UFC 217: Georges St-Pierre promises to be more angry inside the cage, finish his broken opponents

One of the knocks on Georges St-Pierre throughout the later years of his active mixed martial arts (MMA) competition was the fact that the former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Welterweight champion of the world couldn’t seem to finish his foes.

In fact, his last seven title defense went the distance, with his last true knockout win coming against Matt Serra in 2008. Those days, though, are long gone, as “Rush” vows to be more angry and determined to finish his fights moving forward.

“I’ve trained a lot of things,” St-Pierre said on a recent appearance on The MMA Hour via MMA Fighting. “I’m gonna be more there to hurt guys and to go for the finish. To submit, to break. To go for the break. To go for the knockout or go for the break if I have a submission. Until he taps. I’m gonna be more opportunistic,” said Georges.

“If he doesn’t open up, you keep doing what you do well to win the fight,” St-Pierre. “You’re winning, so you don’t necessarily change.”

Georges says if he sees his foe broken, he is going to do his best to end it, unlike in his past bouts.

“They were accepting the defeat,” St-Pierre said. “They knew they were going to lose before the end of the fight. They were fighting to not get beat up too much instead of fighting to win. On my side, I was fighting to win, but it’s hard. You know that if you’re exposing yourself [to] useless openings, [you can] get beat up.”

As “Rush” prepares for his much-anticipated return to the cage at UFC 217 on Nov. 4 against Middleweight champion Michael Bisping in New York City, he knows finishing “The Count” is easier said than done.

“It will be tough,” St-Pierre said. “Michael is a very courageous man. He always comes forward. He never backs down. Mentally, he’s very tough. I made my training to be more opportunistic, to be more angry on the finish,” he concluded.

Should St-Pierre complete his task, he will contractually be obligated to defend his title against interim champion Robert Whittaker, a man who has no issues finishing his bouts.