Recent UFC welterweight title challenger Johny Hendricks has zero sympathy for titleholder Georges St-Pierre and his personal problems.
Appearing on AXS TV’s Inside MMA Friday night, “Bigg Rigg” pulled no punches when he was asked about GSP’s recent remarks stating that he was “going crazy” and had problems sleeping (transcription per MMA Junkie).
“Dude I’ve got three kids. You know what I’m saying? Talk about sleep? Are you kidding me?” Hendricks said. “Everybody’s got problems in life. That’s the way that it is. If you can’t handle the stress of being champion, give it up. We chose to get into that octagon. We chose not to sleep. I don’t know how many times I went to bed at 5, 6 o’clock in the morning, waking up at 10, running four miles because I wanted to beat GSP that bad. Dude, who cares? I chose that life. Tell yourself whatever you need to. Just get back in that octagon with me, and I can’t wait for the rematch.”
The widespread belief is that Hendricks did enough to take the belt from St-Pierre at UFC 167 last Saturday; however, two of the three Las Vegas judges disagreed and gave the champ the nod.
While UFC president Dana White insists that a rematch will happen soon, per MMA Mania, rumor has it that those close to St-Pierre are advising him to retire.
Midoux said he’s going to talk to GSP about his future when he’s back from vacation and will advise him again to retire. …
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) November 23, 2013
At best, it seems blatantly obvious that the French-Canadian superstar has no intention of getting back inside the Octagon anytime soon, opting for some much-needed time off.
With a 19-2 record under the UFC banner, avenging his losses to both Matt Hughes and Matt Serra in decisive fashion, “Rush” is an obvious addition to the UFC Hall of Fame when he does hang up the gloves for good.
He also ranks No. 2 all time with nine consecutive UFC title defenses, behind only long-reigning middleweight champ Anderson Silva (10).
Does Hendricks have a valid point when addressing GSP’s issues behind the scenes, or is the heavy-handed wrestler being overly dismissive of the champ’s current situation?
John Heinis is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. He is also the MMA Editor for eDraft.com.
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