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“You’re going to have to be creative. Sometimes the person who is the most creative, the one that can adapt the best with an opponent can have the most success.”
Several fighters have spoken about how difficult it is to train in self-quarantine, but Georges St-Pierre says a true champion must adapt to his environment and be willing to fight under any circumstances.
Speaking to Tyron Woodley on Instagram Live, the former UFC welterweight and middleweight champion stressed the importance of maintaining a healthy mindset during the coronavirus pandemic and said fighters must find new ways to be creative.
“As a martial artist, you always find a way to be creative,” St-Pierre said (h/t MMA Fighting). “Even if you cannot go to the gym, you can find a way to train and do your work. There’s many ways to do it.”
“It would be hard, however, you have to take it that way,” he added. “It would be hard for everybody. It would be equally as hard for your opponent. So you’re both at a disadvantage in a way, you know what I mean? You’re going to have to be creative. Sometimes the person who is the most creative, the one that can adapt the best with an opponent can have the most success.
“When you’re fighting someone, the perfect way to prepare for someone is to become his perfect antagonist. In a situation like this, the same thing here, you’re taken out of your comfort zone and you each have to find a way to make your training and your preparation and to perform, which is very hard but you have to think about your opponent will go through the same thing.”
St-Pierre retired in 2019 after voluntarily relinquishing his UFC middleweight title. ‘Rush’ forged a legacy as the greatest welterweight champion in UFC history and one of the greatest pound-for-pound fighters of all time.