There was a Georges St-Pierre sighting in Canada this past weekend.
But he wasn’t lacing up his gloves. Instead, the former welterweight king was in the corner of Nasrat Haqparast, who picked up a second-round knockout win over Joaquim Silva at UFC 240.
Naturally, the talk of a possible “GSP” return sparked up. but St-Pierre put them all to rest.
St.Pierre said that prior to retiring, he would have loved the opportunity to face current lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov, but competing to be the best is no longer on his mind.
“It was on my mind when I retired,” St-Pierre told TSN. “I really wanted to do it. But now, I’m telling you the truth: UFC (was) clear they had other plans for Khabib, so I turned the page and I cannot wait for (his next) fight to happen. I have other plans in my life.
“Being the best fighter in the world is not my No. 1 priority. It used to be. Now it’s not. I have family, friends, more important things to do and I have other projects down the road.”
St-Pierre (26-2 MMA, 21-2 UFC) last competed at UFC 217 when he defeated Michael Bisping by third-round submission to win the middleweight title. He joined an elite few by becoming a two-division champion, adding to his Hall of Fame legacy.
And he still believes he can compete at a high level, but said he no longer has the desire to. He is however, regularly at the Tristar gym, training and coaching his fellow fighters.
“It’s not that I can’t, it’s because I don’t want (to),” St-Pierre said. “It’s not worth it to dedicate all my focus and my concentration to this if I’m not going to fight and get the fight that I want anymore. It’s not that I can’t do it – I could come back and fight again, but my heart is not there. When I train at the gym, I feel very confident. When I go with the young guys, I want to fight again. But then I go back home and sometimes I wake up in the morning and I’m like, ‘Oh (expletive) that,’ so it’s a mixed-up feeling for me now.”
