GSP Details Why He Lost Oscar De La Hoya Fight | The MMA Hour | MMA Fighting

there he is look at this guy the one and only george saint pierre george sally come on bonjour i'm doing fantastic yourself you put the bar a little bit too high no you're too humble george you're too humble you're the man where are you in florida right now i mean is that weather in montreal it's beautiful over there what's going on i'm home in montreal that's montreal here that's where i am well it looks fantastic that setup that you have over there thank you so much for doing this george our first week back it wouldn't be the same without you uh you are a legend in in your own right and i think you're the greatest of all time a lot going on um that i want to ask you about yes go ahead congratulations to to get back on your show it's a great way to promote fighters promote their their thing and uh thank you for doing what you do thank you george that means a lot to me okay we thought for maybe a second there were some rumblings let's get right to it no more dilly-dallying that you were going to fight oscar de la hoya what happened tell us the beginning what tell us the whole story here from the moment you were you were contacted about this to the moment that you realized it's not going to happen what exactly happened so i i was contacted by a trailer to do a a novelty fight against oscar de la hoya at uh 170 pounds with uh big gloves it would have been 14 or 12 ounce gloves eight eight rounds of two minutes uh two minute the rounds and uh i thought it would be a fun thing to do my my career as as to prove that i'm the strongest man in the world in the sport of mixed martial art is done i'm 40 years old but to do something different something that could be fun and very motivating for me and plus on top of that a lot of money would have been given to charity against a uh a legend in his sport as oscar de la hoya i think i would have done it i think not because i believe i'm a better boss boxer than oscar de la hoya was when it wasn't his prime but i do now believe you probably have more mileage than i do i'm in great shape i'm younger i'm i'm i used to compete at heavier weight class i think it would be a fair fight that the fans would have want to watch so uh and uh when i because i'm i'm retired of the sport of mixed martial but i had i'm still under contract with ufc i needed to have the blessing of dana white i called dana i even called lorenzo to try to convince daniel lorenzo liked the idea but dana did not wanted he i knew he hate oscar but i said to him i said listen i'm gonna make oscar look bad because i'm in great shape i've been staying in great shape the whole time and i'm gonna do a train a full training boxing training camp with freddie roach and his world champions there so i'll be very well prepared and he didn't like the idea that trailer take uh some of his spider that he promote all they took a lot of time to are trying to promote them and make money out of them that's what that's the argument that he gave him did you try like did you push back did you argue was it a debate did you give it the old college try you really wanted this yeah well at first he says to me the reason why he did not want it it's because he thought that oscar would would basically destroyed me in a boxing match and i i had some good argument i told him that i believe oscar has more mileage than i do he's no longer in his prime i stayed busy the whole time i'm still in great great shape i'm gonna be very well prepared and i'm taking this fight very cersei if i do it i because it's my name my image is attached to it so i will do it a hundred percent and i i told dana i said if there's one mma fighter that can go to boxing and make make and look good in in this situation it would be me uh because we see what happened with ben aspen and all the some of the other guys and um at first he refused then he thought he thought about it but he came back with the the argument that oh now it's not because he thinks oscar gonna when he thinks it's because um he doesn't like the fact that trailer take me and make money out of my back even while i'm still under contract with ufc uh and so is that when you know so what what what dana says listen to this then he came back and he asked me if i wanted to fight khabib and i told dana i said that's very strange why would why you didn't want to do the fight when we asked you a few years ago why why is it now and i you know what i mean he said yeah because khabib was not retired and he was not the same guy that he was now it all makes sense so i didn't want to but i was curious to see what would have happened so i didn't i said to him i said i'm gonna think about it and i wait turns out that then i shortly after i saw in the media uh people saying that oh that now khabib is he doesn't want to fight me because i asked for the fight with kabi i never asked for the fight of khabib it's dana white that probably went to khabib and ali abdullah's and tell them that george want to fight kabi we asked a long time ago but i didn't ask again i didn't beg for that fight again we both retire and i'm good so i believe the strategy behind it because that's what i thought it was happening dana white had a lot of heat for not letting me fight from the media so he asked me to fight kabir because he was expecting a negative answer from me so you would have had a good argument a good reason saying to the media and george refused to fight for us so i'm not gonna let him fight for someone else so that's for the reason i i wait to see what happened and that turns out that i was right i believe so the the khabib refused but i i didn't mean that i was going to say yes the promoter that's how they do they make money out of it you know promoter and a lot of manager they they have percentage of the money so they make money out of the fight that's what they do and dana is we know dna is probably the best promoter of all time in terms of how to promote a fight so yeah he probably went to khabib's team and says oh george want to fight you this fight gotta be very excited and try to make it happen right and it turns out that it it didn't it didn't happen so in a way you almost called his bluff you say that you're sort of interested what would have happened if habib said yes and then they came back to you and said all right he's in let's go no i don't want i i didn't do you think that they would have even explored it or do you think they had no real interest in even making this fight if we both have said yes i think they would have done it if we both have said yes however we i sure oh yeah he's good all right let's go back to the zoo machine and say hello to george let me guess george did it die did the phone die what happened it did not die there's you know in montreal we normally don't have that problems but apparently it eat up oh yeah so yeah because i i kept the phone there for too long so the sun eat it up and and i i was not in the shadow the phone wasn't on the side under the sun okay you eat up and it turns off okay well we're good now thank you for scrambling through that you were saying about khabib you were you remember what you were talking about or no yes yes absolutely okay go ahead continue so i i catch dana white's bluff uh that's what i that's what happened i i think not that it was a bluff but that the main reason why he wanted to do it it was be because of the the heat that he received from the media and the fact that also maybe he wanted to make an extra money trial uh omran because he knew khabib and i were retired um you so the last thing that you said thank you to my friend sean for this you said i think they would have done it if we both said yes however and that's when you cut out so so if you would have said yes yes you actually think they would have been sincere in their attempt to make this fight happen i think so okay i think so it's for money yeah that the goal of a promoter is to make money and i think they knew it was the last one they would not have done it before because they thought they could they could have probably keep khabib for more fight they rather make less but more fight with him than one big fight and that's it you know that's what i believe by the way behind the scenes i i know you have a good relationship with khabib and ali as well did you talk to them and say hey what's going on here like did you try to go behind the scenes and see what was going on or did you kind of stay quiet no i didn't talk to them i'm a good relationship with uh and uh ali um ali a long time ago i used when i didn't have the money we were training in new york i was staying at his house in brooklyn wow in the same area that where apparently notorious big was living wow so i know i know i live for a very long time we go we go back a long long time but i didn't i didn't call him uh because i thought it was that's trying to i think dana said something to them to try to make the fight happen but you know i should probably have tell them the truth they say by the way if they now call you or or because the way they and i approached me he approached me saying that khabib was waiting for an answer so to speak that's not how he said it to me but he said it like the deal was already accepted on khabib's side so i said that's why i said i'm gonna wait and i get i'm gonna get back and give you an answer that's why i thought it was strange because i heard in media cabin was saying there is no money in the world that can make me break my mother that promise i made my my to my mother and i think it's a very noble thing to be strong while most of people are driven by materialism you know i think it's something that it's it's an it's a very noble thing so that's why i thought it was strange and i waited i told dana so i'm gonna wait and i'm gonna get get back to you and tell you an answer so i was waiting to see how this thing will play out and that's what happened so this idea of you boxing was this something that was on your mind or did triller just come to you with this idea and then you started to think about it no that was not something that was on on my mind at all i you know it's just that my favorite boxer in the world number one it's uh sugary leonard my second favorite boxer in the world is oscar oh my gosh yeah so so if let's say i when i'm gonna get older i can look back at my life and say no i was champion and mixed martial art and added an opportunity to box against oscar de la hoya in a novelty fight plus also you have to remember that the rules were different the bigger gloves smaller uh time that the round were shorter so the risk of injury are very um minimize i mean there's still a risk it's a dangerous sport but i would say i would have described it as a hard force firing not really as a real fight so that's one of the reason i would have done it you mentioned that there was a charity component what was that all about yeah big money i when i talked to mr cann and oscar on the phone because i was on the phone with them before i said that because a lot of critics are given to these kinds of fight you know because now it's more about entertainment than to really know who's the best boxer in the world and that's not why we were fighting for were they were not any title we were fighting for purely for entertainment and i thought that to prove to the audience that we don't take ours i mean it's a serious fight but that we do it we can come out for a special event for a novelty fight i i thought it would have been i suggest the idea that we should do it for charity as well to give a big big big part of the of the benefit for for money and they they like the idea now there's this whole thing as you just mentioned about like you know the youtubers the boxing the mma fighters going how do you feel like the jake paul fights and logan paul you like this sort of thing tired woodley fighting him next week are you a fan of this or not your style no i i i'm gonna watch it i it's i think there's room for it there's room for wrestling there's room for boxing there's room for mixed martial art there's room for entertainment now i think it's a new thing that is happening soon and mark my word i i am pretty sure it's gonna happen soon we will see two celebrities going up against each other maybe two celebrities that has some kind of fallout going on going going up against each other and people will turn in yes people will too and people will tune in to see because the promotion of a fight is always driven by emotion people are curious they want to see what's happening so that's why i think it's going it happened it's going it's going so well for for these kinds of entertainment and i think it's i mean ufc it's all about who's the best the strongest man in the world but and and normally boxing like when you watch a deontay wilder against tyson fury it's it's to a legit title but this is something different it's a different kind of entertainment so now that the idea has been put in your head and you've thought about it and you feel this way about it at some point before you get to 50 before you know you'll always be in incredible shape do you want to have this boxing match like now that it's actually been a thing proposed to you is this something that you would like to do before your your time is done well now the element of i would say the element of surprise i would say the the the the thing has been stolen i mean it's not not stolen but i made a joke to victor victor is my victor bell first my friend i said to vito hey you stole my you stole my my five but i'm very happy for for him he was able to do it and i wish him the best of luck and i'm gonna turn i'm gonna tune in to watch and i hope he it's gonna be a good show but what about you do you want to have one of these fights maybe let's say if oscar i mean i'm cheering for a victories victoria's my f is a friend of mine and but it's it's something happen and maybe oscar will win or something happened like that maybe i'll i'll get i'll get oscar after we'll see i i i mean i'm still under contract for i think another year or two with with ufc okay but i'm not i'm i'm not going nowhere i'll uh if the idea interests me still when i when i'll be 42 40 41 42 maybe i'll i'll jump back in it so that's really interesting you're not tied to them even though you have fights left for life at some point the contract expires and you will be free as you said in a year or two to do your own thing yes exactly it's a few years after i retire now i'm gonna be free and when i say free i'm always going to be a competitor you know i i i might do some grappling tournaments uh but i think when it's done for a good cause i always like to give certain amount of money for charity when something like that it's done because my career like i said my serious career i mean it's always serious but when i'm talking about legacy title it's done you know i will always try to show up 100 and fight to the best of my ability if i do something like this but i'm aware that probably my best years are behind me so you will not see me anymore competed for a mixed martial art title you know i might you might see me for a grappling event uh modify boxing rules even something something fun like this that it's of course still dangerous to do i might do it just for the kick of it correct me if i'm wrong i know there's a lot of money being thrown around there they were probably offering you close to what you were making in the ufc to do this am i wrong no not as much no uh i i would have made for example in my last fight with uh michael bisping i made i made i made a lot more money that what i would have made for oscar de la hoya but still it would be still still a lot of money for uh eight rounds two minute fight it's a lot of money you know and and it would have been again it's the legendary oscar de la hoya so the experience the money if i count the prone crowning towns and counts it would have been worth it um i don't know if you saw this and no one is on your level george in my opinion no one is is close to you but chad mendes was recently led out to go do bare knuckle and so people said oh why why was chad allowed to do this and george wasn't did you see this no i did not i didn't know but maybe his contract is different than mine okay and and um maybe he's able to to to get free you know you know i real a lot of people have suggested me to hire some lawyers and and to go fight ufc for this but i didn't want to do it you know i didn't want to spend time and money and energy to to hire lawyers and get into that sort of thing i'm gonna happy men you know if they the opportunity present itself again maybe we'll i'll do it but i i'm i don't mind i it's not like it's not like uh when i was back in a day hungry and i went went down on my knees and begged for the ufc power world title against matt hughes this i'm not the same person anymore i'm i'm a very happy man right now god bless um you're wearing the uh i think that's a karate combat hat right oh yes exactly are they trying i didn't have time to calm my hair i just uh look at that hair george why are you hiding oh my god the hair is fantastic why are you hiding is that is that bleached by the way or is that your real hair color no my my real hair color is uh brown blonde blonde brownish okay and i i bleach it it's a silver you love it you love it right you're happy with it yeah i like it and you know i have a lot of uh audition to do now days for movies yes so i have a big project coming up oh and my advisors suggest me that it would be good for me to change my style a little bit because everybody knows knows me as gsp you know the mma guy right right so it's important for me sometimes to change you know to change the way i look and it helped me get the job done any projects you can tell us about or you're keeping them close to your best yeah unfortunately like a lot of the pro these projects are are are confidential but but i had something that was supposed to happen in fall apparently kovit is getting very bad in in los angeles and california right now so they pushing back everything and i was supposed to go to a movie or uh this with this this coming up weekend and it's been uh delayed as well unfortunately oh well the reason i asked you about the hat was i'm wondering you know you said grappling this and that if they were trying to get you to compete karate combat i know you're just a sensei but of that you know now that you're part of the team like hey george just one match what do you think you know i like your ready combat but it is very very serious competition you can get hurt very bad so if i do something it will be i don't want to put my i mean it's always a risk because it's a full contact sport and uh if i do something that i put my my well-being in into it i want something that the rules minimize the risk of injury you know because like i said i'm a happy man right now i don't fight for the same reason i used to fight back in the day if i fight because i like the idea it excites me and i can give money to charity it will make me a very happy and it will make also the audience and the fans happy as well i just want to ask you about three fighters and then i'll let you go george thank you so much for the time always appreciate it did you see anderson silva's boxing match and if so how did that make you feel to see him look like that bro it was one of his best performance in life i would say amongst the rest of his elite performance that he did in mma to me the way he beat cesar chavez it was incredible and i was under the impression before the fight that you would not have do like he wouldn't she's a caesar chavez would would dominate him you know because of his boxing experience man he took everybody by surprise it was very inspiring to see him perform that that way it was very very inspiring and what a great ending for anderson silva right now you know what i mean i i hope if he comes back into these kinds of fight it will be something worth it not only about money but in terms of legacy something that it will make him shine make him look good because he man you you check his last two performance against urea hall it was kind of disappointing it was kind of sad but what a way to come back what a way to get back on top man that was amazing he's uh he's boxing t ortiz next did you hear that i didn't know that no way yes he's uh on that same card as vitorian oscar triller not an mma no unboxing yeah yeah i think it's a good fight maybe for for uh it could be a good fight for anderson because he's more into his field of expertise what is your take on rory mcdonald it uh it appears like people are saying he doesn't have it anymore you know it's not the same guy when you see him he's your friend and training partner when you see him what do you think yeah unfortunately i wasn't able to to steer why certain things affect our performance you never know what happened maybe he's hiding an injury maybe things happen in his life maybe that night was simply just not one of his best night right it's hard to tell but clearly in my own opinion i've seen rory perform better before in in the past and i think he something might have affected his performance but i i can't tell what it is i haven't spoke to him i just wish him the best uh recovery and hopefully he will come back and choose to do what is best for his life and i'd be remiss if i don't ask you about conor mcgregor in your opinion can he get back to the conor mcgregor of 2016 based on what you've seen from him lately he started off the fight very well but then after you could see that poi was was getting over him and and i i think if he comes back if i'm conor mcgregor or maybe not conor because he's a very proud fighter if i if i'm is manager i don't want my my my client to come back to fight the same guy again for the fourth time because now he seems like dustin has his number you need to perhaps take another fight maybe if if no i'm talking not as a fan i'm talking about as conor mcgregor i think he should come back and maybe fight nate diaz or or someone else that has a different styles than uh dust and white because styles make fight and sometimes i i have the feeling that now doesn't worry probably have his number right now and and conor been out for a long time he needs to to get back in there to to spend more time in the octagon in order to find his own self er er the way he moves and his a bit his ability it seems like he might have lost some of his ability because due to his inactivity george it's such an honor to have you on thank you so much you're always so gracious i love the way you are being respected in our hometown of montreal they built a statue for you yes it looks a little bit like barack obama but still it's a statue for you george who would have thought when you were a little kid being bullied and saint zodol that they'd be building statues for you right i was actually just in montreal i wanted to go see it exactly now my bully can watch out and watch it and be like man i i beat that kid when i beat that guy when i was young and brag about it absolutely they even made it ariel they even made a a burger on my name to one of the uh little uh rest outdoor restaurant it's called katzen she bob they made a little a cheeseburger that is actually pretty good i'm happy because i went there as an inspector just i didn't tell nobody i went there to order and they were like hey you're just saying here i'm like yes yes i'm like i'm coming to taste my own my burger it has my name so i want to see if it's good and they were laughing so it's actually pretty good what is in it is it just a cheeseburger is there something special in it double um double meat portion uh salad tomato uh chili pepper mayo relish and mustard it's actually pretty good wow uh i texted you when we were montreal i was at one of your favorite restaurants and mine pidgeon in monkland i love that place everyone should check it out one day i'd love to go there with you but i'd also one day my dream george is to go with you this is my dream to go with you to the orange julep on decary and uh and have some spaghetti and you know arnold allen you know arnold allen i tweeted i was at the orange julep i tweeted a picture of it when i was there a couple weeks ago with my family my kids love it the drink i love it too and he said he eats the spaghetti and it gives him diarrhea he said it's the worst food and i said i'm going to tell george that you said are you crazy to speak of orange julep like that he's crazy right he's wrong nah man it's it maybe he's allergic to gluten or something like that it's actually their spaghetti is actually pretty good of everything they have on their menu i i recommend the spaghetti the number one thing okay i don't know about that i think the jewel up is the number one thing but maybe for food uh the speed this yeah yeah maybe but they're the speaking it is actually pretty good the third the juice and the spaghetti with it right right um all right so that's my dream we're gonna make it happen uh one of these days george and i at the orange julep an iconic location in montreal uh we're gonna enjoy some spaghetti and we're gonna enjoy some julep george thank you so much for the time all the best to you much love my friend and uh i can't thank you enough when you come on it always means a lot to me the greatest of all time being on this show i really really appreciate it hey thank you ariel for having me and uh sorry for the little problem that happened now i know that next time i do an interview i'm not gonna let my phone hang under the sun for too long sorry to use it to the audience no problem we live and learn the man himself george st pierre of montreal what a guy what a mensch there will never be another

Channel: MMAFightingonSBN

Views: 100,385

Keywords: mma fighting, mixed martial arts, martial arts, ultimate fighting championship, combat sports, combat tv, ufc, mma, gsp, Georges St-Pierre, UFC, Dana White, Oscar De La Hoya, Boxing, Triller, mma hour, the mma hour, the mma hour with Ariel Helwani

Id: zGU8n44IixA

Length: 27min 57sec (1677 seconds)

Published: Wed Aug 18 2021