Georges St-Pierre’s legendary UFC run was almost halted before it even started.
St-Pierre is undoubtedly a legend in the sport of MMA. He ruled the roost in the UFC’s welterweight division for years. He holds the record for the most consecutive successful UFC welterweight title defenses. “Rush” ended up capturing the UFC middleweight title before announcing his retirement.
GSP Was Close To Quitting Before MMA Career Took Off
St-Pierre appeared on the MMA TRUFAN podcast and reflected on his time at Renzo Gracie Academy at the age of 16. After being submitted and worn out by Shawn Williams during training, St-Pierre began to doubt his aspirations (via Bloody Elbow).
“He tapped me on the back and he said, ‘You know, jiu jitsu is like a chess game. You’re very strong. You’re very good, athletic. But, I have a lot more knowledge than you do and that’s why I beat you so easy. And if you come back and keep training with us, one day you’ll be just as good,” the two-division UFC champion remembered. “I was thinking in my mind how bad my level was compared to the grandmaster Renzo because Shawn kicked my ass easy. Then Shawn told me when he goes with Renzo, Renzo kicks his ass so I was like: ‘Holy s—t, I have a lot of work to do if one day I want to go pro and be a world champion.’
“It seems to me at the time [to be] impossible and I almost quit right there,” he added.“It was like seven hours of driving and I had a lot of time to think. And I was thinking like: ‘F—k man, how am I going to do what I need to do?’”
As it turns out, St-Pierre made the right decision to stick with his dreams. GSP is set to be inducted in the UFC Hall of Fame in July. It was a no brainer as St-Pierre is at the top of the heap on many “Greatest of All Time” lists.
St-Pierre’s final outing was back in Nov. 2017. He took on Michael Bisping for the UFC middleweight gold. The action was held inside Madison Square Garden in New York City. St-Pierre choked out Bisping in the third round to capture the 185-pound championship.
Before retiring, St-Pierre had expressed interest in a showdown with UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov. UFC president Dana White didn’t want to book the matchup as he claimed GSP failed to live up to a previous agreement. White said that “Rush” agreed to defend the middleweight championship but he ended up vacating the gold.
