GSP to Hendricks: You want to fight me? Stick around a bit
“Listen, stick around for a bit and keep the title,” said GSP. “We’ll see what’s going to happen in the sport. If some things change, maybe we’ll get together again.”
Former UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre appeared recently on The MMA Hour, and discussed the UFC 171 fight Saturday night for his old title between new champion Johny Hendricks and Robbie Lawler.
“I was just watching it as a fan and it was a lot of fun,” said GSP, as transcribed by MMAFighting‘s Shaun Al-Shahtti.
“Personally I scored the fight to Johny Hendricks. I believe he had rounds one, two and five. Most people I know, they think it was Lawler that won the fight. It was a very tight fight though, it could’ve gone either way.”
“I think it came down to the first round. I believe Lawler, the rounds that he won, it was more decisively, and he did more damage on the face, but sometimes that doesn’t mean anything.
“Lawler had a lot of damage too, but you couldn’t see the damage on the legs. Damage on the face sometimes is superficial, so that’s one of the reasons I think Hendricks won the fight.”
“When I fought Carlos Condit, I was really hungry. When I fought Diaz, I was not as much hungry. When I fought Hendricks, my training camp, I was even less hungry, and I felt like I needed to step out to get some time to see if I want to do this or not again.
“For now, I don’t want to do it. I needed to step out and stay out of the radar. That’s one of the things I said. I didn’t know if it was going to be six months, a year, a year and a half, I don’t know. But right now, I don’t feel like coming back right now. It’s not right for me.”
The division has not of course ended with his exit. Of particular interest is who the first challenger is for Hendricks’ title.
“Rory MacDonald,” said GSP of his TriStarteammate. “If very happy for Rory. He did an amazing fight against Demian Maia and he proved he’s the No. 1 contender.”
Hendricks has said multiple times who he most wants to fight, and it is not Rory MacDonald, Hector Lombard, Tyron Woodley, Robbie Lawler, or Nick Diaz. Johny Hendricks wants to fight George St-Pierre, again.
“Listen, stick around for a bit and keep the title,” said GSP. “We’ll see what’s going to happen in the sport. If some things change, maybe we’ll get together again.”
