All together now: Georges St-Pierre was not impressed with Michael Bisping‘s performance.
At least when it came to the trash talk Bisping volleyed toward St-Pierre at a news conference last week. Appearing Monday on The MMA Hour program with host Ariel Helwani, St-Pierre said he admired Bisping as a fighter but didn’t think too much of the middleweight champ’s talking game.
“I’m just not good at trash talking. I do my talking in the fight. I’m not a good talker, I’m a good fighter,” St-Pierre said. “But what I can say is this: I do not believe Michael Bisping is a good trash talker. I believe the best thing he did for me was to talk because he embarrassed himself every time he opened his mouth, you know? … Nothing he said made any sense.”
(Warning: Video contains NSFW language.)
At the news conference Friday, Bisping lobbed some aggressive smack talk toward the longtime welterweight champion, who is returning to the sport after more than three years away.
“Listen, Georges, while you were away because you were too scared of everybody taking steroids, I was man enough to be fighting those guys. You went away,” Bisping said, per Damon Martin of Fox Sports. “You went and f–king chased aliens. I don’t know what you did. No one gives a f–k where you were or what you did. You’re coming back, the sport is in a different place, game over.”
Bisping also offered more trash talk on Twitter during St-Pierre’s interview:
St-Pierre, who said Monday he signed a four-fight deal with the UFC, indicated that the fight would not happen until after the summer. In the meantime, smack talk aside, St-Pierre said he respects Bisping as a competitor.
“He is the kind of fighter who is very inspiring because he’s a very hard worker,” St-Pierre said. “He’s not the kind of fighter that only relies on his natural gifts or his natural talent and his elegance. Because those kind of fighters sometimes when they fight that way, when they crack, they never come back the same. Michael has been brought down many times before and every time he got up and came back stronger than before.”
St-Pierre’s return has been rumored since he initially departed for the hiatus. UFC brass, suddenly lacking stars with Conor McGregor’s own break to start a family and Ronda Rousey’s widely speculated retirement, may have come to the table more willing to make a deal in recent weeks. St-Pierre discussed the deal Monday, and although he declined to provide specific figures, he did say the deal represented a productive compromise between the two sides.
“It’s a little bit below what we wanted in the beginning, but for UFC, it’s more than what they were ready to give me,” St-Pierre said. “So, we’re both unhappy in a way, and I guess it’s a good thing. It’s like a settlement in court.”
In the wide-ranging interview, St-Pierre complimented other competitors, such as welterweight Demian Maia, and talked about a desire to cement his legacy as the greatest fighter of all time.
He also expressed a willingness to compete again at welterweight or even lightweight. However, he added that he only planned to fight a few more times, and would be judicious about each bout: “Between us, I have no desire to fight until I’m 40-something years old. So these are my last few fights that I’m going to do. And I want to pick them very carefully.”
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