Georges St-Pierre On Conor McGregor: He Needs To Be Reborn

Much like the majority of the MMA world, Georges St-Pierre was taken by surprise when Dustin Poirier stopped Conor McGregor at UFC 257.

McGregor was a sizeable favourite going into the UFC 257 main event, but Poirier turned the tables on the Irishman despite the odds against him, winning the fight via a second round TKO.

Props To Poirier

St-Pierre, who had predicted McGregor to make light work of his opponent again, told Michael Bisping on his ‘Believe You Me’ podcast (as transcribed by MMA Junkie) that he was surprised at the outcome of the rematch, but lauded Poirier on his performance.

“I thought Conor was going to win, but I was wrong,” St-Pierre said. “I was very surprised. Will he keep his composure under pressure? I think one of Conor’s biggest strengths is that he overwhelms his opponents with his pressure, with his presence.

“All the information he gives his opponent’s brain and the talking and all that, a lot of his opponents fold under pressure, but Poirier stayed sharp, and it was a real testament of how good he is. Now it will be really interesting to see how Conor comes back from it. I believe he can come back from that loss.”

Making Adjustments

While GSP believes McGregor can bounce back from the loss, he’s also of the opinion that the Irishman needs to make adjustments to his game. Something Henry Cejudo also advised him to do.

“I think he needs to be reborn,” St-Pierre said. “He needs to change things in his training and in his life that he believes were the causes for his failure. It doesn’t matter if it’s true or not as long as he believes. So in my case, when I lost to Matt Serra, I trained myself to believe that I lost to Matt Serra because I underestimated him.

“Maybe I wasn’t scared enough, maybe I didn’t put too much in training, that’s what I tried to force myself to believe. Maybe it’s not true, but the important part is that he believes in it so he can build on his confidence from it. He needs to find what he thinks he did wrong in his previous preparation leading up to the fight, whether it’s his training leading up to his fight or whatever, and not make the same mistake twice.”   

Dealing With Kicks

Poirier’s crushing calf kicks were McGregor’s undoing on the night, as his movement was badly compromised come the end of the fight. St-Pierre, who avenged his only two losses in his career, revealed how he used to deal with kickers.

“Me, what I liked to do when I used to fight guys with good kicks like Dan Hardy or Carlos Condit or Thiago Alves, I used to blitz them.” St-Pierre shared. “Time the kick. Sometimes I made it on purpose when I let them kick, and I blitz them with my straight right. There’s many ways of using it.

“But if your legs are wide open and you’re going to try to shield it like Muay-Thai style, you won’t have the time to do it because your legs are too wide. Unless you fight with a stance that your legs are closer, but if you do, your vulnerability will be compromised standing up. So there’s no perfect way, there’s always a counter to the counter.”

Coach John Kavanagh revealed earlier this week that McGregor is itching for an immediate rematch with Poirier with the title on the line.

What do you think of Georges St-Pierre’s advice for Conor McGregor, following his loss to Dustin Poirier at UFC 257?

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