“I thought maybe I had cancer…” Georges St-Pierre reveals REAL reason for retiring despite being champion

Former UFC welterweight king Kamaru Usman & former 2-division UFC titleholder and Olympian Henry Cejudo's MMA Weekly show welcomed Georges St-Pierre recently.

“I thought maybe I had cancer…” Georges St-Pierre reveals REAL reason for retiring despite being champion

Georges St-Pierre talks about the lead-up to his last outing, with Kamaru Usman and Henry Cejudo (Source: Instagram/IMAGO)

Two welterweight G.O.A.Ts and an Olympian bantamweight walk into a podcast studio; what do they talk about? Georges St-Pierre had a lot to say to the co-hosts of the “Pound 4 Pound with Kamaru and Henry” podcast. Speaking to Kamaru Usman and Henry Cejudo, the trio touched on a lot of topics. From combat sports to generic ones, and even dreamscape matches.

The former 170-pound staple put heavyweight Jon Jones on top of the all-time great list. ‘GSP’ also sounded off on his aspirations to match up against the undefeated Dagestani Khabib Nurmagomedov. The discourse and the convo earned him the graces of ‘The Eagle’, who most resound on being similar. He also touched upon the riddance of his bouncer gig.

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Concurrently, here’s what St-Pierre told about his retirement to Kamaru Usman and Henry Cejudo:

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The grind of knowing you're going to fight Saturday night against that killer that going to try to rip your head up...I'm like no, I don't like it...if I could close my eyes and snap my fingers, and fast forward to the till the end of the fight I would have...it took a lot out of me. And I started developing a condition called Ulcer Colitis...it's an inflammation of the intestine...I used to be on severe medication. I used to go to bathroom and it was a lot of blood. I thought maybe I had cancer...
Georges St-Pierre on the “Pound 4 Pound with Kamaru and Henry” podcast Episode 6

During Episode 5 of the Pound 4 Pound podcast, bossman Dana White overtly encouraged the idea of Kamaru Usman being the current welterweight G.O.A.T. So, going into UFC 299 Fight Week from Kaseya Center, Miami, FL, there was to be some friction between the two. However, the humble St-Pierre nudged he had more love for the sport than the slug part of “combat sport”.

Begetting a prompt from Henry Cejudo, the veteran mentioned Ulcerative Colitis flare-ups when he challenged Michael Bisping for the middleweight gold at UFC 217. Hence, St-Pierre’s team, and his sparring mate Rory MacDonald advised a different rebound plan after a 4-year layoff. He would win via third-round submission and become a 2-division champ.

What were the reactions to Georges St-Pierre’s last win to becoming double-division champion?

With a stout 26-2 MMA, 20-2 UFC stat, Georges St-Pierre had long been a welterweight mainstay. The former longtime welterweight champ had made an enormous amount of title runs and had some spectacular highlights. However, ‘GSP’ took a 4-year sabbatical back in 2013 where he relinquished his stake in the 170-pound tile gold. Up until then, he had already made 9 title defenses.

Georges St-Pierre bowed out after his spectacular UFC 217 Title win
Georges St-Pierre bowed out after his spectacular UFC 217 Title win (Source: UFC.go.com/IMAGO)

Appearing at UFC 217, he challenged Michael Bisping in Nov. 2017. Bisping (30-8 MMA, 20-8 UFC)  was quite the ask for the returning fighter and went in with much ferocity. However, the fallout saw Georges St-Pierre win the battle. Here’s how that went for others perspective:

Although for over 4 years span, he finished big on a 13-win streak, with 12 of them being title matches. To this day, St-Pierre remains quite the reckoning force in combat sports cultures. So much so that even now, Fight Matrix names the three-time former 170lbs champ as the top welterweight in all of MMA history.

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