Georges Saint-Pierre talks about his depression: “I was under too much pressure”.

“What I regret is that I should have done it before.”

Former UFC champion Georges Saint-Pierre was on the set of TLMEP in Québec.

“Georges, you talked about your concussions, you also recently mentioned an episode of depression. I quote: I felt bad, I was ashamed to talk about it because I thought people would point at me and say: He’s got money, what’s he complaining about? How bad have you been affected by sport?” the host asks.

“Yes, that was in a period of my life when I was defending my title, in a really consecutive way every time (…) It’s as if I felt claustrophobic. I was under too much pressure. Then I felt like I was the center of attention. It’s hard to describe. But I took a four-year break before coming back for my fight in New York. And it did me a world of good,” says GSP.

“What they didn’t realize was that I was experiencing something else through my eyes. Then, the fact that I took a break, it really allowed me to recharge my batteries and come back stronger. But sometimes depression can happen to anyone (…) I just wasn’t happy with what I was doing anymore. If you want to be successful, you have to be happy (…) Everyone was angry at the time. I ran away with the title and it made a big UFC scandal,” adds Rush.

“What I regret is that I should have done it even before,” he concludes, speaking of his break and acceptance of the mental health challenges he faced.