Joe Rogan explains what makes George St-Pierre ‘incredible’ compared to other retired UFC fighters

We’ve seen a lot of legendary UFC fighters retire in recent years. According to the promotion’s long-time commentator Joe Rogan, Georges St-Pierre is a little different from the rest of them.

Canada’s St-Pierre is considered one of the best MMA fighters of all time. A long-time UFC welterweight champ, he first retired after a controversial decision win over Johny Hendricks in 2013. However, he returned in 2017, to challenge middleweight champ Michael Bisping in a bid for a second title. St-Pierre won the title with a submission victory, becoming one of just a few two-division champs in UFC history.

There was some talk of St-Pierre returning to fight Khabib Nurmagomedov a few years later, but it never happened, and now that the he is 43, it’s clear his fighting days are over.

According to Rogan, St-Pierre is a little different from most retired fighters. That’s because he still routinely trains at the highest level, even with no competitive goal to meet.

Rogan got to talking about St-Pierre with comedian Joey Diaz on a recent episode of his struggling podcast. They began by recounting how, in his prime, St-Pierre would travel internationally to pick up new skills, often from unconventional sources.

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“He was always learning,” Rogan said. “He would go with all the Greg Jackson guys [in Albuquerque, New Mexico], go to Wild Card [with Freddie Roach in Las Vegas] and train his boxing.

“He realized that gymnasts are so powerful and they have such control over their body. He was like ‘well I’m going to get better control over my body,’ so he learned how to do backflips and sh*t [from gymnasts].”

Rogan then discussed how, since retiring, St-Pierre still seeks out new martial arts knowledge, routinely traveling to destinations like Austin, Texas to learn from jiu jitsu stars like Gordon Ryan.

“You know what’s really crazy about him?” Rogan said. “He still does the same thing. He’s really a martial artist. He comes to Austin all the time to train with John Danaher and Gordon Ryan. He’s here all the time. I see him every couple months, then he’ll go somewhere else to train, then he’ll go somewhere else to train. No desire to fight. He doesn’t want to fight anymore at all. He’s just a martial artist. He’s so happy and content. He’s one of the best examples of a guy who retired with millions in the bank and is living his best life. He’s a real martial artist. Why would you come here and train with Gordon Ryan? Why would you train with that f*cking animal if you’re not thinking about competing. For him it’s all about growing.”

Ryan definitely knows a thing or two about growing.

What do you think of these comments from Joe Rogan?