It’s been over two years since Georges St-Pierre stepped away from the MMA spotlight. The former welterweight champion, who ruled over the division for five years and defended his title 9 times, announced that he would be taking some time off from the sport after his back-and-forth war with Johny Hendricks at UFC 167.
“Rush” edged out a split decision over Hendricks, which left pundits eagerly anticipating a rematch. St-Pierre however, had other plans.
Other than the ACL tear Georges suffered after retiring, the 34-year-old has been enjoying his time away from the UFC and isn’t any closer to making a decision on a potential return.
“I don’t even know, myself,” St. Pierre said on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour. “It depends on a lot of things. I haven’t made my decision. I haven’t made my decision yet because I don’t know. I’m not the kind of guy to say I’m going to retire and then come back, I don’t like to do that. I just don’t know.”
Recently, the Tristar standout revealed that Dana White’s behaviour at the UFC 167 post-fight press conference was a major reason for not returning to the Octagon. The UFC president also outlined his concerns over Georges’ potential return in an interview with the Los Angeles Times, stating that St-Pierre lacks the hunger to compete at the top.
“It’d be great if he comes back, yes, I love Georges St-Pierre — amazing athlete — but comeback talk? I laugh at it. To be a world champion, you have to be hungry.
“That’s not GSP. Not even close,” Dana White said.
The proud Canadian was quick to respond, claiming that he can still be as a hungry as ever, but admits that his pride could prevent another stint in the UFC.
“There are different ways of being hungry,” he said. “I still can be hungry, you can be more hungry than people who have nothing. I have so much to lose, because of my pride, the pride is my most important strength, I’m a very proud person, and I would never go back and make a fool of myself be humiliated, because I’m a very proud guy. I have so much to lose, that’s what’s going to makes me hungry, and be willing to do better than anyone, there’s different ways to be hungry.”
On the flipside, Georges doesn’t want to reflect back on his life and wonder “what if” when age truly catches up to him.
“Part of me is thinking, I have a lot more to lose than win, and another part of myself says, we only live once. I don’t want to be at 80 years old, and tell myself “I should have done that and I didn’t.’ Most of things in life that I regret, are the things I haven’t done, not the things I did, the things I haven’t done.”
(Transcripts via MMAFighting.com)
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