Power is a State of Mind: For the Love of MMA

“There wasn’t one fighter that didn’t make me nervous before the event,” says Georges St-Pierre. “Particularly Matt Sera,” he says referring to their 2007 bout in UFC 69, “and I got knocked out! Fear is a good thing. It’s made me better.”

It’s Saturday, 2nd April 2022 and former welterweight UFC champion St-Pierre is the first speaking guest at For the Love of MMA, a new Mixed Martial Arts convention in Bowlers Exhibition Centre, Trafford Park. The venue has been kitted out with a cinema room with a large, concave LCD screen showing classic UFC fights, a punch machine, a stage, photo areas including an MMA cage, merchandise stalls, UFC guest signing stalls, health food and drink outlets, gaming rooms with fight games loaded into consoles from different eras, and a matted area for MMA seminars. The other half of Bowlers is set aside for a Cage Warriors event taking place later that night, with a cage, lights and plenty of seating.

For a little extra, you can buy training seminars with the fighters, who you can see here drilling padwork and takedown techniques. Spot Brit Lerone Murphy and American veteran Randy Cotoure.

But the main attraction today is the stage, where first to grace it is 4-time, 2-division former champion, Georges St Pierre. A microphone is passed around the audience seats for a Q+A session.

The first asks about his transition to movies, and his appearance as Georges Batroc in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. GSP tells of having to exaggerate movements for the camera, and dishes behind-the-scenes details. “I’d rather play the villain,” he claims. “It’s more charismatic. I like to be opposite of myself. They want me to be the bad guy!”

This is probably why, he reveals, he’s coming back to the UK next week to play a hitman in another production.

Would he fight again?

“It’s a question of timing. The UFC had other plans.”

The next question comes from a guy who compliments GSP on his ‘immaculate’ hair (GSP has let it grow out and now sports frosted tips), calls him a ‘legend of the sport’ and asks him about his title loss to Sera.

“It taught me a valuable lesson. You mustn’t have too much confidence. It’s about who fights best.”

And so, in his distinctive French-Canadian accent, he reels off other nuggets of fight wisdom in response to audience questions. He believes he would beat (no1 welterweight contender) Colby Covington, and has no doubt Covington would say the say about him. Eventually, GSP says, someone will beat his own record for the most takedowns in UFC history (standing at 90).

But would he add to his record? What would it take to get him back in the octagon?

This gets a chuckle from GSP, but he’s too wise to bite. “People stay too long in the sport, and too late. I didn’t want that to happen to me. There’s more opportunity (in other areas). Don’t stay around too long or you’ll pay with your health.”

How would he beat (now retired undefeated lightweight champ) Khabib Nurmagomedov?

“Movement, creativity, and not be afraid. But we’ll never find out.”

If he wasn't fighting, GSP claims he’d be a palaeontologist. “I was 6 years old, out looking for dinosaur fossils.”

Trash talking is prevalent in the UFC. GSP, however, was always calm. Did anyone make him want to throw something?

“None. Trash talk doesn’t get to me. It’s just for business.”

Dominic Cruz was the “perfect nemesis,” GSP claims. Cruz could take his opponent out of the comfort zone. But GSP’s fight with BJ Penn was the fight in which he was most damaged. Carlos Condit (also appearing at the event) was close. “Bisping hurt me. After a big punch I was putting on ‘cruise control.’ BJ was closest.”

Would he rather fight (welterweight champ) Kamaru Usman or Conor McGregor?

“I’m not coming back, but I would choose Usman. It’s not about money; more my legacy. I’d rather win for zero dollars than lose for money.”

What is his mental process for dealing with a loss?

“When you lose, 2 things happen. It can drag you down, or you can learn. You have to decide why you lost, and it doesn’t have to be true as long as you believe it. This makes you more confident.”

Next up: a photoshoot with British former middleweight champ, the UK's only champ, and current commentator Michael 'The Count' Bisping.

Soon after this, a change of style as the Canadian star makes way for veteran fighter Mark Coleman, The UFC’s first heavyweight champion. He takes the stage to tell fascinating tales of the early days of MMA.

BBC Interviewer Jamal Niaz (BBC Sport, Seconds Out) next welcomes Michael Bisping to the stage. “It’s great to have you here,” he begins.

“Shut the fuck up,” Bisping interrupts. He’s joking, of course, playing the big mouth, the clown. But to contradict that, he reminds us if it wasn’t for the fans he wouldn’t be there. He insists we go straight into audience questions.

A very enthusiastic young lad takes the roaming mic first. “You choked Luke Rockhold and won,” he says, referring to Bisping’s title win at UFC199 in 2016. “How did you feel?” Then, yelling, “HOW DID YOU FEEL?!”

“It felt very good, thank you,” states a composed Bisping. He jests, “Someone take the mic off him!”

It goes to another bloke who Bisping recognises from the photoshoot earlier in the day. “The way you were looking at me this morning,” Bisping says, “I thought you were gonna give me a kiss!” His win over Rockhold he reveals as his favourite fight. “I knocked him out,” he says, “jumped onto the cage, and said, ‘fuck you!’ Everyone thought (that in the fight) I was gonna get swamped.”

He reveals Jake Paul, the YouTuber who transitioned into boxing, had offered him an undisclosed sum to fight him, “but I’m retired.”

But what about his son, Callum, currently doing well in wrestling? Would he transition to MMA?

“He’s a good kid. I’m not sure he’s got the nastiness. (In MMA) you’ve got to fucking knee a guy in the face. I’m a wanker, he’s a nice guy.”

Will he smash Dylan ‘Dyldo’ Danis? (Bellator’s Danis and Bisping had a bit of verbal back-and-forth at UFC 268 last November.)

“He’s a wanker!”

Leon Edwards, Bisping claims, will probably be the next British champ, but Kamaru Usman, current welterweight champ and pound-for-pound best fighter on the planet, is a problem in that regard. The UK’s Arnold Allen, he says, has potential. Darren Till, 28, will soon be champ.

What was his best non-professional fight?

“I don’t really wanna talk about it,” Bisping says… But tells of being 18 and dealing with some guys bullying people. The upshot was, someone called Bisping out, he went to see one of the group, and ended up knocking the guy out. “But I don’t wanna glamourise it,” he stresses.

Which felt better, losing his virginity or knocking out Rockhold?

“I didn’t actually lose it, so let’s go with Rockhold.”

What was the funniest thing that happened at a fight?

"When I fought GSP I ripped all the cartilage in my ribs. The doctor said to inject Lidocaine (a local anaesthetic). ‘But be careful,’ he said: ‘if you do it wrong, you’ll puncture your lung and die.’ The Las Vegas Commission guy (overseeing the legality of the fight) watched me everywhere. I was going to do it in the toilet, whilst Facetiming my doctor. I thought, what am I doing? And I backed out.”

He ends answering a question about his wife, Rebecca. “Without her, I wouldn’t have achieved. I’d be out getting into fights.”

Before leaving the stage, Bisping poses for a selfie with the crowd.

Last to take the stage is British heavyweight and current 6th ranked heavyweight fighter, Tom Aspinall. Mr Niaz asks about his career aspirations.

A packed day and a real treat for Mixed Martial Arts fans. You can only be in one place at one time, so a lot of fighters I didn’t get much more of than a sighting. Next year’s event is already in the pipeline. See Monopoly Events for more.