Georges St-Pierre says Justin Gaethje has reached the kind of career ending most fighters chase for decades and never actually find, and believes the smartest move would be to walk away now rather than risk giving the lightweight division another chance to take something from him.
St-Pierre made the comments on TheBreakTalk, flagged by MMA Junkie.
He’s the kind of guy that works really hard and he comes back from adversity. It’s really inspiring to see what he has accomplished. You might not like what I’m going to say, but if I were him, because I like him, retirement. I heard Demetrious Johnson said it, but that’s what I would do. That would be an amazing ending. What else does he want to accomplish? He did it all.
St-Pierre acknowledged the financial pull keeping fighters active but kept returning to health as the central issue.
Of course, for money. If you stop now, you’re under the impression that you’re leaving money on the table, maybe because you’re fighting for a title. And I’m sure he can still beat a lot of guys. Maybe he can still go on a roll because he still can do it, but health, I think, is the priority.
He also addressed why retirement is so difficult for combat sports athletes specifically.
When you’re a professional athlete in combat sports, it’s very hard to retire on top because you’re always tempted to see, ‘Oh, I can do one more, one more, one more.’ But man, what a magnificent way to end a career it would be for him.
Gaethje has said he plans to fight again and acknowledged Arman Tsarukyan as the deserving next challenger.