GSP recalls being scared by Mark Coleman before UFC debut
Long before a fighter becomes a UFC champion, he starts like every other fighter in the promotion, making his UFC…
Long before a fighter becomes a UFC champion, he starts like every other fighter in the promotion, making his UFC debut. Like most debuting fighters, St-Pierre was nervous before his fight, and add to that an intense moment with one the heavyweight division’s most feared ground and pounders:
I was so nervous, he said today at a pre-event press conference for the pay-per-view event, which takes place at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. I was fighting Karo Parisyan, so I was fighting on the prelims. They put us in a little locker room, maybe half of the (size of a) mat. I was with three guys, and when we got into the room, it was very long, but it was very narrow. We didn’t have enough space to work out, so I decided to take all the chairs and throw them out of the room, and still it was very tiny.
So I was not working out. I was waiting for the time to get ready. And all of a sudden, I heard a noise in the hallway like a third world war was breaking out, and guess who got into the room? It was Wes Sims, Kevin Randelman and Mark Coleman, two of my idols, Goldberg, and Ricco Rodriguez. So we didn’t have enough space with those giants. I was like, ‘Oh my god.’ I couldn’t speak English; I was very intimidated. It was my first time in the UFC.
Mark Coleman goes, ‘Who are you?’ And I’m like, ‘Hi, I’m Georges St-Pierre.’ He goes, ‘Who are you going up against? (I said), ‘Karo Parisyan?’ He goes, ‘You a wrestler?’ I said, ‘Yeah, I wrestle.’
He goes, ‘Yeah! I’m rooting for you!’ And then pandemonium broke out in the locker room. I was so agitated. I was scared. When the time came for me to warm up, and these guys were screaming at me. I didn’t understand what they said, but there were a lot of f-words. I couldn’t speak English, so I tried to let it motivate me. But they were scaring me.