seen in all of professional sports and if he wants to continue to fight, I think he can beat a Robert Whittaker. I think there’s a fight against Tyron Woodley if he wanted to. Obviously, there’s that Conor McGregor guy who might make things interesting but I know for Georges he doesn’t really want to go down in weight too much. He feels like he’s already done it all at 170 pounds and he did it in an age where the welterweight division was just ridiculous.
“I think going down against 155 pounds, I don’t know if he really feels Conor McGregor is a challenge to be honest. Going against a much smaller guy and having the takedown skills that he has … He’s gone against a lot of other great strikers in his career, and I don’t think Conor McGregor is gonna be big enough or has the wrestling prowess to stop the takedowns of a Georges St-Pierre.
