GSP says he’s new and improved and ready to beat Bisping

Georges St-Pierre says fans will see a different fighter when he returns to action later this year against UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping.

“The sport has evolved since I left,” said St-Pierre, who last fought in November 2013. “If I want to be successful, I need to evolve as well.

“If the same Georges St-Pierre shows up the day of the fight, Georges St-Pierre is going to get his ass kicked. It’s going to have to be a different Georges St-Pierre — a more opportunistic Georges St-Pierre, more powerful, better, with new tools, less hesitation, less thinking, more intuition and better reaction. And that’s what I expect you to see.”

The former welterweight champion will be 36 by the time of the fight, set for some time in the second half of the year, likely in Las Vegas.

Bisping, 38, has fought eight times since St-Pierre walked away from the sport following his razorthin split decision win over Johny (Bigg Rigg) Hendricks at UFC 167.

St-Pierre left millions on the table after posting his 12th straight win, saying his life had become “completely insane” and a “freaking zoo.”

More than three years on, the Montreal MMA star says he is in a better place.

Physically he feels in his prime — “I don’t know if I’m in the beginning of it or at the end of it but I know I’m in it right now.”

“Mentally, I’m at the best in my life. I have a smile,” he said from Las Vegas. “I’m happy to be here. I enjoy it. By the end of my last [UFC] run, I was not happy. I didn’t have a smile.”