Retired UFC legend Georges St-Pierre responded to the recent challenge sent to him by current UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman following UFC 258. In short, the 39-year-old revealed during an interview with a radio station in Toronto that there was nothing about Usman’s performance against Gilbert Burns over the weekend that would inspire “GSP” to return to the Octagon.
“To go back and give three months of my life in a training camp to get a win over Kamaru Usman doesn’t get me motivated. I don’t think there’s anything that would get me motivated to go back to competition now,” Georges St-Pierre told “The Good Show” on Sportsnet 590 The Fan per BJPenn.
Usman scored the third-round knockout over Burns at UFC 258, but it seems it won’t earn him a shot at doing the same against GSP.
St-Pierre Not Interested In Any UFC Fights
St-Pierre explained why the intergenerational superfight vs. Usman doesn’t interest him. The former welterweight and middleweight champion said it was nothing personal. In fact, there doesn’t’ seem to be any fight out there worth him coming back to the cage for one more fight.
“Try to put yourself in my shoes and try to come back. First, if I come back to fight Kamaru Usman, I would literally have to leave the country. I would have to bring my coaches somewhere, find a base camp, fly in training partners to get ready for Usman. But leaving my home, I don’t want to do it. I’m healthy, I’m wealthy. It’s not appealing to me to lose three months of my life, the stress, to try and get a win over Usman. As time passed by, it’s getting less and less appealing. And I don’t think there’s anybody now that would make me come back. I’m good. I will always train and be in shape,” St-Pierre said per BJPenn.
So don’t expect St-Pierre vs. Usman, St-Pierre vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov, or St-Pierre vs. any other MMA star to happen anytime soon.
Nearing the age of 40, St-Pierre hasn’t competed since 2017, and he’s planning to stay retired.
“It seems like people want to see me go on my shield,” GSP said per BJPenn. “A lot of guys wait too long to retire and they kinda go on their shield and I never wanted to do this. I wanted to compete at my best and now I’m at the point, are my best years behind me? They could be. Now I said to myself I don’t want to compete if my best years are behind me. Your knowledge grows but your physicality is diminished. I’m 39, gonna be 40 soon. If I would have done something it would have needed to be something that was really special that would really get me to the core of my motivation. I don’t have the same motivation as right now. It’s not appealing to me. I’m a big fan, I like to watch fights. But I look at them with the stress and I’m like hell no, I’m not doing it.”
Usman’s Path To Superstardom Will Continue
While Usman might have equaled St-Pierre’s mark for winning 13 straight fights in the welterweight division over the weekend, he won’t be getting the chance to defeat St-Pierre inside the cage for all-time divisional bragging rights.
Instead, Usman will have to continue to forge his path toward superstardom by trudging through this generation’s long list of staunch 170-pound adversaries.
While Usman has already defeated the likes of Jorge Masvidal, Colby Covington and Leon Edwards, rematches against one or all three could be on the way.
Moreover, new superstars continue to rise every day.
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GSP Responds To Challenge From UFC Champ