I don't know if anybody is in a position to approve Georges St-Pierre walking away or disapprove it. Obviously everyone is entitled to their opinion, but ultimately it's the man's life. Unless you have walked in his shoes, you can't judge him. But he accomplished a lot. He had a great title run, probably one of the greatest in UFC history, and it's a lot of pressure. He obviously feels for him to perform at the peak of his talents, he needed some time off to just kind of chill out and relax and recharge the battery. I'm down with it, I understand it, and I respect it. He is not the first champion to talk about the pressures of being on top. Anderson Silva has been pretty vocal about being on top and the pressure it takes to be on top.
It's tough to be in MMA, period, but think about it this way, because I don't know how much people actually understand this because some people just talk and talk and throw out these cliches and these statements without fully understanding, but the thing is this, there is the 170-pound division that is filled with talent, and then that talents fights one another and then the best out of that talent goes and fights GSP. And then GSP beats them. And then when you're done, he does it all over again and then all over again and then all over again. That's not something to be taken lightly. That's a huge accomplishment and a huge responsibility and I'm sure unbelievably mentally exhausting. I don't think GSP woke up one morning and said, "You know what? I don't think I want to fight anymore!" I'm sure this is something he's been thinking about and pondering for a long long time. And I'm speculating here, but it's easy to look throughout the history of sports how hard it is for guys to walk away. I mean, it's addictive having crowds cheering for you and yelling for you as you're coming out...it's addictive and empowering. It takes a lot of consideration and a lot of thought put behind it. I think he probably pushed it to the limit and got to the point where he was like, "I just gotta do it now." He probably feels like he has extended it and prolonged it for as long as he possibly could.
And a rematch with Hendricks would draw huge on pay-per-view because it was so close; some people gave it to Hendricks and some gave it to GSP, so obviously a rematch would be huge and he would stand to make a whole lot of money, but I don't think he is motivated by money anymore when it comes to this kind of stuff. I think he is fighting for his legacy and his greatness. He is not allergic to money, but it's not a motivating factor because, in an interview, Dana White said something, and I happen to agree, "It's harder to get out of bed when you don't have to as opposed to when you have to." When you trying to make ends meet, it's a lot easier to be motivated to train versus when you're rich and you have everything you need. It's like, "Really, I don't have to do this." Anderson Silva and GSP, if they are smart with their money, they are set for life. They could live the rest of their lives just fine without throwing a punch. It's not money that drives them anymore. It's like Floyd; I'm sure he's not allergic to money. He's not gonna make a bad deal and fight for free. People say that and it's just dumb. People say, "Well, if he doesn't care about money, why don't he just fight for free?" Well, why would he if he could make money? But my point is, that's not what Floyd is fighting for. He is not fighting because he has to pay bills; he is fighting because he wants to test himself to see how far he could stretch the limitations of age. He is 36 and he's making people much younger than him look like they don't belong in the same ring as him.
I have no doubt that GSP announcing he was stepping away has a profound economical impact on Zuffa because he was the largest pay-per-view draw. But with that being said, one man doesn't make a whole company. And also, that kind of thing was inevitable. At some point, GSP was gonna retire, whether it's now or 5 years from now. So these are the things that Zuffa, the promoter, deals with all of the time. They had Chuck Liddell, and then Chuck Liddell retired and GSP kind of took over as the man and now he's gone. They have other talent that they can build and I'm sure they will be fine. It'll be a gap for awhile until it's filled. People have to be patient and understand that GSP didn't make an impact over night. It took him years to build it up.
Obviously Johny Hendricks and Robbie Lawler are super talented and I'm looking forward to this fight. Robbie Lawler switching camps awhile ago and going to ATT, where he has been training for 3 fights now and he's looking phenomenal. And I think that if I'm Johny Hendricks' team, one of the things that I have to pay close attention to is Robbie Lawler's last fight. The tides kind of turned against him towards the end of the 1st round and all of the 2nd round and then the 3rd round, he was literally like, "I am not gonna lose this fight. I am gonna win this fight," and he totally turned it around. I think it's an interesting fight. Robbie is not the guy you take down and just blanket him for 5 rounds; it's just not gonna happen. That's not Robbie. He's gonna fight off of his back and try to create space to get up and he's gonna throw bombs. He's gonna come at you and give you a fight. I'm looking forward to it and I don't think it's going to be a walk in the park for Johny Hendricks for those who think he's just gonna out wrestle him.