BREAKING | Georges St-Pierre officially announces his retirement from MMA

As expected, Georges St-Pierre has announced his retirement from mixed martial arts. The former UFC middleweight and welterweight champion made this announcement at a press conference inside the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec Canada.

“There’s no tears. I’m very happy to do it,” St-Pierre said in the English portion of his retirement message. “In combat sports you should retire on top, that’s what I’m going to do. I’m happy I have the discipline to do it.”

The Canadian MMA legend spent much of his initial retirement speech thanking his coaches, management and staff. He also thanked some of his sports heroes: UFC legend Royce Gracie, who he says inspired him to get into MMA, hockey icon Wayne Gretzky, who he called a chief role model, and Quebecois kickboxing legend Jean Yves Theriault.

Georges St-Pierre last fought in November of 2017, in the main event of UFC 217. On that night, he returned to the cage after a prolonged absence, defeating Michael Bisping to claim the UFC middleweight belt. St-Pierre vacated the middleweight title shortly thereafter.

His next most recent fight occurred all the way back in November of 2013, when he defended his well-guarded UFC welterweight belt with a split decision win over Johny Hendricks.

Over the course of his legendary career, Georges St-Pierre has bested stars like Bisping, Hendricks, Nick Diaz, Carlos Condit, Jake Shields, Josh Koscheck (twice), Dan Hardy, Thiago Alves, BJ Penn (twice), Jon Fitch, Matt Serra, Matt Hughes (twice), Sean Sherk, Frank Trigg, Jay Hieron and Karo Parisyan. He is inarguably one of the very best fighters of all time. He’s 26-2 overall.

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 2/21/2019.