Trainer says Georges St-Pierre had reservations before UFC 154 bout with Carlos Condit

While the announcement that Georges St-Pierre would be renouncing his UFC Welterweight title and taking a leave of absence from the sport surprised many, his head trainer Firas Zahabi wasn't entirely shocked, from his perspective, GSP has had mixed emotions about fighting since at least last November's UFC 154 bout with Carlos Condit. Zahabi told Ariel Helwani all about it on the MMA Hour:

"I think before the (Johny) Hendricks fight, he had mixed feelings," said Zahabi. "Before the (Carlos) Condit fight, he had mixed feelings. He went back-and-forth. But the problem is, I was always cutting him off because I didn't want to talk to him about it in camp. He had three fights in 18 months (actually 12 months) so we didn't have time to have a deep discussion on it.

"Does he have the motivation to fight? Right now he doesn't. Right now he has the motivation to take care of his personal issues. If he doesn't, he's going to end up depressed, alone. The guy has to balance his life. His life is to the extreme and you can't be a soldier forever. The guy has been fighting for too long, missing too many birthdays, too many weddings, too many life experiences. He wants to balance his life out. If you were to spend a day with Georges, you'll be exhausted. There is so much going on it's ridiculous. It's crazy.

"I don't want to get into his personal life," Zahabi said. "But that's the foundation of all this. I want to keep it superficial. He's been putting his life on hold. His social life is deteriorating. His family life is deteriorating in terms of his spending time with his loved ones. He's lived a military life, lots of preparation and the preparation is extreme. There is no time off for enjoyment or personal time. Then you look back and ask, `What's happiness in life?' Is it winning fight after fight, or is there more to it? If winning fights made you happy, Georges would be the happiest guy on Earth. Things aren't that simple."

There you have it.

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GSP And The Alien Theft Of Time by Pouya Rebek (Ultimate Fighting Cartoons)

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