St-Pierre continues to be adamant that he won’t be stepping back into the cage for an MMA fight. But that doesn’t mean he’s done with all forms of martial arts competition.
Georges St-Pierre may miss the thrill of victory, but that isn’t enough to get him back in the cage for another UFC fight.
St-Pierre has been fending off comeback rumors since the day he retired from the sport in February 2019. It feels like every few months there’s a new round of speculation, and it’s no different with UFC 300 on the horizon. The historic event still needs a buzz-worthy main event, and GSP returning would clearly provide that. But “Rush” has repeatedly denied he’ll be on the card, and did so again during a Q&A at Bangtao Muay Thai & MMA in Thailand (via Bloody Elbow).
“I miss sometimes, the adrenaline, the victory,” he admitted. “When you win a fight, there’s nothing that can come close to that, and unfortunately I will probably never have that feeling. I will never have that feeling again of winning another championship, and I miss that feeling. But that’s reality and I’m good with it. I have to accept it.”
“Everything that goes up in life, goes down. Everything in life, I believe is a cycle and you have to make peace with it. You have to accept it.”
As for UFC 300?
“It’s a rumor, I’ve never been offered for a fight,” he said. “I’ve made that clear that I have no desire of coming back to fight in mixed martial arts.”
That doesn’t mean he isn’t willing to try out something different. At one point St-Pierre was rumored to be taking on Nick Diaz in a grappling match at a UFC Fight Pass Invitational event.
“I was supposed to compete in a grappling competition,” he confirmed. “But because I had an injury in November — I partially tore my labrum, my rotator cuff and I’m still not recovered. There’s things that I can’t do right now, like live wrestling, live grappling. I have to be very careful. I can hit pads, but I’m not fully recovered yet.”
“For me the grappling thing was just more for a fun thing. There was less risk, and it was more to have the thrill of competition again, and also for the fans. It was a win-win situation for everybody.”
So even if he wanted to compete at UFC 300, a rotator cuff injury would keep him from being able to do so. Maybe this will finally take GSP out of people’s wildcard list of potential fighters for the April 13th show. Or maybe not. Who knows how deep the conspiracy goes to keep the main event top secret???