Is this the decision we’ve all been waiting for? Will GSP step down as champ and walk away from the sport? Find out here with highlights under the stream.
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Georges St. Pierre says Thank You… and silence. Here we go!
- Georges St. Pierre: ” I’ve been fighting for a very long time at a high level. A lot of pressure, a lot of criticism. I decided I need to take some time off. I know the UFC is a business. I will vacate my title for my respect for the sake of other competitor’s.”
- GSP: “What people don’t understand is, the position I am at is a lot of pressure. Every fight is like you add weight on your shoulder. At one point it becomes so heavy I have trouble carrying it myself. I can not go through another training camp right now.”
- Dana White: I agree with Georges 100%. You have to be 100% mental, physical, emotional. If you’re not you should have to sit on the sidelines.”
- GSP: “I am 100% physically. It is more emotionally, I need this. I need to have a normal life for a bit.”
- GSP: ” I am going to keep training, keep improving. I am going to live more of a normal life. Of course (helping fighters at Tristar). I will focus on something else and keep training. If I come back one day I will come back much better.”
- GSP: ” I knew before (UFC 167) that I was going to do this.”
- GSP: “I know one day I will come back. I want to do it when I feel like it. It is going to be up to me. It has to be on my terms.”
- GSP: “I love my sport. I have never been a victim of anything, I choose this life. As much as I choose to do it, I now choose to not do it. I feel mentally that it is a lot of pressure. No one can understand it.”
- GSP: “I can’t say 100%. I am just tired of this. One day if I decide to come back, I will be stronger”
- GSP: ” I keep my personal life personal.”
- GSP: ” If one day I decide to come back I will talk to Dana and Lorenzo. If I need to prove myself again, I will. If I decide and when I decide I will do whatever it takes to get there. “
- GSP: “My life is a freaking zoo right now”
- GSP: “There is alot of things I wanted to do. I wanted to do things to be remembered, to make a difference in the sport. I tried to do it in my last fight. We’ll see if I come back or not.”
- Dana White ” March 15th. Johnny Hendricks vs. Robbie Lawler for the vacant welterweight title.”
- Dana: “We knew something was going on with him. GSP has always been 100% professional. It’s really not that big of a deal. He was classy enough to say he wasn’t going to jam up the 170 pound division. “
- Dana: “Georges has been here forever. He has been an absolute professional. His legacy is that he is the greatest welterweight ever. If i had 475 guys like Georges St. Pierre we would be a lot better. He is the gold standard.”