Georges St-Pierre discusses joining the MMAAA

Earlier this month, former UFC welterweight kingpin Georges St-Pierre joined several other high-profile fighters such as Cain Velasquez, TJ Dillashaw, Donald Cerrone, and Tim Kennedy in announcing the formation of the MMA Athletes Association.

The association was the first of its kind, and while the MMA Fighters Association was announced earlier this year, the MMAAA featured marquee fighters such as St-Pierre & Velasquez, and was geared towards helping UFC fighters.

Prior to the announcement of the MMAAA, there were rumors that St-Pierre would be returning to the Octagon at UFC 206 in Toronto to fight UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping for the middleweight championship. Unfortunately, negotiations with the UFC failed, and St-Pierre didn’t return on the card. Following the formation of the MMAAA however, the UFC reportedly once again opened up negotiations with St-Pierre.

In a recent interview with MMAJunkie Radio, GSP opened up on joining the MMAAA, saying:

“Yes, I would (have moved forward with the association),” St-Pierre said. “It’s important for me. It’s been a long time and I think it’s not a question of if it would happen, it’s a question of when.

“I’m not paid to do this. I do it because, to tell you the truth, I wish when I first started my career that someone, a bigger name, would have done it. But at the time, the infrastructure was not in place, and it was not possible to do that.”

“We talk about something that will change people’s lives,” St-Pierre said. “Some guy that one day starts fighting, they start their career, and when they finish they’re not even the same person. Some will suffer of dementia – look in football what is going on. Now we’re talking about fighting.

“Fighting, you cannot play fighting. Every time you step out there, you can go back home not the same person. You can go back home with irreparable damage – damage that will stay with you for the rest of your life.”

With there now being two fighters associations, some fighters have begun to choose sides, however GSP believes that the time is now to unify as one:

“I think together we can put all our ideas together and be stronger united, instead of being separated,” St-Pierre said. “Because in the bottom we all want the same thing. We want better conditions, we want a better fair share of salary and it’s the same thing – we want the same thing.”