Georges St-Pierre explains why Kamaru Usman fight doesn’t motivate him

UFC legend Georges St-Pierre explained why a matchup against UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman doesn’t motivate him to return to MMA.

St-Pierre is considered by many to be the greatest welterweight of all time in mixed martial arts, and many consider him the greatest pound-for-pound fighter regardless of weight class.

On Saturday night at UFC 258, Usman broke GSP’s record for most consecutive wins at 170lbs with 13 in a row. For many fans, St-Pierre and Usman are the No. 1 and No. 2 greatest welterweights of all time, and so of course people want to see them fight. Especially after seeing Usman’s dominant win over Gilbert Burns, fans want to find out who the best ever is.

Speaking to JD Bunkis and Ben Ennis on “The Good Show” on Sportsnet 590 The Fan, St-Pierre said that he is not interested in fighting Usman right now. He explained that COVID-19 travel restrictions are part of the problem, but most importantly, GSP admitted he’s just not motivated to step back in the Octagon.

“To go back and give three months of my life in a training camp to get a win over Kamaru Usman doesn’t get me motivated. I don’t think there’s anything that would get me motivated to go back to competition now. I’m not sure,” Georges St-Pierre said, adding that he’s “lost (his) motivation a little bit.”

“Try to put yourself in my shoes and try to come back. First, if I come back to fight Kamaru Usman, I would literally have to leave the country. I would have to bring my coaches somewhere, find a base camp, fly in training partners to get ready for Usman. But leaving my home, I don’t want to do it. I’m healthy, I’m wealthy. It’s not appealing to me to lose three months of my life, the stress, to try and get a win over Usman. As time passed by, it’s getting less and less appealing. And I don’t think there’s anybody now that would make me come back. I’m good. I will always train and be in shape,” St-Pierre said, referencing videos of him doing intense training in the Montreal snowstorms.

“It seems like people want to see me go on my shield,” GSP said. “A lot of guys wait too long to retire and they kinda go on their shield and I never wanted to do this. I wanted to compete at my best and now I’m at the point, are my best years behind me? They could be. Now I said to myself I don’t want to compete if my best years are behind me. Your knowledge grows but your physicality is diminished. I’m 39, gonna be 40 soon. If I would have done something it would have needed to be something that was really special that would really get me to the core of my motivation. I don’t have the same motivation as right now. It’s not appealing to me. I’m a big fan, I like to watch fights. But I look at them with the stress and I’m like hell no, I’m not doing it.”

Based on his comments during this interview, it seems clear GSP has no interest in stepping back into the Octagon anytime soon. Considering he turns 40 soon, it really is starting to seem like the ship has sailed on him ever fighting again. That won’t stop fans from wanting to see him step back into the cage, but these comments made it clear that fighting against Usman doesn’t interest him.

Do you believe Georges St-Pierre will stay, or do you think something changes that convinces him to step back into the Octagon again one day?