GSP: I’m starting to get the feeling, more and more, to come back
Georges St-Pierre: “I’m starting to get the feeling, more and more, to come back … It’s not for sure that it won’t happen in 2015, but I’m not sure yet.”
There have been hints that former UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre was getting closer to a return. GSP’s sometime boxing trainer said the Canadian was getting the itch to fight at least once more. And GSP’s former manager Stephane Patry predicted he will come back for one more fight.
Now the fighter himself has spoken, in an interview with the Quebec’s TVA Sports. One of GSP’s stated concerns has been the use of PED’s in MMA. The UFC now employs USADA to do comprehensive, random, out of competition testing. However, the fighter, now 34, remains concerned.
“I’m starting to get the feeling, more and more, to come back,” said St-Pierre, as translated by MMA Fighting for Marc Raimondi. “I watch the fights to see what’s going on in my division, and I’m staying in shape. It’s like a knife that I have to keep sharp just in case I ever decide to jump back in the mix. It’s not for sure that it won’t happen in 2015, but I’m not sure yet.”
“I’m training hard. As you can see, I have some bumps and bruises. I didn’t get these from falling down stairs.”
“Many of my regrets in life have nothing to do with things I have done, but rather things I didn’t do. And if I have one regret, it’s that I didn’t speak up sooner. In fact, I’ve been talking for a while, but they ignored it. At the end, I wanted to make the drug tests public. I should have insisted on that well before.”
“I’m not surprised to see certain things. There are fighters whose bodies have changed. They don’t look like the same fighters as before. I think a lot of people are scared.”
“We have to eliminate the technology factor in the sport,” St-Pierre said. “The sport needs to be based on talent, technique, athletic talent and not based on who has access to better technology. If I train with a team who supplies me with doctors and biochemists, obviously I am going to have a huge advantage. People have no idea, it makes a big difference. If you take a person and you add force, power, endurance and a new way to recuperate … it’s insane.”
“It goes together. Often, big weight cuts rely upon drugs. I’m not accusing anyone, but there are substances used to cut weight and others to recuperate. The science has gone far.”
St-Pierre has not fought in two years, is no longer a young man, and the skill level is improving. So hopefully the desire to fight overwhelms the anxiety he has felt, and sooner rather than later.