TORONTO- As Saturday’s UFC 129 draws closer, things took a comedic turn on Thursday at the media workout session.
Perhaps the most interesting item of the day was welterweight champion, Georges St-Pierre’s strange “workout” which resembled more of a comedic routine where one of his trainers attempted to ‘attack’ him with a fake knife which the Quebecker promptly thwarted.
At the post-work out press conference, St-Pierre said that it was his way of not only dealing with his nerves, but also to indicate that he has done all the preparing he needs to do before defending his title against Shields.
“I can’t be more strong than I am right now,” he said.
What was more compelling was how GSP almost felt like he was the challenger.
“As a real champion, I want to face the best guy,” he said. “I consider Jake to be a champion. He has won championships in different weight classes… something I have never done.”
The comments came right after someone in the media scrum flirted with the fighter asking him what the most offensive thing a woman has done to one of his dolls. Ever the gentleman, Georges smartly ducked the question by asking just to examine the action figure which he had never seen before.
By contrast, Jake Shields was not joking around on Thursday.
“I feel like it is my time,” he said. “It would be pretty cool to silence them (the crowd).”
Shields said that while it felt great to be fighting in such a high-profile position, it isn’t just about the record-breaking match or audience.
“It’s more than just a main event… it’s GSP.”
Other highlights of the day included Randy Couture confirming that he would be retiring after the match against Lyoto Machida and Jose Aldo seeming so focused that he almost seemed like he didn’t want to waste anymore time in talking before Saturday’s bout against Mark Hominick.
The weigh-ins for UFC 129 will take place on Saturday.
