St-Pierre says he is coming back new and improved
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 StPierre 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 razor-thin 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 told The Canadian Press 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. It (fighting) was more like an obligation. I did it because I had to not because I wanted to. Now I make a choice to come back, I wanted to. And that’s going to make all the difference.
“You’re going to see a different Georges St-Pierre – with more creativity, more opportunistic and ready to pull the trigger.”
He is also ready for some heavy-duty trash-talking from Bisping, a sharp-tongued Brit.
“Absolutely. He’s probably already started. I’m going to let him focus on the trash-talking and me, I’m going to focus on beating him up the day of the fight,” he said with a chuckle.
Still he acknowledged moving up a weight class to face the 185-pound champion after more than three years off is a “hell of a challenge.”