GSP reveals what was troubling him

Georges St. Pierre retools after Serra loss, preps for comeback fight

(CP) - Georges St. Pierre's life changed after taking the UFC welterweight title away from Matt Hughes last November in Sacramento. But not the way he had expected - or hoped.

The Montreal mixed martial arts star lost the championship belt one fight later, in a shocking loss to 10-1 underdog Matt Serra in April. And the normally polite, diplomatic St. Pierre turned heads - and angered Serra - by suggesting later that he had gone ahead with the fight despite injuries and a subpar training camp because he had not rated Serra a threat.

It turns out that St. Pierre had more than fighting on his mind before meeting Serra at UFC 69 in Houston.

"I had a lot of personal issues," St. Pierre told The Canadian Press. "A lot of stuff was going wrong."

There was illness in the family. But St. Pierre also says he lost his way.

"I forgot who I was, what was my No. 1 priority," he said.

"I didn't realize how lucky I was, to have this opportunity to be world champion," he added. "Once I lost, I realized all that stuff and it made me regret a lot of things."

St. Pierre, 26, has turned the Serra setback into a positive, saying it forced him to look in the mirror and make changes.

"I truly believe that this loss is probably the best thing that ever happened to me," he said.

He has since changed both his management and training regimen, retooling his organization and entourage.

He has parted ways with former manager Stephane Patry, a successful MMA promoter in Montreal who had helped his career since his first UFC fight in January 2004.

The two remain friends and Patry speaks fondly of his former protege - "He's still a great kid." But he says St. Pierre stumbled outside the ring after winning the title.

"He didn't train as much as he should, because he was too busy doing other things than training and fighting," said Patry, choosing his words carefully.

"He won the title, he's a kid, he was 25 years old," Patry added, when pressed. "Let's just say he partied a little bit too much."

It's an image at odds with the respectful squeaky-clean fighter, who used to restrict letting down his hair to one week's vacation after each bout.

In a sport with plenty of rough edges, St. Pierre stood out for bringing his mother into the cage to celebrate his title win in Sacramento, saying she had sacrificed so much to help him along the way. And showering and changing into a suit before attending the post-fight news conference at UFC 65.

St. Pierre says he lost focus after winning the title.

"I never had a mentor, somebody who was there to tell me 'Hey be careful of this, be careful of that once you are champion.' I never had that. I was by myself and I got caught in a lot of stuff and was focusing more on doing PR things than training things. I forgot what was my No. 1 priority. My No. 1 priority is to stay champion and being the best in the world.

"I forgot that. I paid for it, I made a mistake. But I'm the type of guy that never makes the same mistake twice."

Patry says St. Pierre did not look after his body after his title win and, as a consequence, fell victim to injuries prior to the Serra fight.

St. Pierre is reluctant to talk about the issues that dogged him around the Serra fight, initially saying only: "A lot of bad stuff happened to me, all at the same time. . . . I have never been so messed up mentally in my life."

Pressed, he shares more.

His father was suffering from a brain ailment and his young cousin was in a coma.

"People were dying. I had to go to the hospital at night. I was sleeping like maybe two, three hours a night when I was training for that fight. I was sleeping with one eye open because I thought I had to go drive my father to hospital and stuff like that.

"I was very worried about a lot of things in my life. Not only this, I had a lot of other stuff going on."

His father is doing much better these days. His cousin remains ill, however.

St. Pierre says he didn't talk about his family issues because he didn't want to intrude on their privacy.

"Georges is very conservative about his personal life. He keeps everything inside," said friend and fellow fighter Patrick Cote.

St. Pierre's MMA career is far from over. He is probably one win away from another title shot and is still on a lucrative UFC deal negotiated by Patry.

"I got him the contact he's on there right now that makes him a millionaire," the former manager says. "I'm proud of that."

But you only get so many chances.

Losing to Serra, who won the title shot via a season of the reality TV show "The Ultimate Fighter" that featured veterans making a comeback, was a wakeup call, St. Pierre said.

"This experience that I just lived, there's no price for that. You can watch it but if you haven't lived it, you cannot understand it. I was humiliated that night I lost. I was supposed to win that fight."

St. Pierre also revealed he has talked to a sports psychologist "to help me get through stuff."

"Now I feel way better with myself and I can't wait to get back into the Octagon. Because fighting, that's what I do best and that's what I love to do, I realized that when things went bad."

The mental side of St. Pierre's game was called into question after the Serra loss. UFC president Dana White said he saw St. Pierre in his dressing room before the Serra fight and was shocked by the champion's nerves.

Heavyweight champion Randy Couture knows the pressure St. Pierre faced.

"It's tough that first time being the champ, having that target on your back where everybody's kind of gunning for you, to deal with that pressure," he said.

"I think that played into his performance with Matt, not to take anything away from Matt. Matt's a very very tough competitor."

St. Pierre says he is a new man.

"I changed a lot of stuff. I'm not the same person that I used to be. I'm a totally different guy and I will prove it Aug. 25."

That's when St. Pierre (13-2) returns to the cage against Josh Koscheck (11-1) at UFC 74 in Las Vegas.

"I'm way, way, way stronger," St. Pierre said. "And I'm going to prove it. I can't wait to fight. People will be shocked. I'm going to make a statement."

Koscheck won't make it easy.

"Georges is stepping right back into the fire. Josh Koscheck is no joke," said Couture, who fights Gabriel Gonzaga in the main event of UFC 74.

While UFC 69 proved to be St. Pierre's Waterloo, it was a watershed for Koscheck, who handed rival Diego Sanchez his first loss.

Koscheck is an elite wrestler who has turned himself into a well-rounded MMA fighter. While a personable sort, Koscheck loves to play mind games and has already turned his sandpaper-like tongue on St. Pierre.

"We know he doesn't have a big heart and he doesn't have that good of a chin," Koscheck told www.ufc.com.

"Talking bad and saying bad stuff about me just gives me more motivation to train hard, to beat him up," St. Pierre responded. "I don't play that game. It's not my style. I'm not that kind of person. I will do my talking in the Octagon."

St. Pierre said virtually the same thing before dismantling the abrasive Hughes at UFC 65.

Today, Shari Spencer takes care of the business side of St. Pierre's life and Greg Jackson co-ordinates the fighting end.

"Nobody ever coached me globally, like in MMA," St. Pierre said. "That's what I needed. . . . I should have done that a long time ago but like I said, you don't fix things that are not broken."

In addition to training out of Jackson's camp in Albuquerque, N.M., St. Pierre works on his striking in Montreal with trainer Howard Grant and his stable of pro fighters including WBA light-middleweight world champion Joachim Alcine.

"I'm way sharper than I used to be," St. Pierre said.

He also works on his jiu-jitsu in Montreal with Fabio Holanda and continues to make trips to New York to augment his training.

St. Pierre has also parted ways with kickboxing coach Victor Vargotsky, saying the former Soviet special forces sniper was not keen on him mixing up his training by working with other coaches.

"In my sport, that's how we get better - when we cross-train," St. Pierre said.

Patry disagreed with the move, however.

Spencer says the changes have reduced St. Pierre's stress level and that he seems far more at peace with himself.

St. Pierre himself exudes confidence over the phone.

"I put the puzzle back together. Everything is going very well. . . . I am doing very well. I'm in great shape. No excuses, physically, mentally. Everything's going well.

"I'm ready to rock."

(940 Montreal News)