GSP Officially Announces His Retirement

Georges St-Pierre has just officially announced his retirement. Speaking in French and English, GSP confirmed the news in a press conference in Montreal, Canada.

GSP said he didn’t want to write anything down, as he wanted his words to come from the heart.

“There’s no tears. I’m happy to do it. In combat sports you should retire on top, that’s what I’m going to do. I’m happy I have the discipline to do it.”

The former UFC welterweight and middleweight champion thanked several people including his long term coaches and a certain Canadian ice hockey player.

“Wayne Gretzky was my idol growing up.”

When asked about Khabib Nurmagamedov’s Instagram message, asking for to fight in November, GSP said that he only wants to take one fight at a time and that doesn’t fit into the UFC’s plans.

“Khabib wanted it, I wanted it, but the UFC had other plans.

“I wish Khabib the best of luck. I think he’s the better fighter right now. I can’t to watch his next fight.”

As well as not getting the fight he wanted with Khabib, GSP also said that he’s no longer the same fighter that he once was.

“I used to want to go there and beat everyone. I wanted to destroy everybody. I don’t have the same anger, the same hunger anymore. Even though physically I’m at the top of the game, the hunger is not the same.”

One other reason he gave for his retirement was the fact that he didn’t want to retire too late, like many fighters do.

“I don’t always know what I want, but I damn well know what I don’t want and what I don’t want is to retire too late.”

When asked about what he was most proud of in his career, GSP answered the moment he recovered from the head kick of Carlos Condit.

“The moment I’m most proud of in my career was when I got dropped by a head kick from Carlos Condit and I was able to stand up. It shows I had the heart and guts to come back from a hospital. I was able to overcome it.”

Although we may never see him inside the Octagon again, GSP says he will keep training.

“I’m always gonna be training. For me, it’s just an au revoir, it’s just a goodbye. I’m not dead. I see athletes get fat after retirement, that’s not gonna be me. I look better in training now than I did when years ago.”

Despite some difference of opinions in recent times, GSP stated that he was on good terms with the UFC President, Dana White.

“I called Dana White yesterday. He said nobody retired on time in this game and you did. We left on very good terms and we remained friends. It’s a good thing.”

GSP said that martial arts saved him.

“If it had not been for martial arts, I don’t know where I would have been. I would not have been able to channel all that energy I had when I was young. It saved me.”

When asked whether he would come out of retirement, if Dana called him and offered him the Khabib fight, GSP said he wasn’t thinking about that.

“I don’t know where I will be in a few weeks, a few months. I’m going on vacation, I’m going off the grid. I’m going somewhere exotic and warm to relax. I don’t know. For me, it’s retire now. That’s all I’m thinking about

“If ever something happened or Dana called me back and there’s something interesting, we’ll see. Like a movie scenario, oh he’s coming back. We’ll see. But right now I’m not thinking about it. I’m out.”

Outside of the Octagon, GSP said his proudest moment was the way he overcame the loss to Matt Serra.

“After my loss to Matt Serra, I felt humiliated. One of the good things about me and one of the bad things is my pride. When I train, I’m training with the fear that my opponent is training harder than me.”

You can watch the full press conference here:

Tagged: , , , , ,

Leave comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.