Montreal — UFC legend and former double-champ Georges St-Pierre has always been open about being afraid prior to his fights. But as he explained during the UFC 315 Q&A at the Bell Centre in Montreal on Friday, fear can be a good thing.
Speaking to fans and media outlets in attendance ahead of UFC 315, the first Quebec based UFC event in a decade, GSP explained that he and his peers very often see “athletes that perform very well in the gym. But when the lights are on and it’s time to pull the trigger, they crumble.”
And that, explained the Canadian GOAT, is because fear “can crush you if you don’t know how to deal with it.”
St-Pierre’s own approach, however, was to take that fear and use it. “I use fear to elevate me. I know when I’m afraid that I train harder in the fear that my opponent is getting more ready when I am. I know that when I’m afraid, I know that my reaction time is better. I know that I don’t cut corners, I’m sharp, because I’m afraid to underperform. So you need to use fear in a positive way, and the way you do it is with the preparation. And if you prepare well, you build up your confidence, and with confidence, you have the right to walk into a fight with faith in yourself.”
“Fear will always be there, but it’s a good thing my friend,” St-Pierre told the fan who had posed the original question.
During Friday’s session, Georges St-Pierre, who has dabbled in acting since leaving MMA behind him, also addressed the question of just which opponent he had the toughest time preparing for in his career.
“I would say the best guy I fought in terms of skill was B.J. Penn. His nickname was ‘The Prodigy,’ because he was the first American to become a Brazilian Jiu-jitsu black belt champion, I think in like three years and a half,” explained GSP. “He was a real prodigy, at the time he was like the perfect fighter. He was so fast. I remember the first time I fought him, I threw a jab, and I used to be very fast. And when I threw that jab, he was behind me.”
“I was like ‘what the hell, this guy just teleported himself?’ He was incredibly fast, incredibly skilled, and very hard to deal with,” St-Pierre admitted.
St-Pierre holds two wins over Penn, in 2006 and 2009.
