Former two-division UFC champion Georges St-Pierre did not make the all too common mistake of sticking around the fight game longer than he should have.
St-Pierre vacated the welterweight championship and stepped away from fighting 12 years ago, following his UFC 167 title defense against Johnny Hendricks. He’d return four years later to fight for the middleweight championship against Michael Bisping at UFC 217 in 2017. “Rush” captured the 185-pound title, relinquished it, and officially hung up the gloves.
“The temptation is always there but there’s something you can not beat. It’s time. And all we have in the world, sooner or later we’re going to lose it. Whatever it is, like materialism. We think about, ‘Oh I’m building up my legacy, My legacy.’ Yeah, people remember me now. The next generation, the other one maybe, the other one, but in a few generations nobody will care,” St-Pierre said on The Ariel Helwani Show.
“It’s my ego that wants my legacy. It’s good as a fighter because you want that pride. You want that ego to carry you because it helps you be more successful, but when you retire you have to learn how to disassociate yourself from it. That’s what I worked on since I retired, and it’s very, very hard,” he continued.
St-Pierre walked away from fighting on his own terms and suggested active fighters in the twilight of their careers do the same.
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“There is a lot of guys, they don’t know when to stop. They think they can beat time, but it’s impossible. It’s a cycle of life. You can not beat time. Everything we have now is temporary. We’re all going to leave and everything will be lost forever.
“I learned that and I made peace with it,” he said. “It makes me sad when I see guys, they messed up their health because when you retire you have another half of your life to live, so it’s important that you stay as healthy as you can. Also, if you retire on a winning streak, they tell you ‘pass the torch.’ F*ck that! Don’t pass the torch. Retire on your terms, not on their terms,” St-Pierre said.
“It’s a selfish sport and you have to be selfish. When you feel like it’s time to retire, retire.”
