Georges St. Pierre shocked Madison Square Garden on Nov. 4, when he made a successful octagon return after nearly four years away from the sport.
For his big return, the former UFC welterweight champion moved up in weight to challenge middleweight champion Michael Bisping for his belt. The French Canadian phenom went to war with “The Count,” but earned a submission victory in the third round of the night’s main event match up.
Now Georges St-Pierre has come forward to reveal that he was seriously injured after the first round of their fight, but pushed through it for the title earning victory.
“Rush” was not present at the UFC 217 post-fight press conference, as the fighter was rushed to a hospital after his fight with Bisping. However, St-Pierre did offer some words on a media conference call on Thursday. As provided by MMA Weekly, St-Pierre stated:
“During the fight, I got hit with an elbow behind the head at the back of the skull. It’s attached to the spinal cord. When I got hit, I got kind of a flash knockdown a little bit. I got a very bad inflammation in my neck and I couldn’t really move my head much, especially at the end when I cooled down after the fight. It was terrible. I couldn’t even tie up my shoes. It was very bad.”
The fighter continued:
“It happened, I believe, in the first round. It looked very insignificant when it happened, but it was really there. It’s not the strength of the hit. It was more the precision of it. It’s not (Bisping’s) fault. We’re not allowed to hit there, but it’s not his fault. I think it was just during the heat of the fight.
“My neck was so inflamed that when I was on the floor I had a hard time posturing up to strike because it was hurting me very bad. I felt like my muscles couldn’t contract. I couldn’t contract my head to posture up and strike. It was a very weird feeling. I felt like my muscle was numb and dead. It was very strange. After the fight when I cooled down it was very terrible.”
That being said, St-Pierre claims everything is now looking better.
“It’s still sore, but it got a lot better now that I got treatment on it. I’ll be back 100-percent ready.”
