Georges St-Pierre admits he didn’t take the time to soak it all in during his stellar UFC run.
St-Pierre is set to be inducted in the UFC Hall of Fame in July. “Rush” has been considered to be one of the greatest MMA fighters of all time and he even tops the list for some. St-Pierre ended his pro MMA career with a stellar record of 26-2. While St-Pierre is known for being calm and having a bit of fun, he never truly enjoyed his time inside the Octagon.
GSP Says He Wishes He Enjoyed Fighting More
Speaking to South China Morning Post, St-Pierre admitted that stress hindered his joy for fighting.
“I was always very scared,” says St-Pierre. “I couldn’t sleep well the night, a few nights, before the fight. It’s my fault a little bit because you control your own mind and I always performed better when I put pressure on myself when I felt like I was on the edge. So I forced myself to feel that way, scared I wouldn’t win, or I would be humiliated.
“But the stress took a lot out of me and that’s one of the reasons why I retired. I retired not because I can’t fight anymore. I could fight again if I wanted to and I believe I could probably be one of the best, maybe the best. But I stopped because of the stress.”
St-Pierre shared the Octagon with many fellow legends of the sport. That includes B.J. Penn, Matt Hughes, Michael Bisping, Nick Diaz, and many more. St-Pierre captured both the welterweight and middleweight gold. He holds the record for the most consecutive welterweight title defenses in UFC history.
GSP is considered to be the marquee inductee in this year’s UFC Hall of Fame. It’ll be interesting to see how the UFC will handle the festivities this year with the COVID-19 crisis in effect.
