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Georges St-Pierre is arguably the greatest fighter of all time. However, even he's seen his fair share of ups and downs during his glorious career.
While discussing the mental toughness it takes to become a champion, Georges St-Pierre told TSN's MMA analyst Robin Black how he learned important life lessons from his defeat against Matt Serra.
In a career spanning 15 years, GSP only suffered two losses. One against Matt Hughes and the other, against Matt Serra. Both losses were avenged.
St-Pierre stressed that when the going gets tough for fighters, what's most important is to be mentally tough and resilient. He said that more than technique and skill, mental toughness is what separates the true champions from contenders. Georges St-Pierre claimed that both his losses made him a much stronger individual.
As an example of how important mentally toughness is and how he's learned important life lessons from his losses, GSP recalled his first fight against Matt Serra at UFC 69. St-Pierre lost the fight via first-round TKO. He termed the loss to Serra as the "most humiliating experience" of his career.
"When I fought Matt Serra, I lost and for me, it was the worst, most humiliating experience in my career because I got knocked out. I remember what happened during the fight. I got clipped with a looping right hand behind the ears and I was dizzy but my pride wanted me to go back into a slugfest immediately to give it back to him which was a mistake."
Georges St-Pierre learned from his mistakes
Following the loss to Serra, Georges St-Pierre showed that he had learned his lessons and went on to overcome a similar situation in a fight against Carlos Condit. During the fight against Condit, GSP got kicked in the head and he fell on his back, losing consciousness for a split second. As Condit pounced on him to finish the fight, GSP remembered how he lost the fight against Serra due to over aggressiveness.
Georges St-Pierre said he controlled the urge of trying to get into a slugfest with Condit like he did against Serra and chose to stay on his back and pulled guard instead. GSP said that Carlos couldn't finish the fight because the former chose to defend himself first instead of trying to take the fight to his opponent. It was this adjustment that ultimately won him the fight. Quite clearly, GSP didn't repeat the same mistake twice.
