Former middleweight champion opens up during his first public appearance.
It is the question that every mixed martial fan has been asking of him since his sudden departure from the UFC, when will Georges St-Pierre return to the Octagon?
If the former middleweight champion has anything to do with it, not for a while, but he did not rule out walking away from active competition forever.
St-Pierre shocked the UFC and the rest of the mixed martial arts world when he said he needed to step away from the sport in the wake of his controversial title fight against Johny Hendricks at 158, that marked his ninth consecutive 170-pound title defense and 19th UFC win overall, more than any other fighter in the promotion’s history.
The 32-year-old has hinted at things he needs to take care of away from competition, but said it was just nice to be thinking or preparing for his next fight.
“I needed to take some time off to relax, to feel better and to have fun to do it again if I ever wanted to come back,” St-Pierre said.
“When you do something for a long time, you have a lot of pressure. People don’t realize how much pressure I have. It’s a lot of expectations.”
St-Pierre (25-2 MMA, 19-2 UFC), said he has enjoyed returning to normality, doing simple things he as not been able to take part in for years.
“I spent Christmas time and New Year’s with my family,” St-Pierre said. “That’s something I haven’t done for a long time. This is the first time I’ve really had nothing on my schedule. It was perfect. It was fun. It’s the first time I felt so good.
“I’m 32 years old and this is the first time I have Christmas with my family. I spent some time, but I never really had free time, total free time like I did. It was time for me to do it. I’m very happy I did it and I don’t regret any of it.”
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