UFC legend Georges St-Pierre has given Kamaru Usman some advice regarding the final stages of his mixed martial arts career.
Right now, Kamaru Usman is at an interesting point in his career. He’s already known as one of the best welterweights of all time, but at the age of 38, he’s hungry to prove that he can win back the world title. Following three straight losses, he was able to get back to winning ways in his most recent outing when he defeated Joaquin Buckley.
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Ever since then, Usman has made it crystal clear that he wants to go after the strap, which is now held by Islam Makhachev after his win at UFC 322 over Jack Della Maddalena. Many other welterweights, of course, aren’t big fans of the idea that ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ could get a shot ahead of them.
In a recent stream, Georges St-Pierre, the welterweight GOAT, weighed in on the Usman debate.
St-Pierre’s advice for Usman
“Kamaru, I think, is in his late 30s and I said, man, I’ve been there. I said, ‘Are you going to compete again?’ He’s like, ‘Yeah, I think I’m going to go for one more stretch,’” St-Pierre said in a live stream with Adin Ross. “I’m like, if you want one of my advice, Kamaru, because I like the guy, I said, ‘Do what you’ve got to do. Get it out of your system. But get out on top.’
“That would be the cherry on top and not only it’s better for your health, also for business perspective when you’re an athlete, a fighter and you get out on top, when you get out as champion, yeah of course you have the impression that you left money on the table.
“‘Oh, I should have. I could have done another one, another one’ – and that’s our ego talking. The same thing happened to me. But what happened is, you have a lot of opportunities that present itself to you because your stock is worth a lot of money. So health-wise it’s better, but also business-wise.
“Yeah, maybe the money will stretch over a few more years, but imagine if you push it to the limit where you end up losing one, two, three fights straight. Now your legacy and that money you will have received from fighting, that block of money, maybe you won’t have it stretch in a long period of time. Those opportunities would not be there if I retired maybe on a three-fight losing streak.”
Quotes via MMA Junkie
