Georges St-Pierre knows a thing or two about retiring on top.
Add former UFC dual-champion St-Pierre to the list of fighters who are urging Justin Gaethje (28-5 MMA, 11-5 UFC) to hang up his gloves after upsetting Ilia Topuria to claim the lightweight title at UFC Freedom 250 last Sunday.
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St-Pierre vacated his UFC welterweight title after a controversial title defense over Johny Hendricks in 2013, but returned four years later to submit Michael Bisping and capture the UFC middleweight title in November 2017. He called it a career then and never entertained fighting again.
“He’s the kind of guy that works really hard and he comes back from adversity,” St-Pierre said of Gaethje on “The Break Talk.” “It’s really inspiring to see what he has accomplished. You might not like what I’m going to say, but if I were him, because I like him, retirement. I heard Demetrious Johnson said it, but that’s what I would do. That would be an amazing ending. What else does he want to accomplish? He did it all.”
Gaethje refused to commit to retirement after promising his mom that he wouldn’t discuss the topic. However, “The Highlight” recently revealed to Joe Rogan that he plans on trucking on, and St-Pierre would like him to reconsider.
“Of course, for money. If you stop now, you’re under the impression that you’re leaving money on the table, maybe because you’re fighting for a title,” St-Pierre said. “And I’m sure he can still beat a lot of guys. Maybe he can still go on a roll because he still can do it, but health, I think, is the priority.
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“And also the fact that when you’re a professional athlete in combat sports, it’s very hard to retire on top because you’re always tempted to see, ‘Oh, I can do one more, one more, one more,’ and you probably can do. But man, what a magnificent way to end a career it would be for him.”
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Georges St-Pierre advises UFC champion Justin Gaethje to retire
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