The folks at MMA Canada caught up with former UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St-Pierre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada this weekend to find out whether or not “Rush” is on his way back to the Octagon.
“I don’t know if I will go back to competition,” said St-Pierre in the interview, which you can watch in full via the YouTube player embedded above. “That’s why I didn’t call it ‘a retirement,’ I called it ‘a break’ because I don’t know. Bernard Hopkins has a good analogy. He says, ‘You can’t ask a woman who just gave birth and suffered for many hours if she will have another baby again.’ Same thing for me when I got out of competition.”
GSP continued, “People ask me, ‘Are you coming back?’ I just don’t know. Right now, I just came back from a knee injury, I took a break, had the knee injury, just came back from rehab. It’s time for me to enjoy my life. Training, do it for fun. We’ll see. I need some time.”
The former 170-pound MMA king also spoke about his recovery from ACL surgery, noting that it has forced him to find a different way to train.
“I used to program myself to do certain moves that used to pull my ACL tendon,” said GSP. “For me, if I compare it to a train track, I need to re-learn the movement a better way that I don’t put my ACL in jeopardy. To learn it where I’m automatically in the right position when I level [change], when I jump, when I turn. The train will not derail on a good track. The more powerful you go the more the train will derail.”
“Rush” also gave his two cents regarding the upcoming UFC Welterweight Championship rematch between current champion Johny Hendricks and top-ranked contender Robbie Lawler, who are scheduled to fight for the belt at UFC 181 in December.
“The first fight was very close. They gave it to Hendricks. I thought, personally, Hendricks won the fight, but a lot of people believe Lawler won. This time, I don’t know. Hendricks was out for a long time, but if he keeps that same explosiveness … I think he kind of lost it in his fight with Lawler. He didn’t look as powerful as he normally was. The good old Johny Hendricks as he’s always been, I believe Hendricks is supposed to win.”
Whether or not St-Pierre returns remains a mystery, however there’s no questioning who he is hoping to see become champion in his absence.
“I hope my friend and training partner, Rory MacDonald, will get the title,” said St-Pierre. “I really hope the best for him.”
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