GSP: I am feeling the itch more, but won’t come back without PED testing
GSP: “But for sure I watch the fights sometimes and I feel the itch. And the more and more I watch the fights the more I feel the itch.”
Former UFC welterweight champ Georges St-Pierre appeared recently on Ariel Helwani’s The MMA Hour and said he is starting to feel the itch. GSP walked away from the sport at his belt in December of 2013, citing stress in his life as a professional fighter, and concern over the use of performance enhancing drugs in the sport.
“Dana called me to fight in Montreal [on April 25 at UFC 186], and he also texted me to see if I was interest in fighting Anderson Silva right before the thing came up,” said GSP as transcribed by Chuck Mindenhall for MMA Fighting. “And I said no…and then the whole thing came up and everything and it was bad. That fight with Anderson would have interested me, Ed Soares said something in the media and they make people talk.”
“I never said never, but now is not that time for me. I’m not interested right now. The way that things go, I’m not interested right now. I’m busy with other stuff too.”
“I’m not going to lie, I’m busy with everything and I work on other projects. But for sure I watch the fights sometimes and I feel the itch. And the more and more I watch the fights the more I feel the itch. I took time out of competition because I was also burned out of all the pressure and the expectations and everything. I needed to find a way out to keep my mental stability so to speak. And, yeah, I’m not going to lie. The more time that goes by the more I feel the itch. And now I’ve had my knee surgery, my knee feels 100 percent now. And I’m even able to perform some movement that I can do now that I was not able to do before, so I’ve even made a progression in that department.
“So, no, I’m not going to lie, every time I see a fight I tune in for a big UFC fight and I feel excited, you know. But I don’t know what’s going to happen to me. I don’t say that I’m making a comeback, but I think right now the sport needs to get cleaned up.”
“For me, the condition for me to return, if I want to return…I need my fights to be tested by an organization that is independent and competent like VADA, or I believe there is another one. It needs to be done, otherwise I’m not coming back.”
“I don’t need it. I’m wealthy, and I’m healthy, which is even more important. I’m wealthy, I’m healthy and I don’t need to put my life at risk. I don’t need it. I like the competition, I love my sport, but consider the risk. The positive versus the [negative], it’s not worth it for me. If I ever come back and something bad happens, it can destroy my brand, which is bad for me. So there are more cons than pros for me.”