Former UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre relinquished his belt in early December, citing undisclosed personal issues leading to his sabbatical. He left it to speculation as to why he was stepping away, other than saying he needed a break from the pressures that accompanied his career choice. A short time later, however, St-Pierre started doing some public appearances and said that the current state of drug use in mixed martial arts was a key factor, though he didn’t declare it the only one or even the centerpiece of his decision. Being the champion and being so successful, St-Pierre had constantly had a faction of naysayers that accused him of using performance-enhancing drugs to secure his success. That is something that St-Pierre said he took as a compliment in the beginning, but now admits that it became an aggravating factor in his decision to step aside, particularly when his moves to help clean up the sport didn’t pan out. “In the beginning it was not making me mad,” St-Pierre said during at recent interview on TSN’s Off the Record (watch part one here)
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