Matt Hughes On ‘GSP’ Returning: You Tell Me What He’s Got To Come Back For
After vacating the belt late last year following a controversial split decision victory over Johny Hendricks in the main event of UFC 167, longtime former UFC welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre’s fighting future is extremely up in the air after he tore his ACL in training.
While his trainer Firas Zahabi has insinuated that “GSP” will be back in the Octagon despite the injury, there’s at least one man who thinks he should stay retired. That man is none other than fellow former champion Matt Hughes, who lost to St. Pierre at UFC 65 & 79 after defeating a green “Rush” with an infamous armbar at UFC 50.
Speaking to Canada.com, Hughes offered some harsh words for the legend:
“If I was GSP, I’d probably hang them up. Here I am a guy that lost my (last) two fights and I’d love to get back in there (to finish on a win). And Georges got his hand raised the last fight. So if I had to give advice, I’d say, ‘You want to get out? Get out.’
He did get beat up last time. I don’t know if he wants to come back and take a beating like that. He’s going to come back against a guy like Robbie Lawler, who’s going to hit him. And Johny Hendricks, who’s going to hit him. So there’s not many reasons for him to come back … You tell me what’s he got to come back for?”
Hughes may have a very bleak outlook for “GSP’s” potential return, but he also makes a good point. If St. Pierre has to return to a division packed with hungry and lethal challengers like “Bigg Rigg” and Lawler, then he should probably only return if his head is one hundred percent in the game. And according to Hughes, he’s seen that drive slip away from St. Pierre in recent times:
“He always gets his hand raised and he always does it with a method. But, he took a punishment with Johny Hendricks and you could tell that by his face at the (post-fight) news conference. He’s made a lot of money. I don’t know what he makes a fight, but he’s made a lot of money. He made a lot more money than I have. And I’m retired. So he could step back, retire.
And it seems like maybe he’s even lost a little bit of the drive. I wish he was more wanting to go out and finish somebody nowadays. It’s just like he’s going out there and kind of going through the moves, so I don’t think his heart’s there.”
Maybe Hughes is trying to get “GSP” to take a road he should, as he clearly wishes his career hadn’t ended on a sour note with knockout losses to BJ Penn and Josh Koscheck. But Hughes is a clear-cut UFC Hall of Famer just like St. Pierre will be, and neither one has anything left to prove.
Should St. Pierre “Rush” back to the cage next year, or is it time to let the new crop of talented welterweights assume the helm?
