As the perpetual nice guy in all story angles of pre-fight build-ups, Georges St-Pierre has received his fair share of trash talk. But unlike many of his peers, the Montreal native says he never took such words to heart.
“Things get out of hand. I think guys, they take it too personal. For me, it never mattered what my opponent was saying to me,” St-Pierre told Ariel Helwani during his Monday appearance on The MMA Hour.
“For me, it’s not personal. It’s about business. And the more he was trash-talking me, in a way, I was making more money. So I really have to give a big thank you to all the ferocious opponents that I had, who were trash-talking me. Because they build up the fight in a more interesting way for the audience.
“So I made more money. It’s good for business.”
St-Pierre isn’t exempt from feeling animosity towards an opponent. In 2013, UFC president Dana White claimed GSP was “really pissed” with Nick Diaz, who at the time, had allegedly tracked down St-Pierre in his hotel, supposedly looking for a fight.
But according to St-Pierre, it has not reached a point where his loved ones were also attacked. All of it was because of his decision to keep his personal affairs away from the public eye.
“There’s a reason why I never put my family and my real private life public. It’s because I know someone wants to get to me, it’s easy for me to… it comes from one ear and it goes out on the other one. I don’t take it personal,” he said.
“If you try to get to someone that I love or someone in my family, now it’s gonna be a different story. So that’s why I always try to hide this part of my life because I am a public person. So this part, it’s public, it’s for the fans. But my private life, for me, it’s even more precious.
“To compare it with my career, my life is a million times better than what I’ve done in my career. But I keep it secret because it’s my private life. It’s my diamond. It’s my treasure.”
St-Pierre spoke in light of the recent viral altercation between welterweights Jorge Masvidal and Colby Covington. “Gamebred” is now facing charges of aggravated battery, which could end in a 15-year prison sentence if the conviction pushes through.
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