During an interview with the Canadian Broadcasting Company while promoting his new documentary, Takedown: The DNA of GSP, former welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre discussed a little known facet of his personality that has both fueled his professional life and inhibited his personal one: Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. According to St. Pierre, not only has he suffered from the mental anxiety disorder for some time now, but it was the main reason he decided to vacate his title indefinitely following his UFC 167 win over Johny Hendricks.
It was going to drive me crazy. That’s why I took that break.
Everything you do is oriented around that goal. But the same thing could be bad for a normal person in normal life. As a fighter it’s a good thing to have it, because it makes you better because you completely obsess about being a better martial artist.
You hear that? Not even GSP’s brain can ‘andle his riddum’ (I am so going to Hell).
During an interview with the Canadian Broadcasting Company while promoting his new documentary, Takedown: The DNA of GSP, former welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre discussed a little known facet of his personality that has both fueled his professional life and inhibited his personal one: Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. According to St. Pierre, not only has he suffered from the mental anxiety disorder for some time now, but it was the main reason he decided to vacate his title indefinitely following his UFC 167 win over Johny Hendricks.
It was going to drive me crazy. That’s why I took that break.
Everything you do is oriented around that goal. But the same thing could be bad for a normal person in normal life. As a fighter it’s a good thing to have it, because it makes you better because you completely obsess about being a better martial artist.
You hear that? Not even GSP’s brain can ‘andle his riddum’ (I am so going to Hell).
While St. Pierre had mentioned “some personal problems” in need of fixing during his UFC 167 post-fight interview, it is interesting to note that St. Pierre has never *actually* been clinically diagnosed with the disorder to public knowledge. And, as Fightland pointed out, “Only about two percent of the population has OCD.”
This is not to say that GSP is lying, per se, but that he could be simply confusing the meticulous, obsessive nature of being a world class athlete and champion with the symptoms related to OCD. There’s no denying that St. Pierre has been groomed into one of the most calculated fighters on the planet over the years, but (again, as Fightland pointed out), there’s a big difference between having OCD and simply being a perfectionist in the aspect of your life where it is most necessary to be one.
Of course, the correlation between top athletes and anxiety disorders is a well documented one, and we will only truly know the gravitas of St. Pierre’s condition if/when he decides to delve into it further. One thing’s for sure, St. Pierre will not be making a return to the UFC until he has his mind sorted out.
“I will be happy doing it again until the obsessiveness takes over and makes me unhappy again,” he told the CBC.
Perhaps this is the “dark place” St. Pierre was referring to in the lead-up to his fight with Nick Diaz, maybe? In any case, we just hope that St. Pierre has found some sense of serenity in his post-UFC life, regardless of whether or not we’ll ever see him fight again.
Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney is appalled by UFC President Dana White’s treatment of former welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre. Leading up to his UFC 167 title fight with Johny Hendricks, St-Pierre was adamant about stepping up drug testing for the bout in hopes of setting a positive example for MMA. St-Pierre offered to pay for Hendricks […]
Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney is appalled by UFC President Dana White’s treatment of former welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre. Leading up to his UFC 167 title fight with Johny Hendricks, St-Pierre was adamant about stepping up drug testing for the bout in hopes of setting a positive example for MMA. St-Pierre offered to pay for Hendricks […]
One of Dana White’s greatesttalents is burying fighters. When old, broke war dogs speak out against the UFC, White cuts them down with assertions that he “makes millionaires” and labels detractors as “goofs” and “dummies.”
But can White do that to Georges St-Pierre, who recently called out the UFC for their drug testing policies. Well, we’ve already had a small taste of White’s verbal stylings. He questioned GSP’s manhood, implying that GSP airing his grievances with the media was somehow cowardly. He also said GSP’s actions were “kooky,” and that his claims were ridiculous.
That was just the opening salvo. What’ll Dana White say about his former meal ticket six months from now, a year from now, two years from now, when GSP’s relevance fades and insulting him carries less risk?
One of Dana White’s greatesttalents is burying fighters. When old, broke war dogs speak out against the UFC, White cuts them down with assertions that he “makes millionaires” and labels detractors as “goofs” and “dummies.”
But can White do that to Georges St-Pierre, who recently called out the UFC for their drug testing policies. Well, we’ve already had a small taste of White’s verbal stylings. He questioned GSP’s manhood, implying that GSP airing his grievances with the media was somehow cowardly. He also said GSP’s actions were “kooky,” and that his claims were ridiculous.
That was just the opening salvo. What’ll Dana White say about his former meal ticket six months from now, a year from now, two years from now, when GSP’s relevance fades and insulting him carries less risk?
1. Dana will insult GSP’s character.
Bringing up a former fighter’s character flaws is a fantastic way to defuse any criticism against the UFC. The UFC is bad? Well the guy who said that is a horrible person, so their points, no matter how valid, don’t stand in light of their moral turpitude.
GSP—the greatest welterweight of all time—wasn’t that good, or at least that’s what Dana White might eventually argue. He’ll say that GSP was the champ during an era where the welterweight division was less-developed and lacked depth. [Insert champ at the time of this hypothetical conversation] is better than GSP because the division is stacked now. Back when GSP had the belt, it was older guys like Matt Hughes and BJ Penn, and non-factors like Dan Hardy and Thiago Alves. The “great” GSP was only great at stalling his way to decision victory after decision victory.
3. Dana will shut GSP out of the UFC Hall of Fame (and erase him from UFC history if things get bad enough).
Also known as the Frank Shamrock treatment. If Dana White doesn’t like you enough and you say enough bad things about the company, Zuffa will make sure you don’t exist, at least not in their “official” version of history.
Imagining a hypothetical future interview with Dana White about GSP.
Let’s imagine what White would say about GSP in the future, if the drug testing situation devolves and GSP becomes an enemy of the Zuffa state [Note: Dana white didn’t actually say any of this; it’s all hypothetical and just for fun]:
“GSP has this clean image and stuff like that, but he is not a good guy. He has never been a good guy. He is a greedy, sleazy guy. That bozo will put his name on anything for a few bucks. And he’s just a headache. All that legal bullshit he’s going through, it’s because he’s greedy and he’s not a good guy. I’m just happy that I never have to deal with GSP ever again.
And let’s talk about his fuckin’ “legacy” for a second. The guy beat an ancient Matt Hughes—who was the greatest welterweight ever but old by then—for the title. Then he fuckin’ loses it to MATT SERRA. Goofs on these fuckin’ message boards and on the Internet are always bitching about GSP and how we don’t honor him enough and how we don’t put him in our hall of fame. Guess what? GSP wasn’t that fuckin’ good. He never killed people like Jon Jones and Anderson Silva did. The only guys GSP killed were guys like Jon Fitch who couldn’t make it in the UFC. When GSP fought a real guy, he clinched them for five rounds because he was scared for his life. And that’s what GSP is, scared. He was too scared to fight real guys, he was too scared to go up in weight and fight Anderson Silva, and he was too scared to be a man and settle his problems with us like a man. He’s a coward, he’s not one of the greats. Yet all these “fans” on the fuckin’ Internet go on about it, bunch of fucking clowns. Next question…”
Media shills will agree, and if they don’t, their disagreement will only be tepid, and they’ll still praise White for “being real.” Fans who remember or who don’t listen to Zuffa will argue for GSP, but will be drowned out by “GSP sucks lol.”
Hopefully, this isn’t what’s in store for GSP and his legacy.
So here’s former UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre dancing with (or at least near) some chick at a South Beach nightclub. And it raises an important question — can a man ever look cool dancing with a drink in his hand? This has troubled me my entire life. It’s like, you want to have your drink with you because alcohol is the only thing that reduces the crushing anxiety of being at a nightclub, but when you’re dancing with your drink, you’re very aware of it spilling, either on your brand new shirt, or on the female you’re dancing with (or trying to dance with), or on some meathead who wants to prove his manhood by overreacting when a half-ounce of Corona is splashed on his shoes.
And so, one of your hands/arms is almost completely demobilized, while you try to look cool moving the other parts of your body. That never works, and it only makes you more self-aware and uncomfortable. In other words, consuming alcohol turns down the volume on anxiety, but holding the drink itself brings it back up again. Even GSP — one of the baddest, sauvest men walking the Earth — seems to be somewhat stumped by this riddle. You can be the toughest dude on the planet, but as soon as you start bobbing to the music holding your beer, you’re just another regular goof.
It’s obvious that Georges St-Pierre enjoys the act of dancing, because honestly, why else would he be doing it? Dancing is essentially a human mating-ritual, something we do to attract sexual partners through the display of physical dexterity and confidence. But if you’re rich and famous and good-looking, people will want to fuck you anyway, no matter what you do. You don’t have to dance. You can just kick back and order expensive bottles at a VIP table, nodding at women to make them come over. What if GSP put his drink down on the floor and just started doing this? I think that would make for a much funnier TMZ video. But the thing is, that dark-haired girl wouldn’t laugh at him, or walk away. She’d raise her arms and go “whooooo!” and probably start twerking or something. I don’t know. It looks fun, doesn’t it?
So here’s former UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre dancing with (or at least near) some chick at a South Beach nightclub. And it raises an important question — can a man ever look cool dancing with a drink in his hand? This has troubled me my entire life. It’s like, you want to have your drink with you because alcohol is the only thing that reduces the crushing anxiety of being at a nightclub, but when you’re dancing with your drink, you’re very aware of it spilling, either on your brand new shirt, or on the female you’re dancing with (or trying to dance with), or on some meathead who wants to prove his manhood by overreacting when a half-ounce of Corona is splashed on his shoes.
And so, one of your hands/arms is almost completely demobilized, while you try to look cool moving the other parts of your body. That never works, and it only makes you more self-aware and uncomfortable. In other words, consuming alcohol turns down the volume on anxiety, but holding the drink itself brings it back up again. Even GSP — one of the baddest, sauvest men walking the Earth — seems to be somewhat stumped by this riddle. You can be the toughest dude on the planet, but as soon as you start bobbing to the music holding your beer, you’re just another regular goof.
It’s obvious that Georges St-Pierre enjoys the act of dancing, because honestly, why else would he be doing it? Dancing is essentially a human mating-ritual, something we do to attract sexual partners through the display of physical dexterity and confidence. But if you’re rich and famous and good-looking, people will want to fuck you anyway, no matter what you do. You don’t have to dance. You can just kick back and order expensive bottles at a VIP table, nodding at women to make them come over. What if GSP put his drink down on the floor and just started doing this? I think that would make for a much funnier TMZ video. But the thing is, that dark-haired girl wouldn’t laugh at him, or walk away. She’d raise her arms and go “whooooo!” and probably start twerking or something. I don’t know. It looks fun, doesn’t it?
GSP’s departure has come at a devastating time. The UFC is in a rut. TUF has long since stopped being the advertising vehicle/farm system it was years ago. Ratings are down. The worst part of all is that PPV—the UFC’s chief source of revenue—is lagging too. The culprit is a lack of stars, or rather the UFC’s apparent inability to replace the fading ones.
Now they’re short a Canadian superhero, a man who’s drawn an average of 800,000 buys over the last three years. And there are no young studs to pick up the slack. Jon Jones and Cain Velasquez are not fit to carry the company on their shoulders judging by the buyrates on their recent PPVs. The UFC’s young, great ethnic hopes—Tiequan Zhang, Erik Perez, and Erick Silva—haven’t developed as planned. Most importantly, the strategy of grooming Rory MacDonald to be GSP’s replacement has failed (or has at least been delayed).
The UFC’s future is still on the backs of aging warhorses whose knees are beginning to buckle.
GSP’s departure has come at a tumultuous time. The UFC is in a rut. TUF has long since stopped being the advertising vehicle/farm system it was years ago. Ratings are down. The worst part of all is that PPV—the UFC’s chief source of revenue—is lagging too. The culprit is a lack of stars, as well as the UFC’s apparent inability to replace the fading ones.
Now they’re short a Canadian superhero, a man who’s drawn an average of 800,000 buys over the last three years. And there are no young studs to pick up the slack. Jon Jones and Cain Velasquez are not fit to carry the company on their shoulders judging by the buyrates on their recent PPVs. The UFC’s young, great ethnic hopes—Tiequan Zhang, Erik Perez, and Erick Silva—haven’t developed as planned. Most importantly, the strategy of grooming Rory MacDonald to be GSP’s replacement has failed (or has at least been delayed).
The UFC is riding on the backs of aging warhorses whose knees are beginning to buckle.
Yet there is still hope.
GSP is leaving the welterweight division, true. But there are other men primed to take his spot at the top. Welterweight is now a division where anybody in the top 5 or even top 10 could win the belt. It’s a division that’s thrilling and unpredictable for the first time in years. The next champ will be either Johny Hendricks or Robbie Lawler since the two are facing off at UFC 171, but it’s not crazy to think that Carlos Condit, Matt Brown, or even Hector Lombard could hold the belt someday in the near future.
Nobody is saying “Who cares? Silva/GSP/Penn will just murder whoever wins the No.1 contender fight.” This is the benefit of old greats retiring. Belts are open for the taking again. There is no fate but what the fighters make for themselves.
If the UFC can somehow find a way to take advantage of this rather than picking one fighter to promote and hoping they win all their fights (Michael Bisping, Rory MacDonald, Ronda Rousey, etc), the future won’t be quite so bleak as we at CagePotato often make it out to be.
As far as Dana White is concerned, Georges St-Pierre only has two options right now: defend the UFC title or retire from MMA. The UFC President hasn’t held back from publicly criticizing the welterweight champ for his bizarre post-fight comments after winning a controversial split decision over Johny Hendricks at UFC 167 on Saturday night. […]
As far as Dana White is concerned, Georges St-Pierre only has two options right now: defend the UFC title or retire from MMA. The UFC President hasn’t held back from publicly criticizing the welterweight champ for his bizarre post-fight comments after winning a controversial split decision over Johny Hendricks at UFC 167 on Saturday night. […]
