“The UFC Did Not Have My Back”: Georges St-Pierre Reveals Disturbing Behind the Scenes Events That Pushed Him to an Early Retirement

Numerous UFC fans might remember the name of Georges St-Pierre for his superb comeback as well, apart from his overall mastery inside the octagon. A large chunk of MMA fans and pundits also consider GSP to be the greatest ever in the history of the sport. Holding a record of 26-2 in his entire MMA career, GSP is also reputed to be one of the cleanest athletes in the sport. ‘Rush’ was also a pioneer in abolishing the usage of PEDs in the sport. However, his journey to make the sport of MMA a cleaner one wasn’t anywhere near a cakewalk.

Recently, St-Pierre appeared on the noted YouTube channel, ‘Full Send Podcast’ where he talked about a volley of issues. ‘Rush’ also touched upon why he chose to retire from the UFC comparatively early. Further, he also described his struggle to make MMA a PED-free sport. A lot would actually agree that it’s really hard to spot a fighter who cares so much about the entire sport.

The mental issues of Georges St-Pierre were a major factor forcing his retirement

One of the ‘Full Send Podcast’ hosts questioned ‘GSP’, “So you’re on the huge win streak and then the Johny Hendricks fight. Why do you decide to retire then?” St-Pierre gave out an honest answer to this question.

GSP answered, “I was afraid to talk about it [retirement] because I thought that people will not respect me, and they will laugh at me”. Here, a lot of audiences might think what exactly was the reason behind ‘Rush’s’ comparatively early retirement.

St-Pierre further clarified things stating, “I was going into a depression and people will be like, ‘Oh what he has to complain, he’s rich, he’s popular, he’s a champion and some people are poor so he has nothing to compare’. But I felt like I had too much on my shoulder and I felt claustrophobic”.

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A lot of us might have gone through situations where even our near ones failed to understand our mental issues. ‘GSP’ was probably concerned about such cold behavior from the UFC fans, which made him announce his retirement all of a sudden.

The UFC turning a blind eye to Georges St-Pierre’s stand against PEDs was also a factor

St-Pierre also revealed another contributing factor to his early retirement. He stated, “On top of that, I was fighting against Performance-Enhancing Drugs in the sport and I felt like at the time the UFC did not have my back”. This invoked the curiosity of one of the anchors, who questioned ‘Rush’, “So you were fighting guys on PEDs?”

‘Rush’ didn’t mention the name of anyone who was on PEDs while he had fought them. But he stated, “But I’m in the fight game. I am a fighter. We know who’s who.” Further, ‘Rush’ also justified his stand against PED, stating, “The outcome of a win or loss are very dramatic in our sport. It could influence the life of an individual. It could be very bad. So this is one of the reasons why the athlete should be clean, you know.”

St-Pierre even went one more step to bash the UFC authorities of that time. He revealed, “They even tell the other guys, ‘Don’t take the test’. It drove me crazy”. After hearing all of this from ‘Rush’ himself, a number of fans might say that he actually had enough reasons for retiring early.

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The banishment of PEDs from the sport of MMA has also brought about a massively positive development in the sport today. However, even the UFC turning a cold shoulder to ‘GSP’s’ fight for this noble cause surely disheartened him.

Do you think St-Pierre would have continued in the UFC for a number of bouts more if he received their support in his struggle against PEDs?