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“I have family, friends, I have a lot of more important things to do. I have other projects down the road.”
Although Georges St-Pierre formally announced his retirement earlier this year, coach Firas Zahabi has teased that the former UFC welterweight and middleweight champion may be interested in a comeback fight against Khabib Nurmagomedov.
Nurmagomedov, the reigning UFC lightweight champion, is certainly interested in the bout but St-Pierre has other plans.
‘Rush’ shut down any talk of a possible superfight with Khabib in a recent interview with TSN, claiming that he no longer has the drive to compete at the highest level and instead wants to focus on family, which is his new number one priority in life.
“It was on my mind when I retired,” St-Pierre said, per MMA Fighting’s Jed Meshew. “I really wanted to do it, but now, telling you the truth, UFC were clear, they had other plans for Khabib so I turned a page. I cannot wait for the fight to happen and twiddle my thumbs. I have other plans for my life. Being the best fighter in the world is not my number one priority anymore. It used to be, now it’s not. I have family, friends, I have a lot of more important things to do. I have other projects down the road.
“Family is the number one priority. It’s very important. Family and health is very important.”
St-Pierre went on to state that, although physically capable of making a comeback, his heart is no longer in the game.
“It’s not because I can’t, it’s because I don’t want,” he said. “It’s not worth it to dedicate all my focus and concentration to this if I’m not gonna fight and get the fight that I want, you know what I mean? So 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 in the gym, I feel very confident. When I train with a young guy, I feel like I want to fight again but then I go back home and sometimes I wake up in the morning and I’m like, ‘ Ugh, f*ck that.’ So it’s a mixed up feeling for me now.”
St-Pierre retired with a professional record of 26-2 and a reputation as the greatest welterweight fighter of all time.