JRE MMA Show #28 with Georges St-Pierre

1. 0:00 – 15:00

   Going to the contender…

   1. GSGeorges St-Pierre0:03

      Going to the contender after, Freddie Roach.

   2. JRJoe Rogan0:07

      Oh, really?

   3. GSGeorges St-Pierre0:07

      Yeah.

   4. JRJoe Rogan0:08

      Nice. Live? Boom, we're live. You wanna wear headphones or no?

   5. GSGeorges St-Pierre0:12

      Yeah. It's better like this, right?

   6. JRJoe Rogan0:13

      Do you wear... Y- uh, your cauliflower ears, they keep you from wearing earbuds.

   7. GSGeorges St-Pierre0:17

      Uh...

   8. JRJoe Rogan0:18

      You know, those little things that go in your ear?

   9. GSGeorges St-Pierre0:20

      But it... Do I need to it? No, I don't need it.

   10. JRJoe Rogan0:21

       No. You don't need it. You don't have to.

   11. GSGeorges St-Pierre0:22

       Yeah, so I don't- I don't-

   12. JRJoe Rogan0:23

       You don't have to. Just keep this close to your face and we're good.

   13. GSGeorges St-Pierre0:27

       All right.

   14. JRJoe Rogan0:27

       There we go. What's up, man? How are you?

   15. GSGeorges St-Pierre0:30

       Fantastic.

   16. JRJoe Rogan0:31

       You look good.

   17. GSGeorges St-Pierre0:32

       I feel good. I feel, uh, if it would not be for my, uh, like, ulcer that I had, I would be... I- I feel better than- than when I was 25.

   18. JRJoe Rogan0:41

       What did- what did you have? You had colitis?

   19. GSGeorges St-Pierre0:43

       Yeah, colitis. Yeah.

   20. JRJoe Rogan0:43

       What- what is that? How did... What causes that?

   21. GSGeorges St-Pierre0:46

       We don't really know what it caused it, but, uh, the best- the best, uh, theory is that, uh, before my last fight with Michael Bisping, I tried to put on weight, extra weight. So I followed a- a diet pro- program that I was eating every... almost every two hours. And, um, I think your system is like a car, you know, if you do a lot of mileage, it overuse it and then... So that's what happened with the stress and everything. During my training camp, I had big problem, you know, I couldn't sleep, I had crazy cramps, you know, sometimes I had-

   22. JRJoe Rogan1:21

       Oh.

   23. GSGeorges St-Pierre1:22

       ... I had blood even like that... when I went to the bathroom, at one point, I had to go do some tests because I was worried that it was something more s-... like, I mean, colitis is very serious, but that it was like cancer or something 'cause it had blood. So I did some tests, it came out negative and I said to myself, I said, "This fight been delayed..." Not delayed, but postponed so many times that if I do something, if I say that publicly what is going on, I'm gonna lose the opportunity to fight for the title, uh-

   24. JRJoe Rogan1:52

       Yeah.

   25. GSGeorges St-Pierre1:53

       ... at 185. So I- I keep it shut and I told myself, I said, "Whatever it is, I'll deal with it after the fight." So I did the fight, everything went well. Then after I went to do, uh, it's called a colonoscopy. They put a camera inside of you.

   26. JRJoe Rogan2:07

       Yeah.

   27. GSGeorges St-Pierre2:07

       And I did... I got diagnosed with ulcer colitis. That's probably the mix of the stress and also the- the fact that I was...

   28. JRJoe Rogan2:14

       Constantly eating.

   29. GSGeorges St-Pierre2:15

       I was eating, and not only eating, Joe, I was trying to put on some weight. It was very hard. Sometimes I was... I remember many times I was having breakfast, but I was regurgia- regurgitating my breakfast.

   30. JRJoe Rogan2:25

       Oh.
2. 15:00 – 30:00

   The- a- when I…

   1. JRJoe Rogan15:00

      constantly training and you looked good. So it was like-

   2. GSGeorges St-Pierre15:03

      The- a- when I left off, like, more than four years ago, I- I- I, uh, I knew I wanted to come back, uh, because I was not in a happy place. I had a lot of personal, uh, problems. And I should have even stopped earlier than- after my fight with Hendricks. If- if I would have stopped earlier, I would have maybe come back earlier as well.

   3. JRJoe Rogan15:22

      Mm-hmm.

   4. GSGeorges St-Pierre15:23

      Uh, it was- I was- I felt like I was, like, kind of a feeling of a clus- claustrophobic feeling, you know? Like, I was-

   5. JRJoe Rogan15:32

      Right.

   6. GSGeorges St-Pierre15:32

      ... I couldn't breathe well, I couldn't sleep well. I- my mind-

   7. JRJoe Rogan15:35

      Too much pressure?

   8. GSGeorges St-Pierre15:36

      I- I... Too much pressure, personal problems, so much stuff. A lot of stuff happened to me that it's still too early in my life and for the respect of some people I know, I couldn't talk about it. One day I will. S- all mixed together, I knew it was a drug issue in the sport. I- I feel- I felt... I didn't feel well and, uh, I was trying to perform under the- those condition and it was catching up to me.

   9. JRJoe Rogan16:00

      Yeah.

   10. GSGeorges St-Pierre16:00

       And, um, I did it. But the reason why I think I didn't lose the edge is a lot of people, because we do a- an extreme sport. It's like what we do is kind of a life and death situation. It's not because there's a referee, but the spirit is the same as a gladi- gladiator or, uh, a person in a war that goes to war, he thinks he's gonna die. It's the same spirit. Even though it's not the same thing, we go there in the same spirit that we're ready to give it our- give it all. It's such an extreme feeling that once you don't have that in your life, life kind of become boring.

   11. JRJoe Rogan16:38

       Yeah.

   12. GSGeorges St-Pierre16:38

       You feel like you're not alive anymore.

   13. JRJoe Rogan16:40

       Yeah.

   14. GSGeorges St-Pierre16:40

       So that's why when people stop, they retire and they try to come back, a lot of the people, they fall into drugs because they wanna catch up to that. They wanna feel alive again, so they want- they need that sensation-

   15. JRJoe Rogan16:52

       Yeah.

   16. GSGeorges St-Pierre16:52

       ... that they had previously but they couldn't get it back un- unless they do drugs or they do something crazy extravagant. The thing with me is I knew I was going to come back, uh, and also I always liked to train and keep myself in shape and- and I never did drugs. You know? Like, I never did hard drugs. I drink. I'm not... I drink sometimes. For my birthday last Saturday, I went out and I was completely wasted, okay? It is what it is.

   17. JRJoe Rogan17:19

       (laughs)

   18. GSGeorges St-Pierre17:19

       I like to deteriorate myself sometime. I'm not perfect.

   19. JRJoe Rogan17:22

       Just have a little fun.

   20. GSGeorges St-Pierre17:22

       Exactly. And I... What's the goal of doing this if you're not enjoying your life?

   21. JRJoe Rogan17:27

       Right.

   22. GSGeorges St-Pierre17:27

       What's the goal of it?

   23. JRJoe Rogan17:28

       Right. Yeah.

   24. GSGeorges St-Pierre17:28

       You know people who fight? They say, "No, I don't like to fight." And that is another thing I like to talk to- to you about. People say, "Why you do that if- if you don't like to fight?" It's like, because I like my lifestyle, you know, that it gives me. But that's why people, I believe, if you come back to what you- you say, that's why I think people, they have a hard time to come back after so many years because they fall into that trap.

   25. JRJoe Rogan17:49

       Right.

   26. GSGeorges St-Pierre17:50

       They need to feel alive so they- they- they find ways to f- that the- it make them feel alive but it's- they- it's-

   27. JRJoe Rogan17:57

       Deteriorating.

   28. GSGeorges St-Pierre17:57

       ... deteriorate themselves.

   29. JRJoe Rogan17:59

       Yeah. Drinking-

   30. GSGeorges St-Pierre18:00

       And I didn't- I didn't do that. I did not do that.
3. 30:00 – 45:00

   Yeah. …

   1. JRJoe Rogan30:00

      input and John gives his input and then Freddie gives his input?

   2. GSGeorges St-Pierre30:03

      Yeah.

   3. JRJoe Rogan30:03

      And you start discussing what's the best way to handle this?

   4. GSGeorges St-Pierre30:06

      So, so coming into that fight with Michael Bisping, Michael Bisping was very well-prepared. He was, is very, very s- has a very good team with Jason Parillo. So we were expecting... You always have to gauge also to know you and to know your, your opponent, you know.Sometimes knowing your opponent is easier than to knowing yourself, you know. So you have to be reali- realistic about your strength and, and weaknesses and how you're gonna match up against your, your opponent. With Michael Bisping, what mess- messed me up a little bit is... and, and all of us, is we were expecting Michael Bisping to come straight at, straight at me, try to, (slaps hands) to take me out right away. Instead of that, he was moving, especially more in the second round. So the first round was... I was doing well, but in the second round, he start moving away and be more d- d... uh... instead of coming at me was more trying to running away from me. And that's why a lot of people they said to me, "Man, the, the... y- y-" be- because I lost the second round against Michael Bisping. And people was like, "Man, what happened to you? You were... Y- y- y- it seems like you, you were... you slowed down a little bit." It's not only that I slowed down, it's also I... yeah, I got hit with a very strong right hand, right on the bottom, by a guy who maybe outweigh me b- 20 pounds, you know. So it slows a man down. It's not, uh, that my cardio was bad. It's not... uh... I wa-... uh... my cardio was fine, but we get punched on the bottom, it slow a man down and he caught me off guard. He changed his strategy from round one to round two. He became more like... he was more like a runner instead of a hunter-

   5. JRJoe Rogan31:43

      Mm-hmm.

   6. GSGeorges St-Pierre31:43

      ... kind of guy.

   7. JRJoe Rogan31:44

      And so he caught you with a counter shot?

   8. GSGeorges St-Pierre31:46

      What he did is very smart.

   9. JRJoe Rogan31:47

      (clears throat)

   10. GSGeorges St-Pierre31:47

       He couldn't get to me. If you look at the replay of that fight with Michael Bisping, he couldn't get to me, straight to my head. It was... he's trying to hit me with his jab, with his strike, try to target my head and... but I was too fast for him. So I don't know if it's his trainer or him who decide to change, so he decide to be like, like a runner. So I decide to try to chase him a little bit more. And what happened to me, he jab my, my lead hand which square me-

   11. JRJoe Rogan32:14

       Mm-hmm.

   12. GSGeorges St-Pierre32:14

       ... and then he, he connect me straight on the, on the chin. What... uh... in the same time I was trying to, to throw a, a leg kick. So it was a perfect timing, beautiful exicu- execution and, and I don't know if he practiced that, but it was very well done. Very smart. Instead of trying to target my head, he, he, he jab my, my, my hand (slaps hands) and hit me with the, the, the, the rear hand. And that's why it hurt me. He, he hurt me. I tried to put a poker face on, on during that fight, but it hurt me. It's one of the strike that hurt me the most. Even though Michael Bisping is not known as a knockout guy, this, this, this shot really hurt me because the, the precision was... the timing was good.

   13. JRJoe Rogan32:48

       Yeah. I've never understood why people don't think he hits hard. I mean, look what he did to Brock Hold.

   14. GSGeorges St-Pierre32:51

       Nah.

   15. JRJoe Rogan32:52

       He, he hits fucking hard.

   16. GSGeorges St-Pierre32:53

       It... it... I think it's... what hurts someone in a fight... I mean, what can put away someone is not necessarily the power, but it's more precision and timing. And that particular, uh, right hand was perfectly timed and with great precision. So that's why I got hurt. And he win the second round. Then I had to make adjustment for the third round. That's when Fer... uh, Freddie, John and, and, uh, Firas come into play. They were... they, they saw what he was doing and they say... after the, the right hand, just slip and come with the hook over the top and th- the r- the, the right hand and that's what I did. And then he knock him down and, and... but in, in a fight, whatever your trainer tells you, if you didn't practice it, it's, it's not gonna work. I mean, it... you don't have time to think. It's, it's a-

   17. JRJoe Rogan33:39

       Right.

   18. GSGeorges St-Pierre33:39

       ... autopilot.

   19. JRJoe Rogan33:40

       Yeah.

   20. GSGeorges St-Pierre33:41

       So I was on autopilot. Sometimes you just need some, some kind of guidance that put you back, your... ex-... that put your autopilot in the right direction. And that's what happened-

   21. JRJoe Rogan33:50

       Mm-hmm.

   22. GSGeorges St-Pierre33:50

       ... in that fight.

   23. JRJoe Rogan33:51

       A reminder.

   24. GSGeorges St-Pierre33:52

       Yes, a little reminder. "Hey, uh, we're not going this way, we're going this way." Okay. Ch- ... then you, you... then it's still the autopilot, but it's different direction.

   25. JRJoe Rogan34:02

       The crazy thing about Mike is that he, he has very poor vision in his right eye. Uh, a lot of people, uh, might, might not know about it, but in the Vitor Belfort fight, he damaged his retina very badly.

   26. GSGeorges St-Pierre34:15

       Mm-hmm.

   27. JRJoe Rogan34:15

       He's had several surgeries and he's got oil in his eye that's sort of like protecting it. And he'll have it fixed once he's done fighting. But, you know, if you look at him, one of his eyes is darker than the other eye.

   28. GSGeorges St-Pierre34:27

       It's true.

   29. JRJoe Rogan34:28

       And that's that right eye. And did you particularly target things going to that right side, like things off of your left side?

   30. GSGeorges St-Pierre34:35

       Yeah. It's a lot of thing that we drilled on, uh, with the left hook. That's why, like, when I, when I hit him with the left hook, that was-
4. 45:00 – 1:00:00

   Yeah. …

   1. GSGeorges St-Pierre45:00

      mundane things that we do every day."

   2. JRJoe Rogan45:04

      Yeah.

   3. GSGeorges St-Pierre45:04

      That's how fight are won.

   4. JRJoe Rogan45:06

      Yeah.

   5. GSGeorges St-Pierre45:06

      How you program, program your, your, uh, your cruise, uh, uh, your, your, your, your cruise driver, you know?

   6. JRJoe Rogan45:14

      Yeah.

   7. GSGeorges St-Pierre45:14

      To your, your, your autopilot to win the fight.

   8. JRJoe Rogan45:17

      Yeah.

   9. GSGeorges St-Pierre45:17

      That's how you, you, you... Me, I see it, I fight like a autopilot. You know? Like, so when I fight, when I prepare myself for a fight, especially with the tactical part, I program like a computer. How I want to react against that spec- specific problem? How I'm gonna take care of that, that specific problem? The only way to program it is to do repetition, repetition, and repetition, and repetition, and repetition. It's like, uh, you said, uh, at one point, E- Eddy Bravo, he said, like, "Tie, tying, tying up your shoes."

   10. JRJoe Rogan45:47

       Yes.

   11. GSGeorges St-Pierre45:48

       Because we've been doing it so many times, you can talk to someone, the same thing.

   12. JRJoe Rogan45:51

       Yes.

   13. GSGeorges St-Pierre45:52

       When I get into a fight, I analyze again when I'm fighting and I see what pattern he does the most often. So I want to program my computer to react to that pattern that would give me the advantage into the fight. I don't know what, when that pattern would occur. But I wanna program myself that when it occur, I have an answer for it right away. I don't have to think about it. I don't think.

   14. JRJoe Rogan46:15

       Yeah.

   15. GSGeorges St-Pierre46:15

       I just react. And that's my problem when I used to fight and I got a lot of criticism before, I was thinking too much. Towards the end of my career, I had so much pressure, I didn't perform as well as I was earlier.

   16. JRJoe Rogan46:27

       Mm-hmm.

   17. GSGeorges St-Pierre46:27

       Especially my last fight before I, I stopped for the four years, I was thinking too much, overthinking, tu- putting too much pressure. Like you said, it's too serious. You have to take it for what it is. It's only a fight. In, uh, 10 years, you know, it's... you know, it sucks if you lose, but man, it is what it is. You know what I mean?

   18. JRJoe Rogan46:45

       Yeah.

   19. GSGeorges St-Pierre46:45

       Don't take it for... Don't make it bigger than what it is. It's only a fight and sometime i- it's something very therapeutic that I like to do before a fight. I drive a car. I... When I fight in Vegas, for example, I drive a car. Or New York, same thing, uh, I drive a car. When I used to fight in Vegas back, uh, before my fights, I used to be very, very stressed and one of, uh, very therapeutic things I, that I like to do is drive my car around and see normal people. Then I go and-

   20. JRJoe Rogan47:14

       (laughs)

   21. GSGeorges St-Pierre47:14

       ... I... Not, but... And again, I explain to you why... I drive and I see a old lady with her grocery store bag, zah. And I'm thinking, like, "She doesn't care if I win the fight Saturday or not."

   22. JRJoe Rogan47:25

       (laughs)

   23. GSGeorges St-Pierre47:25

       "She's not even gonna hear about it." Right, right. Then I look, oh, it's another guy yelling to another guy because he... whatever problem, or this guy is going to the bank to pay his, his mortgage stuff. They don't care. They don't care, you know. The effect that I have on the universe is so freaking small. Nobody cares. I'm the only one putting the pressure on me.

   24. JRJoe Rogan47:47

       Yeah.

   25. GSGeorges St-Pierre47:47

       Nobody gives a damn about it. So that's why they help me to perform now. That's how I... Some younger guy, they say, "Oh they... I'm nervous. How do... I heard you don't sleep well the night before." I say, "Yeah, it's true, I don't sleep well." They say, "What is your trick? How do you find a way to sleep well?" I was like, "Bah, I don't really sleep well either nowadays, eh." They say, "Well how do... But how do you feel better about it?" Like, "I just know that I'm not gonna sleep well and it's not gonna affect the outcome of the competition." It's just a normal thing. You learn how to deal with it better. You're not gonna change it.

   26. JRJoe Rogan48:16

       Yeah.

   27. GSGeorges St-Pierre48:16

       You just accept it.

   28. JRJoe Rogan48:18

       Yeah.

   29. GSGeorges St-Pierre48:18

       That stress is your friend, man, that's gonna make you react, that's gonna be on the edge.

   30. JRJoe Rogan48:23

       Have you ever slept well before a fight?
5. 1:00:00 – 1:09:53

   Yes. …

   1. GSGeorges St-Pierre1:00:00

      you don't play fighting. So you do it for yourself. You do what is best for yourself. The organization will do what is best for the organization.

   2. JRJoe Rogan1:00:09

      Yes.

   3. GSGeorges St-Pierre1:00:09

      They're not your friend.

   4. JRJoe Rogan1:00:10

      Right.

   5. GSGeorges St-Pierre1:00:11

      So that's why the relation I have with Dana and some of the guy in UFC, it's a very special relationship. Maybe one day we'll sit down and we'll talk about the good old days and, and have a blast-

   6. JRJoe Rogan1:00:20

      Yeah.

   7. GSGeorges St-Pierre1:00:20

      ... have a laugh. But right now, we, we, I always, I'm always on the defensive.

   8. JRJoe Rogan1:00:24

      While you're fighting.

   9. GSGeorges St-Pierre1:00:25

      When my phone ring, I see Dana White, it's like, "Goddamn." I'm like...

   10. JRJoe Rogan1:00:29

       (laughs)

   11. GSGeorges St-Pierre1:00:29

       Then I say, "What I should say? What I should not say?" Nah, nah, nah, nah. And I'm completely honest about it. It's like some fighters say, "No, man. I just... Eh." It's like, if you do that, it's because you're an idiot if you do that.

   12. JRJoe Rogan1:00:41

       If you just take any fight they give you.

   13. GSGeorges St-Pierre1:00:42

       Yeah. Oh, yeah. I'll fight... Nah. I mean, it doesn't work like that. It's ni-

   14. JRJoe Rogan1:00:45

       Yeah.

   15. GSGeorges St-Pierre1:00:45

       The ascension to be champion is not a straight line. It's this, oh, it's an obstacle there, you know. Wait, oh, then you come back there.

   16. JRJoe Rogan1:00:52

       (laughs) Yeah.

   17. GSGeorges St-Pierre1:00:52

       It's it, it is what it is.

   18. JRJoe Rogan1:00:54

       Yeah. Yeah.

   19. GSGeorges St-Pierre1:00:54

       It is what it is.

   20. JRJoe Rogan1:00:55

       Yeah.

   21. GSGeorges St-Pierre1:00:55

       And you need to be surrounded by smart people. And if you don't have smart people, you need to be smart enough to find those people that are competent that will help you in particular domain that you're not competent, to make the job for you and complete your circle, you know.

   22. JRJoe Rogan1:01:10

       Yeah. Dana was saying for a while that you didn't want to fight.

   23. GSGeorges St-Pierre1:01:12

       Yep.

   24. JRJoe Rogan1:01:12

       He was saying, "George doesn't want to fight." He's just saying he wants to fight-

   25. GSGeorges St-Pierre1:01:14

       Yeah, he say, he said before I didn't want to fight before I fought Bisping, you know. He say, he said a lot of things.

   26. JRJoe Rogan1:01:18

       Yeah. Why, why do you think he was saying that? Do you think he was putting pressure on you psychologically?

   27. GSGeorges St-Pierre1:01:21

       Yes.

   28. JRJoe Rogan1:01:21

       Like, fucking with your head?

   29. GSGeorges St-Pierre1:01:22

       Yeah. So I'm, so-

   30. JRJoe Rogan1:01:24

       Yeah.

Episode duration: 3:02:21