One of the top three pound-for-pound fighters on the planet, UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St-Pierre continued his reign of terror in 2009 with dominant victories over Lightweight Champion BJ Penn and top contender Thiago Alves respectively, running his current winning streak to six in a row and earning Fighter of the Year awards from both SI.com and the first annual World MMA Awards for his efforts. Now in the midst of preparation for his fourth title defense against British sensation Dan Hardy in the main event of UFC 111, St-Pierre is eager to bounce back from the groin injury that kept him sidelined for the last six months.
Long known for his open and honest self-assessment, St-Pierre recently spoke exclusively with Tapology’s Steven Kelliher to discuss his emotional reaction upon being severely injured during the Alves title defense, his disappointment with his 42% knockout ratio, his increase in power owing to his new nutrition program, and his thoughts on being the only MMA fighter currently sponsored by Gatorade and Under Armour.
UFC 111: St-Pierre vs. Hardy kicks off on Saturday, March 27 from the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey and airs live on Pay Per View.
Tapology: Let’s talk a little bit about your last fight against Thiago Alves at UFC 100 in July. One of the bigger questions heading into that fight was whether or not you were going to be able to match Alves in the kickboxing exchanges. You went on to dominate the fight both on the feet and on the ground, so what is it about your training that allows you to defeat opponents in every aspect of the game?
St-Pierre: Honestly, I always train with better kickboxers and better boxers than I am, so it allows me to improve a lot more than if I were to train with somebody of my caliber. I travel a lot in order to train with the best guys possible.
Tapology: You also hurt your groin in that fight when Alves was on top of you. Did you panic at all when you felt your abductor tear or were you able to remain calm for the most part?
St-Pierre: It was very bad. It had never happened before that I had been hurt in a fight and had to fight with an injury, you know. What happened was I just stayed calm and tried to minimize the damage. It was pretty hard when it happened because I was thinking, ‘What is going to happen? Am I going to get knocked out?’ A lot of pressure popped up in my head because I didn’t know the gravity of the injury.
I was on the ground and I knew something was wrong, but I didn’t know how bad it was. I was just hoping that I would be able to stand up and finish the fight. The adrenaline really helped me, because—to tell you the truth—just walking after, when I got cold, was pretty painful.
Tapology: What was the recovery process like for that injury?
St-Pierre: I’m very lucky. One of my best friends is an orthopedic surgeon. He was actually at the fights–Dr. Sebastien Simard–and after the fight he came back to my hotel and checked me. Right when I got back to Montreal I had an appointment with him and he sent me to see the best specialist in the world, which is Dr. Marc Philippon. He performed a treatment that allows you to heal much faster, so they did that and it was worth it.
Tapology: Not too long after you returned to training, [Head Trainer] Firas Zahabi said that this injury might have been one of the best things to happen to you because you seemed more motivated than you had been for a while. Do you agree with that?
St-Pierre: Yeah, absolutely it’s true. I am very motivated. I always train, I never take days off, and I’m always in shape because I train because I love what I do for a living, not because I have to. This break has allowed me to refresh myself, think about a lot of things, and I changed a lot of things in my training that I think will make me a better fighter.
Tapology: You are scheduled to take on Dan Hardy in the main event of UFC 111 on March 27. Aside from defending your title, what do you want to accomplish in this fight?
St-Pierre: It’s going to be a tough fight. That guy is the top contender right now, so I’m going to have to come up with my A-game, otherwise it’s going to be a bad night for me.
Tapology: You mentioned recently that you really want to finish this fight. Do you think you are training harder for that highlight-reel finish?
St-Pierre: I want to take him out. I want to finish him, but when you look for the knockout sometimes it doesn’t come, so I have to be smart. I’m going to have to fight my fight and take him out of his comfort zone, and by doing so he is going to make a mistake. The fight will end when he makes his first mistake.
Tapology: You seem to be one of the most cerebral fighters currently competing today judging by some of the physiological factors you took into consideration for the second BJ Penn fight. How much of that is from you personally and how much of it comes from your coaches?
St-Pierre: I’m somebody that reads a lot. It’s from me and also from my coaches. I see fighting like a mathematics problem. When you have a mathematics problem you have a formula that you use to solve the problem. Dan Hardy is a problem, and I’m going to have to figure out which formula I’m going to use during the fight to solve the problem and that’s how it is.
I think it’s also a question of statistics. If I fight against his strengths, my chances of winning diminish. If I fight against his weaknesses, my chances of winning go up.
Tapology: You mentioned at a recent Q & A session that you have recently added a nutritionist to your training and that you have already gained some weight. What weight are you at right now and how do you feel with the new weight?
St-Pierre: Right now I’m about 190lbs. I’m bigger and I’m getting even bigger than I was, more powerful, and more explosive. I hit much harder. We have been working on a lot of different stuff to make me hit harder and to give me more power on my strikes. It’s going to change a lot of things.
I’m not satisfied about my ratio of knockouts. I have knockouts, but I want to bring my ratio up. I’m more powerful than I was, and by being more powerful I’m faster as well. Power is strength and speed together.
Tapology: You also mentioned recently that you would not allow yourself to go down to 170lbs should you put on too much weight because it could affect your health. Do you have a general idea of what the optimal weight to cut down to 170lbs is going to be for you or are you just going to see how it goes?
St-Pierre: I’m going to see how it goes, but right now it’s pretty good. I always have an easy time making weight. This time I’m a little bit bigger, but it’s going to be no problem.
Tapology: You have talked about considering yourself a mixed martial artist in a sport populated by fighters. How important is it for you to keep that traditional martial arts mindset in the UFC?
St-Pierre: It’s very important. That’s where I come from. In the UFC there are a lot of fighters, but few mixed martial artists. A mixed martial artist is always better than a fighter, no matter what; if you put them together in the cage, he is always going to win.
Dan Hardy has said that I am not a fighter. It’s true; I fight when I have to fight for my sport. I’m not going to fight in the street. I do it for the job, for the sport.
Tapology: You have talked in the past about being a positive role model for the next generation. You were also recently signed by Gatorade and Under Armour, so how big were those sponsorships to you as far as reaching a wider audience?
St-Pierre: I think it’s part of the sport. I carry myself well and set a good example. I think it’s part of my responsibility as champion. There have already been some MMA champions that haven’t carried themselves well, and I think it’s bad because there are a lot of people looking up to us. I am glad to be the first MMA guy to be with Under Armour and Gatorade, and I’m going to do my best to do my job well and hopefully someday there will be other fighters in the same brands.
Tapology: Being from Boston myself, I have to ask what your thoughts are about the UFC coming to Boston this year.
St-Pierre: I would be glad to be on a card in Boston. I think it would be awesome.
Tapology: The rumor right now is that the UFC will be coming to Boston by August of this year. Do you think there is any chance of you winding up on that card?
St-Pierre: I would love to. Maybe. We’ll see what’s going to happen. I think it all depends on the outcome of my fight.
Tapology: Can you talk a bit about your new relationship with Kenny Florian?
St-Pierre: Kenny helps me a lot in training and I try to help him as well. He is a good guy and a good friend of mine. It’s more than being a training partner; he’s a good human being, I enjoy spending time with him. He’s a very funny guy.
Tapology: Your ultimate goal is obviously to be considered the best. Do you think you are close to achieving that?
St-Pierre: I think I have a lot of work to do. I’m not there yet. I fix my objectives very high. The problem in life is not to fix our goals too high and not to be able to reach them, it’s to fix our goals too low and to reach them. That’s where it is dangerous and that’s what I don’t want to do.
Tapology: What is more important to you, your legacy in the cage or outside of the cage?
St-Pierre: My well-being and the well-being of the people that I love is what is most important to me. I will never put my well-being in jeopardy to fight. Losing too much weight or taking an illegal substance to go up in weight and fight a big guy are examples of that, and they are things I would never do.
Tapology: And the most important question: are you still happy doing what you do for a living?
St-Pierre: I am always happy. If I wanted to change, I could change my life.
Tapology: Thank you for the time today, Georges. Best of luck against Dan Hardy.
St-Pierre: Thank you, take care.
