VIDEO | Freddie Roach to corner Georges St-Pierre for Michael Bisping fight

There will be a quite a few new experiences for Georges St-Pierre when he makes his return to the Octagon after being away from mixed martial arts competition for nearly four years.

It will be the first time the former UFC welterweight champion will compete at 185 pounds as he challenges UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping for his title. “Rush” will likely also have a new coach added to his corner for the fight taking place at UFC 217 in November as famed boxing coach Freddie Roach explained recently to Fight Hub.

“He did really, really well in training camp,” Roach said of St-Pierre’s recent training at the Wild Card gym. “I’m going to be heading up to Montreal pretty soon. For six weeks, I’m going to spend 3 days a week in Montreal, and 4 days here,” he said. “He wants me in the corner. He wants me in the ring, in between rounds, and I said I have no problem.”

“He’s doing really, really well and he is in with a big tough guy, and it should be action-packed. It should be fun. I’m excited, my first UFC fight.”

Regarding the move up in weight, Roach says he feels a noticeable difference in punching power with the added pounds St-Pierre is carrying.

“We worked on his stand-up game and he’s getting better and better all the time,” Roach said. “He’s a little bigger, a little stronger than he has been in the past because this fight is going to be a little higher weight class. So, he has a little more weight on him, and he punches a lot better, a lot more power.”

Roach added that he believes the former welterweight champion’s athleticism will be the difference in the fight that will end in favor for team St-Pierre. Although Roach admitted that he is a bit worried about the first round because Georges tends to be a bit stiff as the fight starts but gets into the groove as the fight goes on. The famous boxing trainer said he will make sure to warm St-Pierre up really well in the moments just before stepping into the Octagon to combat that problem.

What are your thoughts on Freddie Roach making his Octagon debut with Georges St-Pierre? Let’s discuss this one in the comment section.

on 9/26/2017.