UFC welterweight G.O.A.T. Georges St-Pierre appeared recently on Ariel Helwani’s The MMA Hour, and discussed his title fight with middleweight champion Michael Bisping at UFC 217 on November 4. ‘The Count’ has trash talked GSP up and down the Internet, but the Canadian reports he is unfazed.
“He sings always the same song,” said St-Pierre, as transcribed byRyan Harkness for MMA Mania. “He’s terrified of me wrestling him. Terrified. And every interview he does he’s begging me to stand and bang with him. If you don’t know ground, you shouldn’t be in MMA. You should be a kickboxer. It’s fighting on the ground, it’s part of the game. So he’s terrified, so he wants me to be like ‘Oh I’m going to stand and bang with you’ like I’m an idiot. I’m going to use all my tools, not only one tools that I have. But that’s a mind game that he’s trying to play.”
GSP left the sport in 2013, citing the pressure of staying on top. He said he’s in better space now.
“It’s more fun, and the infrastructure of my life in general is much better than it was before,” said St-Pierre. “I mean, I train very hard, but it’s more specific to what I need and less, there’s a lot less distraction so it’s a lot better. Mentally I’m in a much better place, there’s no other place in the world that I wish to be than in the Octagon facing Michael Bisping.”
If he has a single complaint, it’s Bisping touching him during pre-fight media duties.
“I put my hand on him to push him away because he put his before, I don’t want him to touch me,” said St-Pierre. “And he can say whatever he wants, but when he’s touching me I’m pushing him back. I’m not like, I’m not gonna let myself be laughed at. It’s okay, he can talk as much as he wants but when he touch the person, he disrespects them. So I push him back, I don’t want to hit him, but I don’t want him to touch me or make fun of me like this.
