Georges St-Pierre on the Secrets of the Khabib Fight & the Real Reason He Retired From the UFC!

all right boys we're about to head to Montreal for a legendary pod with GSP before we get into the podcast this episode is sponsored by surprise picks if you guys haven't tried prize picks it's by far the best app to fire on Sports instead of betting on teams you're betting on individual players so it's way different each player has a set projection and you either choose more or less than that set projection so if you know players and what players are going to perform in the games prize picks is the app for you it's available in 70 of the United States California Texas Florida we also got you boys on a discount code 100 deposit bonus code just use code milk everyone's been blowing me up about the prize picks app it's so fun download the app let's get into the pod [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] rewind now all right boys before we get into the podcast every week we're shouting out bars that carry happy Dad if you're a bar that carries this unhappy dad or you work there or you carry us out your store tag us on Instagram at happy Dad we're literally looking all the time we got bounce New York City and Chicago we got sea legs in Huntington Beach California we got Temecula Creek Inn in Temecula California we got Moxie Ultra Lounge in Las Vegas Nevada we got the fountain blue in Miami Beach Florida tag us on Instagram at happybad you got GSP on the Pod right now I'm about to walk in legendary pot about to go down let's get into it when are you flying back um tonight we actually have to fly to Ohio oh wow because we have another so this is like our one channel where we do interviews and then we have another YouTube channel that we do like lifestyle content so recently you'd probably know this one we went to um we went to Russia to Dagestan no way we visited where uh like Islam and them I guess we uh before Islam's last fight we like went to where he was training wow and we like trained with them for two days and then we you know hezboola yeah yeah chilled with him and Dagestan but we went all the way to Russia oh wow so that's like our other channel where we do like like crazy [ __ ] like that tomorrow we're flying to a or today we're flying to Ohio and we're gonna spend two days with Amish people um wow are we hot yeah we're hot oh do you know the Amish people do you know who they are the uh uh Amish is like where they their religion yeah where they don't no electricity oh I see okay no technology but they live in like in the like what year they live like like in the 16 on the kind of like it's yeah kind of like pilgrims okay okay like 1600s so yeah but they're like living like that in 2023. yeah no TVs none of that I I went to Africa once and I I visited the Maasai I mean yeah but some some of these people they don't want to they don't want to have nothing to do with their the the world you know like you just want to live the way they live and they they're happy the way they are I mean when did you do that I did that a few years ago yeah what was that like oh it wasn't incredible I uh I did a few trips there I I went to visit the the Maasai because I I was curious I you know everybody says that oh if you if you live like antar getter it's healthier but how come they have a long longer uh a shorter uh life uh lifespan you know if you look statistically they have their their longevity or or statistically are shorter than us but I didn't realize that but it's because of the uh yeah the the the rate of uh the baby that dies uh the newborn baby that dies they have a very high rate of uh that's death when when the kids are are young and it's true I never of it so that affects the overall yeah because as we have like for example when I was young I had like uh I had a condition I made a you know when a baby has a fever I I had to go to hospital and they put me in a coma like artificial coma otherwise I would have died if I would not have that technology but over there if you have something like this you get you got fever or something you're done you know so what'd you learn from the Messiah that you took back with you oh my God they uh they are like 99 carnivore uh they they eat once a day and they're very beautiful people like they're they're all people of like 70 and plus are much they look much better than ours like this this is something I can tell you for sure I mean they might have a higher rate of and like uh birth of at when they're babies but when they're past a certain age they're much much healthier they look much more healthier than or than ours than our people yeah it's crazy oh yeah no we just want to say this is a legendary episode for us I told you I remember you remember we met in Miami right I want to tell the audience so uh yeah we're in Miami me it was uh Izzy verse Pereira that fight weekend yeah and then I was out to dinner with Dana and like the mayor and David grubman and then I don't I meet a lot of people too like you guys know we've had Trump on here we've got Elon Musk but when I saw George walk in I had never met him before and like I grew up watching your fights like I've been watching UFC for so long so you're someone that like really even though I wasn't into fighting myself like just your whole career you really like inspired me to want to like kind of be something as well so to have you on it's [ __ ] awesome appreciate it in Montreal yeah absolute Legend at TriStar gym yeah that's right that's [ __ ] cool so thank you for having me on man yeah I'm happy to be here what's your like daily life like now here like are you living in Montreal mostly or I'm I'm more busy now than I used to be when I was uh competing because uh when you compete it's a very selfish life it's all about you you you and now I have so much stuff going on I have different businesses and and uh I travel a lot I'm going to to Europe uh tomorrow and I feel like a globe throt or sometime you know like I I travel so much so but it's fun you know I like to stay uh busy you know I don't want to I always want to be busy I always uh fix my goal very high you know because if you're satisfying life and you sit down I feel I feel like it's not the way to do it you know that's when you start to get sick and so I will probably never retire sort of you know I like to train but I like to stay busy to be more more like an entrepreneur sort of how often are you still like training even just like casually I try to train every day like now I just we're talking now but I just finished a training now before you before you guys arrive I was training with some of the young guys that are actually gonna fight soon and they give me a hard time I mean I uh I try to look the best I can but man I'm I'm 41 soon 42 May 19 and uh yeah it it gets harder and harder you don't recuperate as well does it or do you still give them the beats in there I still get it you know I still get it I I you know I was world champion you know but it's just that sometimes I feel like I'm I'm more sore and or if I do something like a very hard training the next morning I wake up I'm like damn I'm like I didn't feel like that before you know or some little injuries that happened that you that then that happened when you when I was younger yeah is there like a when you retire from UFC or from MMA is there like a sort of relief mentally that you have oh absolutely I uh I never liked to fight I uh people sometimes they don't believe me when I say this but that that's the truth I never liked it I never enjoyed it I I did it because I wanted to use that to propel myself for uh or where I wanted to be in life I wanted to have the freedom I was I feel like I was just very lucky and fortunate to to found what I was good at and I exploited and I worked really hard I love to train I love martial art I love the science of it to come here with the camaradri of my friend I love that lifestyle to it gives me confidence but to not to compete and not knowing if I will be hurt humiliated or or you know winning the fight for me it's unbearable it is very hard so and that's what I didn't like about that lifestyle that's interesting so when did you decide like in your life when did you decide hey I want to be a fighter I want to take this serious and it sounds like it was for like a Financial Freedom yeah I I uh I didn't when I was young I I didn't know what I wanted to do and uh and I remember when I was a kid uh I was a very very young kid I was like maybe 12 years old 11 years old like the teacher was asking everybody in the class what do you want to do for when you get older and some were like oh I want to be an engineer whatever a doctor or whatever and when I came to me I really didn't know what what I wanted to do and I said I wanted to be a WWE wrestler because I was a fan of Hulk Hogan because MMA did not exist at the time when I was a that young it happened before after so and everybody started laughing like they were all laughing and obviously I'm not I don't have the the physique to be a WWE wrestler now it changed now it's it's different than it used to be but it used to be only like big huge guys you know so I I didn't have the the physique to to become one of them but I I when I saw the first UFC when Royce Gracie won the first UFC that's when I knew like I was like that's what I want to do you know like that's I see myself in this you know and I was I was at school at the time frame I don't know what I what I wanted to do I uh I tried many different things I was studying and I I were not sick you know like uh an airplane to repair airplane and then the the tower felt uh the industry crash and and I changed I went to do a fight to be a become a fireman I was accepted I did all the physical I was accept accepted at school but I received a letter from the fireman School saying oh we can accept you however you don't you're not gonna have the uh the standard of the of their City to work because you have a uh I can't remember which of my vertebrae is off by uh some millimeter and I and now I'm thinking about it I'm like no I can't be world champion and mix martial art but I cannot become a fireman it's kind of stupid but you know I I didn't know what I wanted to do I was at school studying and I really didn't know what I wanted to do and and at the time when I started mixed martial art it was not something that you could do and make a living right you know like everybody was broke and and but I always have faith that at one point the sport could grow to a certain level that you can you can make it and I was lucky I work really hard and it it happened what was your first like I guess because there you were in leagues before the UFC right I'm sorry like MMA leaks where you were like fighting for money yeah do you remember what your first like oh yeah that was insane paycheck was so I saw you guys had to put like brand deals like on your back and painted on your back right yeah to get like extra ad Revenue so so my my first fight I I remember at the I was uh I I wanted to go to a Kinesiology in University in kinesiology but I I needed to have the money to pay for the school book The it cut it because it costs money so I needed to um with an apartment because it was in Montreal and I'm from the countryside so I told myself I said I'm gonna work for like a year to gain money and uh when I get the money I'm gonna go to university and I'm gonna still training in the meantime and if an opportunity happened I I will you know you know fight and and you know make some money on the side so I was I was at that uh time of my life that I was a garbage a GarbageMan and I was also working uh in a nightclub as a security uh guard uh Dora Dorman so Monday to Thursday I was uh working for a company garbageman and during the weekend I was working in a security of nightclub it was a terrible job it was like hip-hop uh hip-hop club it was a lot of battle a lot of fights I I do you ever have to fight like as a security uh not really I thought not really a fight it was very short yeah I use a lot of time I was I was using you know my you know talking I was talking my way out of uh problem you know I was like telling a guy I was a lot of guy I was working with were like big guys on steroids like they they had like Roid Rage sometime it was insane they fought even if they didn't have to so I hated that job but at that time I had no choice to do it and and I had my first fight and and I remember every fight I didn't make much money and my first fight I made a thousand three hundred dollar I fought in TKO and it used to be UCC yeah I had like five or six fighting in UCC then I got recruited for to fight in in the UFC and we're not that time were you like traveling from here to New York to train yes every day not every day I was going uh I tried to to go every month uh also like uh or every two months I uh I was going like a week a week at the time and um I I used to drive I remember an old Ford Tempo and it was so bad there was a hole in the in the ground and people made fun of me they say I was like the Flintstone you know like like running but I didn't know if it was going to make it you know it was that it was bad it was an old a whole car but I was very lucky I I made it I learned uh English I've learned it at school before but I was in a French environment so it helps me traveling to US helped helps me a lot with my English so yeah it was a good a good experience too and then how did how did the UFC like how did you get into that well how are you approached the way it happened is uh there was a guy his name was Pete Spratt he was a fighter a very good Striker and at that time Pete Spratt beat Robbie Lawler who became later champion of the UFC by uh with leg kicks in he he stopped he made him stop the fight with leg kick and it was very fair uh very very powerful Striker and my manager at the time uh Brad Pitt Spratt to fight me in TKO and Beast Brad didn't know why was I wasn't nobody at that time and and he probably thought that he was coming to collect an easy paycheck and I beat peace Pratt I uh beat him with a real naked choke and I cut Jimmy and uh that was my my ticket for the UFC so that that's how it happened it was a a good move by my agent at that time that's crazy yeah it's interesting with you because dude like you're so calm and collected you don't seem like I feel like if you're gonna go into UFC like there's got to be something that sparked some anger but you seem so calm so well there's there's different schools of thought right there's like the the Conor McGregor mentality like love me hate me but don't ignore me you know like Muhammad Ali used to be like that too and uh you know I English was never my first language so I always knew that if I would try to get into an argument with someone with an a guy that speak English better than me at first it's not my first language I'm not gonna win that battle so I choose my battle carefully and on top of that I'm just not good at it so I I just stay authentic to who I am and I try to be a good good role model yeah but that doesn't mean I don't you know I like to you know to enjoy my life have a drink and I I you know to live the life you know do you think being like quieter and calmer affected you like people looked at you as weaker like it affected like maybe they is I don't think they saw me weaker than I am I just think that um I know I knew that a lot of guys that I fought they tried to get under my skin knowing that that what I believe is they knew that I they could not beat me if I thought the perfect fight they needed me to do a mistake so in order to make me do that mistake they wanted to get under my skin and and and make me fight emotionally which is a bad a bad thing to do in in mixed martial art example of that I believe Conor McGregor uh did that to Jose Aldo yeah when he first the first time he won the the title he got under under Jose Aldo's skin so much that Jose Aldo lost his mind he threw all is probably I think he choose a strategy out of the window when he went straight at Conor McGregor and Conor McGregor is a very is an excellent counterpuncher and he hits very hard so we slipped the punch and knock him out and I think in like five seconds yeah yeah that was a perfect example of someone that loses loses his children what do you think when you see that because I remember Connor was talking about like the favelas like just like does that do you think like this guy's disrespectful or do you kind of see what he's doing that's the nature of the the sport you know like it's a very egotistic uh Sport and environment that that we gravitate and and and we're not on a dance floor you know what I mean yeah it's it's it's it's fighting and when you find someone is the Art of War you'll do everything you can because you can say I play basketball I play baseball but you don't play fighting so the outcome of the fight could have a profound effect on your well-being you know you might die maybe you're not gonna die in the Octagon or in the cage but the damage that I'm gonna give you will make you die younger than you would normally and it has a huge effect on your health your income so every fight is so important that's why there's a lot of Mind Game into this yeah when when you join the UFC too you were at like your whole career was like it was a pivotal moment for the UFC right like it's crazy how far it's come and even when you retired like did you know it's gonna be as big as it was when you first joined I I didn't have any certainty but I had faith that it could become very big and and I'm gonna I'm gonna tell you why if you're if you take whatever what's the most uh popular sport in us it's American football or in the world it's it's soccer right football if you're in a in a in watching a match you're in among the crowd watching a match and there's a fight that breaks out you will stop watching the the match and you will watch the fight why is that because we can all identify ourselves to fighting I can take the nicest person in the world put him in that situation where he's gonna he's gonna have no choice to fight maybe he's not going to be competent competent at it but he's gonna have to do it either to defend himself or to defend someone that he loves so I think for that reason we all identified to to to this you know so it I knew that it would become very popular and it did you know so I I didn't I didn't have any certainty but I knew that it was something that everybody can relate to it's not a form of entertainment that is made for everybody of course because it's very violent but it's something that everybody in some kind of we can understand it's not a game it's it's I guess it's more than a than a than a than a game it's a it's a sport but it's it's about survival it's a very Primal uh fight and it used to be in ancient Greek Greece in it was called pancreation it used to be the most popular sport at the time so we just really kind of relearned it whenever people say oh it's a new sport it's not a new sport it's a very old sport that we kind of redisco ReDiscover when you first joined the UFC where did you absolutely love it or were there some things you wish you could have changed I know I I I love the sport I love the training but I always was terrified before every fight and I don't like that feeling it it it it get it makes you very uncomfortable it's very very stressful uh for me I I'm I'm kind of like yeah some injuries through my career but the stress is really what take the most out of me uh you know what I mean how did you push through that every fight then because that's such a big stage like oh man it's it's terrible and you need to to learn how to control your Affair and I remember at the beginning of my career I was terrified before every fight and you know there's a lot of people watching you you're not I can speak for myself I was not so much afraid of getting hurt even though I knew it was a possibility I was afraid to be humiliated my ego was my ego in the same time is something that that is bad but it's something that is good because it it made me the fighter than I that I was and it pushed me to to you know to to through my Affair so being afraid I realized because in the beginning I was so terrified that I thought oh later when I when I'll have more experience I I'll I'm not gonna have that much fear but I realized through time that every fight is bigger than the last one so you're more afraid every fight is is bigger and you have more to lose because you have more people to watch so I realize how to control it better being afraid and being confident being afraid is means it doesn't mean you're not confident you can be very confident but being afraid as well people sometimes they make a mistake so the way I control it is I'm I try to focus I try to be very objective and not subjective I try to focus only on the thing that I control the thing that I do not have con control such as am I gonna win or lose uh what people gonna think about me what my opponents is doing right now and things like that I do not control so I don't focus on that at all I try to ignore it completely the thing that I control how hard I I get how hard I train you know am I doing the right thing uh the the I do did I study my opponent uh do I know myself what what are my strength what is my strategy uh these are the things I need to control the the thing that I need to do to win the fight and it could vary depending on who I'm fighting but I need to find out it's my it's my duty to find out a way to to to solve the problem and those thing needs to be done at all costs me myself as an entity I don't exist the way I feel am I afraid am I this it doesn't matter but I need to only focus on the thing that need to be done and if I do that I will slope the odds in my favor so the outcome will take care of itself on the flip side of that when when you are victorious or you get the dub your emotions completely change yes is that super temporary or does it stick with you to when you win a fight is just incredible they there is it's a relief it's it's it's it's there is no pleasure without pain that they say in in philosophy and it's kind of true it's like you need to push yourself through pain in order to have the pleasure you know what I mean it's very hard like it's in in everything like if if you like to eat and you know like like I remember when I when I fast I do fasting sometimes when I when I fast for three days I'm at the and I'm I am at the table eating with my friend breaking my fast I'm I'm and we we all eat the same thing I'm telling them I'm like my meal tastes better and all of yours because I I fast for three days the same thing in in fighting you you you you you have you did so much sacrifice for your training camp you sacrifice so much time freedom and and you have to push yourself through training and you know and in in it's hard and when you make it and you win you achieve the win when you when you lose it's heartbreaking but when you win it's like wow because you have so much to lose and I think that's why it's it's such a a high you know yeah what I mean you have you had only two losses I believe right so yes walk us through that like when you do take the loss first people don't know but I have only two losses as a professional but if you go back before like I started my career when I was 19. if you go back before when I was doing amator karate Jiu Jitsu wrestling I have a ton tons of losses I've lost many many many many times I've lost before I learned how to win and that's how it is people they only see me winning and oh I had a great career but they don't know that what I had to go through you know and and that's where that's what makes the difference sometime between someone who makes it who's someone who doesn't uh it's hard when you when you lost sometime because you put so much on the line you you prepare yourself and then you you lose it's heartbreaking you know it's very hard because you feel like man it's it's depressing you know sometimes and when you dedicate yourself so much to this but it happened to me many many times when I was young uh but I every time I have lost I've learned why I lost I identified a mistake that I made and I made sure that I never made the same mistake twice I never made the same mistake again which means that doesn't which means I'm not doesn't mean I'm not gonna lose again but I'm not gonna lose for the same mistake so you have to see your life your career as a marathon not as a Sprint it's not one thing that will Define you is the the the sum of all the things you know at the end you know it's not all you start it's how you finish for sure and and I was fortunate to have a lot of experience through martial art growing up before my career or before my professional career started mixed martial art and I learned I had many many losses but I've learned how to win and and and I improve during that time a lot so when I got to my professional career add a lot of experience that's why I don't need two losses yeah but those losses that I had in my professional career always taught me uh something I I tried to see the the positive and in the negative situation um those losses the first time I lost it was against Matthews yeah I was fighting my my idol at the time I was a an up and comer and um it was my third fight in the UFC and I was fighting this Legend bad use it was like for me to my eyes if you look at the stare Downs against Matthews in the beginning right you could not even look at him in the eyes I was looking up I was like man it's impossible I didn't even believe I could beat him I didn't I didn't see myself beating him like I couldn't sleep that night the the week before I I there was there were no scenario in my in my head that I went through that I could beat him I didn't know so I took the fight I was very very scared and um yeah I did a good fight but he cut me with a number and it's after the fight when I watched the fight I sat down and I watched that fight I realized I was like man I could have beat him and it taught me something I should never put nobody on a pedestal everybody is a human being we all need to drink eat go to the bathroom we're all the same so he's a human being and I can't beat him so that's why when I fought him after the the second time and the third time I beat him and I beat him not not that beat him easy but I beat him more decisively because I add confidence and confidence is very important yeah in in in in everything you do you can have all the skills that you want but if you don't have confidence it's like someone who has a lot of money in his bank account but no way of accessing it so for the magic weapon you need the the skill and the confidence yeah what what changed after the Matt Sarah last because I know I've seen you say that before you're like after that loss you changed up everything you changed up your style so so when I became Champion I beat Matt Hughes I was on on a high now now I was the opposite I had too much too much confidence I and I had a lot of people telling me Oh you're the I was a new kid on the Block you know like I was very young I was like I just beat the legend Matt use and people everybody was telling me how good I am and I start to believe it unfortunately and I was fighting a veteran mad server at that time who really nobody really gave a chance to beat me because all the others was against him you know and I remember it was the odds in Vegas were crazy and uh I respected Matt Matt Sarah but I felt like I was not scared enough and and before every fight I don't sleep very well I I have a hard time sipping and met Sarah is the only fight that I slept well I feel like like a baby and I got knocked out so that's not a good thing so the the fight with Matt Sarah taught me that I should never never underestimate nobody because you're always at one mistake no matter how good you are how good people tell you what you are you're always at one mistake to lose everything and I've learned that and since then every fight that I took I was scared and and and and that fear helped me to perform better because I use that to be sharper to increase my reaction time to put more into my training you know because I was afraid to not be ready as much as I could you know I was a the fear helped me to be more explosive you know so I like to be afraid you know I think now I learned to appreciate it in a way that I know if I'm not afraid of something wrong giving the experience that I had in the past I need to be afraid that fear may make me stronger and may help me perform better I think a lot of guys the fear crumble them yeah no that's one thing about that champion I believe is someone who's good at an elite and every discipline everything in life a champion like an elite is is he is good to perform when it matter you know it it is good when it counts you know everybody can be good in their gym but when it counts that's what matter for me to be good when it counts and a lot of guys I can't do that they can't pull the trigger when it when it counts because they're they're mental they're weak up here and and a lot of it has to do with your your mental what do you think are some like whether it's training or you're mental over the years that you had as like an edge over your opponents like was there anything you did specifically that's like yo this is going to help me win that yeah I I um I've learned how to control my fear and and I learn also like we talked to focus only on the objective things and it helped me build my confidence confidence it's something that you can build up if I make an analogy and you're at school and you have an exam in a week and you don't study the night before the exam you you'll be afraid it's normal but you're not gonna be confident because you did not study but if if you study hard and well the night before the exam you will be afraid but you have the right to be confident and that's what I did before every fight I I didn't not cut corner I did everything I needed to do and I trained hard and I most importantly I train smart I I did the best I could do I leave no stone unturned so I I gave myself the right to be confident I was afraid I was terrified but I was confident and I always told myself there's no courage without fear and I I seek the help of a lot of sport psychologists because I I really thought I was looking around in the gym and a lot of Fighters that were like happy to be to be fighting on Saturday night and yeah that was not the case I was scared if I could have clipped my clicked my finger like this and fast forward until the fight is over I would have done it every time the The Waiting was unbearable so I said when I I remember I I saw many sports psychologists because I thought I was not made for this and they all told me a lot of them they say hey George stop saying you're afraid you're not afraid you're excited and I not excited I'm excited I'm excited if it's minus do I need the green Montreal and I know I'm going to Miami At The Beach next week I'm not excited to go to go find a neck cage you know not knowing if I will be hurt humiliated or or the Victor I'm afraid and then I'm like you know what I should not be afraid to say that I'm afraid and there is no courage without fear you know what was it like when you're at like the height of your career because you became like a superstar pretty much you know like how did the fame kind of change your life and like I'm sure there's Temptations or like chicks or parties or like I I a lot of guys they they told me oh if you say you say you're not you don't like to fight why why did you do it then well I did it because I wanted to add the freedom the girls the money access to things that most people don't and I'm 100 honest with you that's why I did it you know I like the confidence that it gives me I like the the martial art changes my life I was bullied as a kid and I I first started martial art as a self-defense self-defense transform into a passion and now I made I may made a living out of it you know so it changes my life and that's why I did it and I didn't do it because I like to to beat up someone in front other people like I didn't I don't like it I I but in order to make money and to that's the price to pay and you know when you're you're a champion in UFC you fight maybe two or three times a year so the days that I the night that I'm fighting or the worst days of my life you know I hate it but after when it's over I can surf on it and I have a very good time you know so that's the way I I sit so so if you if you make the statistic on 365 days in a year three days or two three days that are bad it's it's like kind of a good thing you know it's a good good average do you remember one fight when you noticed like the fame really like rose I know that's a hard question but no no I I [Music] um during a fight I uh you know every fight is bigger than the last one you know and but I remember in one of my fight I uh I was fighting I believe it was it was BG pen and I was in a locker room I was extremely extremely scared as usual and when first or the second there's two right I don't know if it was the first or I think it was the first one if I believe if I believe I think it was the first and um I remember I saw in the on the we have a little TV and then the in the locker room and sometimes they showed the celebrity and then and who's in the the attendance and I saw Cindy Crawford and she she used to be my favorite like oh my gosh she's so beautiful and still today she's like an amazing woman you know and I saw she was in the crowd I was like oh my God she's gonna be watching me perform and I was nervous I was already nervous uh and during the fight there was a moment that I I'm my nose is bloody and and I got BJ pen against the fans and I look true defense and you know like when you watch a movie like Rocky you know they put slow motion and but these really happen when you're a fighter if you ask a fighter because you fight you're on survival mode so sometimes you have the impression that from your perspective that the time slows down and it will you buy hair and then you look and you're like Sydney over there what I mean is I add BG pen against the fence yeah and I look through the fans and I saw Cindy Crawford that this is a true story and I'm thinking this this as imagine the time that that it lasts but that's my perception of how I things happen I look and I look and I saw and I saw Cindy Crawford I'm like my gosh she's so beautiful and I'm thinking I'm like I look at her and like and I'm bloody and I and I'm in a clinch over on door and I got BJ pens back against so hot and then and then I looked next to her she said she's with her her husband and I'm gonna kill [ __ ] her husband is watching Mr ring at his woman I'm like of course he does I'm doing the show right now and then I get back into the fight but that's amazing that instant seems to me like it was like at least a good five ten seconds when I when I watched the fight and I tried to pinpoint when it happened I can't really see but it really I have a memory that it happened or maybe I'm just too brain damage or something but no I think it's it really happened wasn't that like give you that extra step or energy to take him up and slam his ass or what I wish but but it's just to tell you that that sometimes our perception of certain moment change according to different individual in a fight sometimes there's I remember one of the fight I thought uh Jason Miller I'm on top of him like and Jason Miller is on the bottom we're near the fence I think we're in avgart and I true hell big elbows and I and his corner and I I saw his cornerman they're screaming at me Fu friend she go back in your country friendship and then I look at him Fu but for me from my perspective perception that instant lasts at least five five seconds you know that that moment but when I tried to I watched after I try to pinpoint I think I I know when it happened but I can't really see it on on camera but it did it really happened I know I remember that moment if I was your opponent I'd have Cindy Crawford in my corner the whole time bro oh yeah like if you have Cindy Crawford in your corner I'm I'm lost like uh no that's a that's a good way to beat me did you have a bunch after like a a big win like would you go celebrate or have a crazy night oh yeah of course I I we we had a I I worked hard but I play hard a lot see you're right you said that before I would have I would have never guessed that listen I I listen like I I tried to have I tried to be a good role model to to have a which you know that's what I stand for but that doesn't mean I live like a monk monk I remember when I fought the uh uh that's that's one example and every fight was like that when I was younger like I thought siago Alves we used to we used to go to an after party yeah and after the after party we used to go to to another after party and then another after party and then we end up at the they used to have a pool party at the Hard Rock Hotel called Rehab people of my generation remember that because it was it's a legendary party so we used to end up all that rehab and and it's always funny because the guy that I thought Alves was there too so we're now drunk as well we saw each other and we're like hey we start taking pictures and people like they just fought how come they're a friend I mean that's just the nature of the business yeah I actually want to ask you about that how important is that to leave it in the octagon and what is it like when people like have you ever had an experience where someone doesn't clear the beef and they just hate you afterwards or is it always kind of like Hey we're doing this for the same reason well it happened uh that you know like guys I have like really personal issue with each other I it never been the case for me I see it as a as a as a job and to tell you the truth I kind of love my opponent in a way that I don't hate my opponent and the reason is why if if I hate my opponents a little bit like if I hate myself because when I look at myself in the mirror I'm a little bit similar to what I see what I saw across the Octagon because that person probably made a similar uh sacrifice than than I did it he had a very similar life life path than I then I have very similar so I can identify to him much more than I can identify to anybody else you know so for me it's important that I respect respect that you know like we give we give it all we you know we we go all in when we do that and there there will be only one winner and one Loser yeah The Winner Takes Hollow sort of you know like take all the fame take all the credit and you know and it suck you know but I have to respect that it takes a lot of courage and I know a lot of guys have personal beef and there is guy that I thought that I'm not I mean I have no grudge against them but I know they could I could not really be friend it's a question of compatibility you know and and and and some guys I'm I'm cool with them like uh Michael Bisping last time I went to England we had a we had a lot we had too much to drink you know we had a really good time and and uh you know like he is it's a guy that I fought and when before we we fought each other with a lot of people talking a lot of [ __ ] a lot of [ __ ] yeah and one of the best thing that he did actually for leading up to that fight was you know with a lot of the stuff are like promotional stuff we do a press conference and things like that but but the best thing that he did and he's a he's a clever guy we were in Toronto and uh after one of the press conference we went back to the parking lot to our cars and our cars were in different occasions but to go to the parking lot we had to go through the same same spot and when we did that that press conference we we had a stare down and and we kind of you kind of you kind of went to touch me so I had to push him you know so when we went on the parking like after the press conference Esau I think he saw that TMZ was there so he walked back to me in the parking lot and he went face to face with me he said hey keep your F and on you because next time you do that I'm gonna I'm gonna smash you I'm like what as I F you keep your keep your hand you touch me first so don't touch me if you don't want me to touch you and then and I would then this thing like people separate us it wasn't stage but it because it's real like like I don't know like the way I felt when that happened I was like man is he one really want to fight with me and so I was ready to fight if something happened and I'm sure the same thing for him but he did it in a promotional way to instigate me yeah but that was very smart because that went viral it was crazy so So when you say that certain things that it's not stage it's real but it's with some some of that some of the fighter take it personal I never did when it's over it's over who she can and it's over but sometimes some guys they they take it personal you said I that one of the critiques or something that people did say negative was you like weren't you didn't cause enough drama in your career so do you think that that's like essential there has to be that beef and people have to be yapping at each other in press conferences no no no no no no you don't have to but but most of the fight are promoted On Emotion because people can relate to emotion if if two guys fight each other like for example like two guys fight each other each other they're very very skilled but you don't know about them you if you're a fan of for example of of MMA or boxing and you see two very skilled guy fighting each other that will get your interest to watch the fight but if you don't know who's who yeah what what will get you tuned in is the fact that oh he talks about my wife I can't believe it you know he said this you know it's it's you can't say that you know you'd never talk about someone's like like something then you then you can relate to that then you can say now now because it gets to you because you can relate to that thing so it you will you will be emotionally involved into the fight the storyline that it's important that it has a story so the story is what promote the fight but the fight is not one on On Emotion it's one on mundane thing that you do every day how you prepare yourself what's going on is Snoop and I'm here to announce that the new happy Dad and death World Records flavor is great and now it's officially in stone [Music] I chose the flavor and the team and happy death they spent months perfecting it and it's my new favorite drink if you're chilling at home or turning up at the club make sure you do it right with the happy Dad and death row great call your local liquor stores and see who has it it's everywhere now you can also order it on gopuff app instacart and drizzly in some areas you gotta be 21 and over and drink responsible and also look out for the official death row and happy Dad merch collaboration please believe it when I tell you this [Music] do you think or have you ever seen anybody like cross the line like when they did say something that you were just like whoa that's that's not promotion anymore a lot of guys I think crossed the line in a way but there's no rules so so it for example for me I'm very good at putting a shield on myself and I believe I I've learned that because I was victim of bullying at school and and I've learned that at a very young age I did it was dramatic when I was young was a very negative experience but it helped me later on in my career in MMA because then nobody can get to me here I'm they can talk [ __ ] as much as I want it's easy but if someone would for example talk [ __ ] about someone of my family or someone that I love now it's different it will get to me that's why I never expose my family I never talk about it never like I I it's nobody knows about it it's the greatest thing I ever accomplished in my life and I'm the most probably it's a secret is something I I care about it's like my treasure I I keep it for myself because I know a lot of people have exposed them and look what happens sometimes they they when they talk about others other guys family you know it gets bad it gets bad I think it crossed the line but it there's no rules it's it's a fight game you you you can die out there so people will do anything to to get to you well I'm obviously like I always think everybody thinks about uh McGregor khabib when it comes to that like when we absolutely but that's the problem you don't wanna you don't want to expose your weakness this is the fight game is you never want to expose your weakness there's many ways to make you lose your mind you know like like they will some guys that will do everything to make you lose your mind they will they will they will cross that line you know so and I'm aware of it I'm aware of it so smart yeah some people you know like they they everybody is different and there's no wrong to do this you know some people like to they they they show their private life and stuff they expose but when you do that you need to be aware that yeah people are coming for that yeah yeah you show your your you put your card on the table man you know what I mean so fast forward you're on the huge win streak and then the Johnny Hendricks fight why do you decide to retire then and what did you kind of do during those four years when I before I fought Johnny and Drake's I was going through I was I was afraid to talk about it because I was I was I thought that people will not respect me and will laugh at me and because oh they will say oh I was going through a depression and people would be like oh is it what he has to complain of he's a he's he's Rich he's popular he's the champion as some people are poor like what he has nothing to compare but but I felt like I had too much on my shoulder and I felt claustrophobic I felt like I couldn't breathe I had hard time sleeping at night I was going crazy I I and I was on top of that fighting against performance and then and seeing a drug and the sport and and I felt like the UFC at the time did not add my back they didn't they didn't want it they didn't want any part of it and my goal of doing testing you mean yeah the testing yes and they're fighting guys on ped oh God like I I can't say it's wrong for me do I choose someone because I don't have the evidence but I'm in the fight game and in the fight game among fighter we know who's who you know it is there's only a few guys that you know doctors that do certain things for certain people for so it's a small world so I know I know I know who's who you know and and to tell you the truth I never wanted to attack one individual I wanted to change the system and I I wanted to change the system I wanted to do it not to hurt the UFC that was not my goal I wanted to elevate the UFC Elevate the sport because it's it's the outcome of of a win or lose are very dramatic in our sporty could could influence the the life of an individual it could be very bad so what this is one of the reasons why it should be the athlete should be clean you know it's it's it's not like like baseball or or you lose a game of basketball you lose and it sucked but you lose a fight man you can die out there so for me it was very important to try to change the game and and it was to elevate the USC I wanted to to clean the sport and the UC didn't then add my back on that at first they didn't they didn't want nothing of it and it even tell the other guys oh don't take the test don't take that test and it it it drove me crazy and at that time if I would have if I could go back I could have I would have hold my my stand and say oh yeah you don't want to do the test hey I'm out I would never even retire before I was going nuts I was going nuts and I was afraid to talk about it and I'm glad that for example Tyson Fury go come forward and there's a lot of athletes sometimes it comes forward because it showed that it can happen to everybody the the image that you have of someone is is your perception that you have is not sometimes the reality of what's going on and everybody can have some problem sometimes because I put pressure on you to be like hey I gotta get on ped so I can compete with these people man sometime I'm gonna tell you the truth I I ask myself I say yeah you had how good would that be if I would have take some stuff you know good because I know some even some of my training Partners they they they tell me they say oh they take certain things and I see it's like not even the same people when they are and they are not like it's in crazy crazy difference you know what I mean so people that say oh yeah it has nothing to do with the performance because I'm the one who showed upon I'm like yes it has something to do yeah and this is a [ __ ] excuse because when you take performance and then sing and sing drawing it changes you not only physically it changes it it changes you mentally every training camp my friend when you go to a training camp you is the Loneliest feeling in the world because you feel very lonely even though you have a big entourage you feel lonely because you go through something that only a few people can identify to and it's very stressful your your your your your burn physically mentally because you train your over training you're hurt everywhere but you have to go to him so waking up in the morning to go to the gym it freaking suck and it takes a lot to do it you know it takes a lot of determination to do it to push through that so if you if you put yourself some performance enhancing drug it helps you around do Korean system it changes you so it makes it easy for you to go through that so it's not only physical yes it's physical but it's also mental so that's why it's it's it's for me it's unacceptable you know what I mean it's like I'm finding you but I have a knife in my pocket and supposed to be a a burnout that's the same thing that's a that's a very similar thing with the technology now that we have it it just makes such a difference yeah such such a difference just look at the Tour de France the cyclists we can't fighting is a very subjective sport because we always can speculate oh this guy is better than this guy because we don't we don't really have the the data you know like but if you look at sport like uh track and field uh weightlifting stuff that we can measure the sport that we can measure look at the Tour de France the the the year when they they start testing people like like the this I think it's the guy that finished something like 15 like now that it's just the the the the support that you can measure the performance is just insane you see the the the difference it makes a huge difference and then put that into fighting it's the same same thing yeah it makes me want to take it it may just makes you physically better but mentally more creative it makes you better everything you're saying sounds so positive bro if you're not competing it sounds we should well and and no no but listen I'm not I'm not against performance and enhancement I'm I'm against performance enhancement in the sport when you sign a contract and it's supposed to be fair yeah you're not gonna take it I'm not gonna take it but then I go and I take it yeah this is not fair this I'm not against it for someone who want to improve is is the quality of his life and he needs some testosterone to make him happier to to help him train to to to take care of his wife or you know man go for it and and who knows maybe when I when I'll be to a certain age maybe I'm gonna use it too you know yeah I'm against yeah not in competing yes yes it makes total sense when it helps to enhance the quality of the life of an individual for sure I'm a hundred percent for it but for a sport to to make it fair nah man this is this is bad this is this is wrong yeah yeah so why do why what did you do like during those four years to kind of overcome like the depression and stuff like that that I took time for myself I I uh I I went on I'm a big fan of paleontology I've studied paleontology for a very long long time too since I'm a kid and um I uh I had a chance to go on on a world tour sort of you know I went on different site uh the fact that I'm a the fact that I'm a some kind of a celebrity a professional athlete gives me the chance sometime to have access to things that most people don't have access so I went on different site around the world uh palliant like on on big that's done yeah dinosaurs yeah I did a show called Boneyard too and I went on different sites it was unbelievable like I went on a site in Patagonia in Argentina there were eggshell eggs fossilized eggs of titanosaur it was insane when the sunrise we went in the morning it was just insane there were like a hundreds of thousand of it it's insane and you had to watch where you walk because you can you can step on it incredible sight like I I went on a place that in Dakota like uh Pete Larson told me that the the paleontologist was there had a chance to meet many paleontologists microbiologists and I went on site and on a different dig and they were like a place where it was maybe like a a Tyrannosaur Nest like where they like UCLA that tricerata frimer bone were were crash like like crazy like did you see any like crazy like T-Rex like things yeah so I saw Tyrannosaurus Rex I saw a Triceratops like femur like the the mark of the bone that is crushed by a T-Rex because Tyrannosaurus Rex used to have a the bone crushing power uh bite it's it's incredible crazy oh yeah I saw it I saw that I saw that myself I went on the site and and it makes it makes me realize something too because growing up I didn't know what I wanted to do but at one point I was like leaning towards becoming a paleontologist at one point but I had to go study in Alberta that's the best place to to to be for for that for that and I I didn't want to go there and and now that I went on site and I I live a little bit of the life of some paleontologists I saw what they had to go through every day now I realized that that that life is not made for me I like to acquire the knowledge but to get on that site and I like to brush the ground and like for hours I'm like no way that's cool I can't do it I don't have that patience how did you get into like wanting to do that like you're just always like like dinosaurs yeah I I first I I always loved dinosaurs I love uh I love paleontology I'm a very fascinating fascinating about the past the the the study of of uh organism that disappear the past you know like not only dinosaurs are like uh uh our past like the the Neanderthal denizovan I we know now that our our species Homo Sapien have mangled with Neanderthal with denisovan because they identified the gene of Neanderthals so most of us have Neanderthal Gene inside of our DNA and it's fascinating I feel like there's a big part of her wrist or read something that is unknown and I I I know about I know that if you learn about the past that helps you understand the present better and sometimes helps you also to predict the future so for me that's why I love it so much aren't you also prepared for like an alien invasion or aliens abducting you well I I don't know if there's alien but man if you watch if you watch the news now there's a lot of crazy evidence I just watch a show uh two days ago called um moment of contact it's something that happened in Brazil in 1996 in Virginia Brazil man it's very compelling evidence and and Witnesses like like doctors politician like it's it's crazy how do you have some sort of strategy to make sure you don't get how are you prepared I thought we read something like that uh you you know I'm gonna tell you when I was young I did uh I talked to Joe Rogan about that and and when I was young I and I'm sure a lot of people at the same thing add what they call uh sleep paralysis I mean I don't know if it's what I have but it's probably what it is because it makes more sense you know like you know when you you sleep you wake up and you kind of paralyze you know and yeah so I think that's what I had when I was young and when you're in in those instant apparently your brain can produce DMT so you start to seeing things I don't remember that I was seeing things but I remember that I remembered because I told my mom I told my mom I was like hey yeah I was a kid back then I was like hey my mom they're the monsters come get me at night and I used to draw draw them I used to draw and I still have the the drawing of them and uh it's scary so so the theory is that it's sleep paralysis and I hope it is what it is because man if it's Beauty monsters like when I was a kid that's pretty bad and it's scary you know because I want it to happen now I want to see you do a fist with an alien probably right you wouldn't even need a weapon with aliens no I think I think I think if they come here if they if they come if they get to us and we don't know how to get to them but you know you know I saw uh I saw a UFO once did you yeah can you tell us the alien thing I don't know I think it's paralysis thing because there's no evidence I saw a UFO once it's true true story and I was not alone some some people can some very good like like in Montreal no it was in New Mexico and uh sorry guys but I'll talk about it I was Rashad events manager is a friend of mine and another guy named uh Alejandro and uh I'm not the most credible Witnesses because I'm I don't have no background in the astrophysic physicist uh you know I don't know if what I was was you know like I don't know some kind of a Celestial event you know that it could be explained but I can tell you something that all five of us saw something and what makes it so weird is it makes us look bad because when we talk about it we describe it in a different way but we also have something because when it happened like it lasts about 10 seconds we all went like a little silence and then holy [ __ ] did you see this oh my what the hell was that and we were all there and it was me Rashad Ali uh Mike and another fighter that I lost I lost uh track I lost contact with him Ali Andrew was a Mexican guy I used to train an Albuquerque in New Mexico we were I can tell you my version of it yeah but I'm sure if you talk to Rashad or the way they describe it is different because I remember I I heard an interview I think Russia was talking about I was like man that's not really how it looks to me and and I don't have a clear memory of what it was because I never seen anything like it I mean I never seen anything like it so it does not I cannot recall this thing looking like anything that I've seen that's why we call it UFO but it might be something very that like that we could explain I'm not an astrophysicism I'm sure if maybe if Nilda grass Tyson was in the car with us oh no guys that's actually Venus that is coming out tonight or whatever it is but it didn't look like that to me it was some some kind of a I think it was like a green-ish sort of triangular light coming towards us we're on the on on the highway in a car and I was in the back seat was that greenish triangular shape coming towards us then it changed Direction and it went the when it went away it kind of materialized and dematerialized like and then they disappeared so there's nothing I can't say that that it's nothing similar that look like this that I can say you know but but that's my that's how I recall it and I don't have a clear memory of it and and I remember Rashad or Ali the way they describe it it's a little bit different yeah so we all look like freaking Liars talking about it because we can't we cannot identify to anything uh that we that we know that look like this so when you look at plane we identify this or this is a plane well see what we all know what a plane looked like but that's why it's a UFO we don't know what it was I want to see you have an alien and a rear naked joke I'll double leg and alien with a real naked choke I wanted to ask about two personal questions I wanted to know two like fights that were like I don't know if they almost happened or maybe they never were even close to happen but one was Anderson Silva you guys were both at your primes yeah was that fight ever even being talked about oh yeah I mean it could have happened and we talk about it I was with the UFC I remember with Lorenzo festo and I think it was Dana we talk about it but add the requests because I was on a tear back then I was on a tear I was defending my title on a very on multiple time a year yeah and it was at the time right after I remember I saw Roy Jones go up and away class and when he tried to go down he got knocked out by Anton Antonio Tarver and all my trainer told me is you see what happened when you go up going up is not the problem is when you try to go back down you screw your career you know because you don't play with your weight like this so when I I I we talk about uh Salvo and uh and I add one request I said okay I'll fight Anderson Silva but in a catch weight and silver used to fight in Japan at one six used to be at 170 in Japan used to be in the same weight as me used to fight in Japan so I say I'll fight him in the catch weight he go down a little bit and I go up a little bit of what like 180 or 175 yeah something like 180 something like this you know a catch weight you know and because it's it's uh it's uh you know what it's a in the middle it's on the metal you know like like it's it's a give and give and take it's a it's equal it's a fair compromise and also I want I want to test for drug I want drug test and at that time it was before USA the end us UFC didn't want that they didn't want starting drug test because some guys already Implement drug tests when I thought BJ pen we did that with that weather when I did Hendrix I did weather but it was before a little bit in between uh before it was a little bit before Hendricks that situation that happened so I said no problem I'll do it but catch weight and drug test no problem and they they didn't came back and also the money they wanted me to fight on my existing contract so I'm like guys like like my agent said it's it's not good because it's something different they want you to to do something that is out of your field so if you if it's out you need to be compensate for you taking more risk you need to be compensated for so the UFC never wanted to do it so this fight I think I will blame the UFC for for that is Anderson into it I think he was I don't know if he if he was uh because you we don't talk directly to my opponent I think he wanted to share and trust a fighting but it's very easy publicly I love you oh yeah I'll fight him I'll fight him but then you put some crazy requests that will never happen that's the way to do it so you don't look like a even if I if I if I would have lied and said yeah I want to fight him and put some crazy requests and my requests were not crazy they were really do doable they were they were Fair requests and he was not interested uh same thing with khabib um chabiba at one point yeah is this one actually ever even being talked I thought it was the only fight I would have come back for and I remember up to this last fight when he fought Justin gay tree I was a commentator in uh were you there no I was uh in Montreal he was doing covet I was in Montreal so we couldn't travel here yeah it's crazy uh rules but anyway so I was stuck there and um I was doing the commentating and everybody told me even in it's not around just say be ready because it's going to call you out so I thought I was like okay I'm coming out of retirement I had butterfly I was like [ __ ] when I thought I was done they brought they pulled me right back and you know like the famous line like uh Al Pacino I think he says in the movie so I was like okay and then he won he took his mic and he and he retired nobody saw that coming even his own people we were there yeah and some people didn't know that I remember looking at Daniel I knew some people in his Camp told me that he was going to call me out and he retire and you know what it's maybe better like that for for both of us so we have a good ending because if we would have fight one of us would have lose you know so it's a good thing you know like I I look at it now I'm like maybe like when you're you're in a competitive mind you have to be greedy you have to be selfish I was thinking about it to do it you know really so you I didn't know that I didn't know that you were actually into it it would be very uncomfortable for me because I don't like to fight but it was the fight that would get me to come back for because you have a lot to lose but a lot to win too so it was worth it so I would have done it yeah yeah but but it was uh the the it was not that it was not at a good time and and at first when after I retired against this penguin we asked for the UFC for this fight before that USC always said oh we have other plans for khabib they wanted to keep the ball rolling you know why you want to take a risk to lose your big name against a guy who's retired and you don't want to because then you fight and then you're just you're tired yes and that's what I would have done and then they know that and it's normal because it's you know you have to do the best for your your interests but they were not interested but they call they call me a few years after that khabib took his retirement Dana told me hey a few years after you would you like to fight khabib so when I sit there and I was calling me on my cell phone I [ __ ] I always take a pause I'm like to think about why he was calling me after a few years after that happened and then when I saw his name I was like [ __ ] he doesn't want to go see dinosaurs or things like this I'm like okay it's about the fighting I'm not okay hey George would you like to fight khabib and it was past that moment and I was I was and then I I was like I thought about it I'll say if I say no it will tell everybody the news that I I'm the one who said no and and I knew that khabib maybe did not even know about it so I asked him what khabib said oh yes he's ready he's on board and I was like that's [ __ ] I'm sure it's not true so I said to I said to her okay let me a few days I'll talk about it and um I'll get back to you shortly hang out the next the next morning I think the next day Ali Abdel Aziz is a friend of mine he came up and said oh now we wait for George for many times to for the fight but now he wants to fight it's it's too late now so I was like ah that was [ __ ] today so he didn't want the story but they they know the way when he called you he used emotion he goes hey this guy said this about you he said that he didn't say that again that's how he's what he said about for example Nick Diaz or when he when when I was fighting him so when I told him oh yeah he's on it I'm like yeah I think it's [ __ ] you know I I didn't say it about I thought but we're playing a game of chess I'm like okay like I'll I'll get back to you very soon okay and I just wait a little bit and man that was all BS so that wasn't true the UFC is the timing the problem with silver the silver fight and the khabib is the timing what if what if khabib was in though I didn't want to it was passed it was like already like two years after that moment yeah Daddy retire I think it was two years or like it was like I was I was done with it I didn't want but I knew because when you talk to Dana or you you without proficient I like dinner but when we talk business like when it's business it's business yeah it's all strategic with them so if I would have say no he would have turned around and tell everyone oh it's GSP doesn't want to fight so it's [ __ ] so I didn't want that to happen so I said you know what I'll because I I knew that I thought it was weird I knew that they did not agree on the other side so I wanted them to come out publicly first yeah than me because it makes me look bad yeah so it's a lot of things like this when you fight you know you need to be aware of this yeah so when a promoter call you for some things oh he said this he said that or because sometimes you try to lowball you sure you know it's like oh this guy said this all oh yeah Mickey make me sign the contract I'm gonna [ __ ] him up man like then you sang that contract like an idiot and you go fight like but you get screwed you you they lowball you yeah so I'm aware of all this you know I I I know the game you know that's the game of fighting both both you guys in your Prime khabib and yourself who do you think you think you could be of course you will say the same thing you know we're Fighters you know and Fighters need confidence uh to be successful he's never fought someone obviously with your I don't know maybe I don't think like with your wrestling right yeah ever thought someone like him sure you know so we could only speculate and and tell you the truth there's only one way to find out and we'll never know you know what I mean and and the thing is we in the game in the sport in combat sport it's very very rare you'll see two guys on their Prime fighting each other you'll see two name fighting each other but you never fight the same fighter twice so you might fight the same name twice but it's never the same the same fighter you understand what I mean yeah they make adjustments yes so so to fighting Two fighters and their Prime like it's very hard to do that that the silver silver one could have been that that would have been huge but yeah it did not happen I just paused my I I had the requests they didn't fulfill my request they didn't they didn't they didn't they didn't even came back with when I was talking about drug testing they're like yeah and I understand why because at first when the they first started doing drug testing you see how many of their Champion that that fell it was bad for bad business for them but look now it looks better it was bad in the beginning and and I think they were aware of it but in the long run it makes them look better it elevate the sport it elevates the standard because we have better we have better testing now than most of the professional sport yeah and it's important and and uh I I think they could be proud of that you know you know and I'm glad that I helped uh Elevate their standard for that yeah I just have a couple things to um when you're at your Peak at the UFC right and like you're on top of the world you have all the fame all the money you said you deal with anxiety and stuff like that were you ever like did it was there ever a moment like this is all going to be gone one day and how am I gonna still be the man I I I I knew at one point that the only way that it could be gone that anxiety is if I retire because that moment that I you know I'm to be to be to be to get it to get ready for a fight is stressful then you fight and you win the moment that you win a fight there's another guy GSP I'm gonna [ __ ] you up there is another Contender right away and right away it's another one it's another one and so you're never in peace there there's always another guy and another guy and so man it's never the end it never ends there's always another guy that's the nature of the business and they don't UFC I can't I tried to speak for them but I because I if I put myself in their shoes they don't want a fighter retire retiring with the belt as a fighter we all want that we want to retire on top with the title at on top of the game unbeaten but for the UFC perspective for the promoter perspective they don't want that they don't they want their Champion passing the torch to the Next Generation so it's because they pass the torch for business is better but and I understand that point of view but it's my life so I do what is best for my interests so do the best for theirs finishing on top too like yeah is that something important to you like because you are often referred to like is being referred to as the goat something you care about the the goat is I want it to be the best you know that was one of the thing I wanted there is there is two things that I wanted there was three three things that I wanted to do in my career I wanted to be the best I wanted to be known as I wanted to have my name like like a like a symbol of Excellence you know in my sport when I think about uh Josh's API you know that's I wanted to achieve that and I did the the best I can you know and I'm glad what I did you know uh I also wanted to change the standard of the sport I I when I first started people came and tanked up in the press conference and and they were like they look like freaking bums like how do you want to be respected as a legit athlete if you don't act like one so I started wearing a suit people make fun of fun of me in the beginning remember Tim Silvio was making phones oh look at you like man they say yeah I get more sponsored than you why you think is that happen you know I I take care of the image you know it's important you tried try to be try to to look professional you know what I mean so so I I I'm glad that now they have a dress code you know they I helped change that part of the game and I I also helped change for the performance enhancement enhancing testing and I'm glad I did it you know I did it to elevate the game to help honest fighter that that perform under uh honest condition you know what I mean and I know there's a lot of out there you know what I mean but we had they had to go through that and and also I wanted to retire on top I didn't want the sport to retire me and it was very hard for me in a way that you always feel like you leave money on the table and I knew I'd believe that if if I you know I got sick after but I could have come back and even sometimes I watched the fight and I think I'm like man I think I can go back and you know like I I'm not gonna lie to you I think sometimes maybe it's just an illusion maybe it's my perception of what I think I can do is wrong maybe I'm maybe I'm right too maybe I'm wrong you know it's very tempting sometimes but it Demands a lot of discipline you know the money that I think maybe I left on the table I get it I gain it back because I retire on top yeah and my health is more important to go through another training camp of freaking eight weeks hardcore sparring flying out training partner and getting smashed you know it takes a lot out of you emotionally the stress and also physically and I don't feel like to go go through that and and when you retire on top you can turn around and there's a lot of opportunity that opens to you in business if you retire on a losing Street those opportunity my friends are gone so what I tell to the the fighters the young Fighters I'm like you better retire before than too late you know there's a line of retirement let's say you eat the perfect line it's better be under the line than over because when you're over you screwed you screw your your after career you know and I'm glad I did it I'm glad I had the discipline to do it you know it's sometimes it was tempting for me and it still is sometimes because I'm I'm you take the fighter out of the game but you don't take the the game out of the fighter sort of yeah I mean I guess last thing is like who do you think's the most impressive guy right now or like the next guy up to take over UFC man there's a lot of guys that are very impressive um uh adesanio is very impressed his last fight was just phenomenal in the ending was like a like yeah insane like a Hollywood scenario you know what I mean like like it seems like he was hurt he was in the corner and then boom that was incredible the the ending was just incredible it was very emotional uh I like Jon Jones he came back as an heavyweight and he had an incredible performance I like also workanovski yeah even if he lost I think he proved right now that I believe he's he's the best Panther pump for me in my book right now right now uh wokanovski is number one did you think he lost that last fight I did not I watched the fight I did not judge it I think going into the decision I think both guys could have won the fight yeah the judges saw it saw it one way but but I think they both could have won yeah so it shows that because wokenovski is the the smaller guy and and makachev is just and a killer you know he's on a different level but for me when you have a some kind of an equal performance I I I tend to to to take the dog to worship more the the smaller guy because he he's smaller you know I mean he's the one that goes up so for me that's why he's the number one guy uh what kind of skin right now uh in the Pres among the present fighter uh nice well dude you're a Class Act thank you so much anything you wanna any businesses anything you want to shout out or anything like that where can people find out like what you're what you're working on your businesses yeah I have a lot of businesses uh base block equipment home equipment uh you know like my food supplement Warrior uh heart and soul I got a vodka that comes comes out very soon we're gonna have to try that yeah it's a very good one uh and yeah man I I am just uh very happy to have all the support of uh many people you know they they they stuck with me and uh yeah I'm I'm very uh thankful for that thank you man awesome well thank you very much [Music] oh [Music] foreign [Music]

Channel: FULL SEND PODCAST

Views: 1,628,128

Keywords: the full send podcast, full send, fullsend, podcast, kyle, kyle forgeard, nelk, nelkboys, nelk boys, nelk boys podcast, stevewilldoit, new podcast, Georges St-Pierre on the Secrets of the Khabib Fight & the Real Reason He Retired From the UFC!

Id: OcN3vNpT0fo

Length: 84min 21sec (5061 seconds)

Published: Thu May 04 2023