Georges St-Pierre opens up on possibility of ring rust in UFC return

This year, the MMA community celebrated as it was revealed that former UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre would be returning to the Octagon in 2017 to fight middleweight champion Michael Bisping.

While no date was given for the scrap, the two wasted no time in beginning to trade barbs as they appeared onstage together at a press conference in Las Vegas, where the war of words quickly escalated. Throughout the course of the press conference, middleweight champion Michael Bisping didn’t miss an opportunity to remind St-Pierre that he has quite the disadvantage in regards to size given that he’s moving up in weight. While St-Pierre has stated that he isn’t worried about the size disadvantage, one question has stuck in the minds of MMA fans: ‘What about ring rust?’

Georges St-Pierre addressed the topic during a Q&A on the Hayabusa fan page:

“I believe in ring rust. People say there’s no such thing but I believe in ring rust. It will be an issue but I’m a very experienced man. I’m one of the guys that’s spent the most time in the octagon in the UFC, maybe the most, I’m not sure in terms of time. I think because I have a lot of experience, the more time I will spend as the fight goes, the more comfortable I will be. For me, it will be very important [at] the first second of the fight. That’s when I will have to be very aware, very careful. That will be the most dangerous moment for me because when you have ring rust, that’s the hardest part of the fight. When you just step in and the fight start, that’s where the ring rust comes from, the difficulty of adaptation. But after a few minutes, I will be back to normal.”

While St-Pierre has been out for many years, Bisping has remained one of the most active fighters on the roster.

Do you think ring rust will play a major factor in this fight? Give us your thoughts below PENN Nation!

on 4/25/2017.