Nearly five years after his last fight, Georges St-Pierre is enjoying perfect happiness.
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On Monday, in an interview with Jean-Charles Lajoie on TVA Sports, the former fighter said he had turned the page on a possible return to competition.
“I’ve been out of contract with the UFC for about a year now. I’m free as air, but that doesn’t mean I want to fight back. My days of trying to prove that I’m the strongest man alive are over. I like it to stay involved in the sport. You can never say never, but to compete in a serious combat sport and take risks, it’s no. I’m done. To compete in the entertainment business, I don’t know. It should be very well organized and the risk of injury should be limited.
When he talks about entertainment, the Quebecer alludes to the fight between Jake Paul and Anderson Silva that he had the chance to analyze on television. “GSP” does not totally exclude the idea of participating in such an event, one day, if the conditions are good and everything is safe.
“It’s a new form of entertainment. There are a lot of MMA fighters getting into boxing. It’s hard for them, because boxing is only about 10% of the things they were working on in training. So there’s about 90% of their weapons that they can’t use in a boxing match. It’s entertainment and I think it was a really good show.”
Asked whether seeing Silva in action this weekend had made him want to get back into the octagon and give fans the fight they’ve been dreaming of for a long time, St-Pierre was equivocal.
“There is a timing issue in combat sports. If I take for example Floyd Mayweather against Manny Pacquiao, it was a very good fight, but the fight would have been even better if it had happened a few years before. Me and Anderson Silva, it’s the same thing. It’s not the same here. It was time to do it when the two of us were in our prime. The UFC didn’t want to respect our demands, that’s why it didn’t happen.”
“GSP” has therefore definitely moved on. During the interview, he was also in an audition room for a major role.
“Today, I work all day to put on an audition. It’s a very, very big project. Unfortunately, I can’t tell you more, but it’s an audition. I have a lot of competition, so I have a lot of work to do.
Watch the interview in question in the video above.