(Does this look like the face of a man with an illegitimate batchild? Via GSP’s Twitter.)
It’s safe to say that Georges St. Pierre’s post-fight interview/semi-retirement raised a lot of questions in regards to not only his mental well-being, but the litany of personal issues he claimed were forcing him to step away from the sport. Although Dana White was quick to tell reporters that GSP’s problems “aren’t as bad as he thinks they are,” Dana White is neither a recognized psychologist nor a Scanner to our knowledge, so his opinions mean fuck all.
Being the bottom-feeders that they truly are, TMZ in turn used St. Pierre’s ambiguous post-fight speech as a platform to let the unsubstantiated rumors fly – specifically, that his father was dying and that he had knocked up a woman who was keeping the baby against his wishes.
In any case, White spoke to St. Pierre yesterday and has since refuted both rumors via The LA Times. While he neglected to discuss the specifics of GSP’s “personal issues,” St. Pierre’s former manager, Stephane Patry, attempted to shed some light on the issue during a segment on Quebec’s 98.5 FM Sports (Props to BloodyElbow for the translation):
“Do you have any idea what the personal problems that seem to have haunted him and affected his concentration during these past few weeks or days are?”
Patry: “The only thing that I can think of, that I know of, is that between the period where I was his manager and his current management, he had a manager for three years, a woman named Shari Spencer. It didn’t end well between them. When things ended between me and Georges, we stayed good friends but it ended very badly with Shari Spencer and I know she’s suing him for several million dollars. I don’t know if the lawsuit is advancing against Georges and he’s gonna lose it but I don’t see another problem. His parents are in good health, his two sisters too and he doesn’t have health problems otherwise he couldn’t fight. The only thing I could see…”
“Georges doesn’t have children?”
Patry: “No, he doesn’t have any children either. At the moment he isn’t married, he has someone in his life but that’s not on this side either that’s 100% sure. The only thing I can see is the lawsuit with his former manager.”
As we all know, St. Pierre split with Spencer in late 2010 to pursue a somewhat misinformed business relationship with fictional “Entourage” power agent Ari Gold that was sadly doomed from the start. Prior to that, St. Pierre was managed by Patry while training at Brazilian Top Team Canada. He split with both following his shocking upset loss to Matt Serra at UFC 69.
While Patry’s words help shed some light on the mental state of St. Pierre nowadays, they still raise a lot of questions. In his post-fight interview with Joe Rogan, GSP stated that he had “a bunch of stuff happening” that required his full attention. While it’s understandable that a multi-million dollar lawsuit could trouble a guy even if he makes 12 million dollars a year, it also makes one wonder if said lawsuit is the *only* obstacle St. Pierre is currently facing.
In any case, White also told the LA Times that a St. Pierre/Hendricks rematch is “on track” despite St. Pierre’s pesky concerns for his future health:
As far as a rematch, we’re on schedule and I’ll have a date within a couple weeks. I feel confident that Georges is fine with that and all is on track.
So there you have it: A personally conflicted, emotionally/physically battered and uninterested GSP is already on track to rematch the guy who beat him into semi-retirement, before he can even recover from said beating. We’re sure that nothing terrible can possibly come from this scenario.