by King Hazard
Georges St-Pierre is returning inside the Octagon, that’s now official. But should GSP get a warm up fight before facing a MMA veteran such Michael Bisping, who has been at his best so far in his career?
Ring rust is one of the many topics discussed for this highly-anticipated fight and it appears like the greatest UFC Welterweight of all-time is also thinking about it in the back of his mind too. However, GSP doesn’t think it will be a major factor in the middleweight clash with Bisping. In fact, he believes after a few minutes inside the Octagon things will be “back to normal.”
In a fan Q&A on Hayabusa’s Facebook page yesterday, GSP addressed the ring rust concern many have following a four-year layoff from the UFC.
He said,
I believe in ring rust. People say there’s no such thing but I believe in ring rust. It will be an issue but I’m a very experienced man. I’m one of the guys that’s spent the most time in the octagon in the UFC, maybe the most, I’m not sure in terms of time. I think because I have a lot of experience, the more time I will spend as the fight goes, the more comfortable I will be. For me, it will be very important [at] the first second of the fight. That’s when I will have to be very aware, very careful. That will be the most dangerous moment for me because when you have ring rust, that’s the hardest part of the fight. When you just step in and the fight start, that’s where the ring rust comes from, the difficulty of adaptation. But after a few minutes, I will be back to normal.
At the moment, Bisping size is a bigger factor for GSP who has previously competed at 170-pounds throughout his UFC career. The former reigning welterweight champion explained that he has been adding weight to deal with the size issue.
When I knew that we were going to fight Michael Bisping, when I signed it, that’s when I decided to try and put [on] a little bit more weight. I won’t be able to put [on] a lot because I’m a natural guy but I’m already a little bit bigger than I was. I’m the biggest I’ve ever been, right now, in my life. Bisping will still be bigger than me but I’m confident it will help…
It’s not my natural size. I’ve never been that big in my life but as a man, I’m gonna be honest, men want to have bigger muscles. They want to be big, so it’s a good thing. I’m happy to be a little bit bigger. [Smiling]. This is not the weight class I’m used to competing at, but for that fight, I want to make history against Michael Bisping. It’s a guy that I want to fight and he wants to fight me. It’s the guy with the highest stock right now and he’s the man to beat, so that’s why I’m doing it.
There’s no fight card or date attached to the middleweight clash Bisping and St-Pierre yet, but we expected the UFC to announce them soon. Stay tuned to Yell! Magazine for the update.
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