LAS VEGAS — Peeking over his shiny championship belt, Georges St-Pierre looked anything but a winner at the UFC 167 post-fight news conference.
His swollen forehead was covered with red welts like a horrific case of acne. There were cuts under both black eyes. His battered face looked like he had been in a car crash.
Perhaps more worrying was the hidden hurt inside.
Moments after winning a controversial razor-thin split decision over No. 1 contender Johny (Bigg Rigg) Hendricks on Saturday night, the battered UFC welterweight champion hinted at retirement in cryptic post-fight comments in the cage — citing unexplained personal issues and the need to step away — before being transported to hospital.
When he returned to the MGM Grand Garden Arena midway through the post-fight news conference, the Canadian poured gasoline on the fire.
“I can’t sleep at night now. I’m going crazy.” he said. “I have issues. I need to relax. I need to get out for a while. I don’t know what I’m going to do.”
He declined to detail the issues. UFC president Dana White, after meeting privately with the 32-year-old from Montreal, said St-Pierre’s personal problems “aren’t as bad as he thinks they are.”
“Yeah, we’ll get through this,” he added.
Still St-Pierre, the biggest draw in mixed martial arts, essentially suffered a meltdown inside and outside the cage.
“I gave everything. I left my soul in the Octagon tonight,” he said of the gruelling battle with Hendricks.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper was still pleased with St-Pierre’s win, tweeting his congratulations.
“I would like to congratulate (at)GeorgesStPierre on his victory in UFC167. Great fight!” said Harper from his verified Twitter account.
For UFC president Dana White, it was a nightmare finale to a card billed as a celebration of the UFC’s 20-year anniversary.
White was irate that two of the three judges had scored the fight 48-47 for the champion, giving him three of the five rounds and a split decision. And then he heard his pay-per-view king say out of the blue that he was walking away from the sport — for how long, nobody knew.
While St-Pierre (25-2) was receiving treatment, White seethed at the decision in post-fight news conference.
“It’s about damage. This is a fight. It’s whoever inflicts the most damage,” he said, “He (St-Pierre) got hurt, he got wobbled, he got dropped.
“Yeah, I’m blown away that Georges St-Pierre won that fight. And listen, I’m a promoter. He’s the biggest pay-per-view star on the planet for me. And I still don’t think he won that fight. I want what’s fair and that wasn’t fair.
“I think the Nevada State Athletic Commission is atrocious. I think the governor needs to step in immediately before these guys destroy this sport like they did boxing.”
Judges Sal D’Amato and Tony Weeks scored rounds one, three and five for St-Pierre. Glenn Trowbridge scored the first, second and fourth for Hendricks.
White gave all but round three to Hendricks (15-2).
St-Pierre, who arrived 30 minutes into the news conference after receiving medical treatment, said he thought he won three of the five rounds, with the final round being the decisive one. But he sounded anything but convincing.
And White saw a different emotion from the GSP camp in the cage as they awaited the decision.
“They were acting like they lost the fight. They all looked like they wanted to kill themselves.”
As reporters tried to get the champion to elaborate on his post-fight comments about what was troubling him, St. Pierre’s eyes glistened. At one point, former light-heavyweight champion Rashad Evans — who has trained with St-Pierre — leaned over and gave him a supportive squeeze.
White eventually stepped in as the questioning continued.
“Don’t answer that question,” he said to St-Pierre.
“Don’t ask him that question any more,” he told a reporter. “He doesn’t want to answer that question.”
When the news conference ended, White put his traditional scrum with reporters on hold to huddle with St-Pierre. He was much calmer upon his return, saying he believed St-Pierre would be ready to fight again when his time came — with a rematch against Hendricks top of the list.
“One of the things that makes Georges as great as he is, is things drive him crazy. Little things drive him nuts,” he said of St-Pierre, who has admitted to being obsessive and a perfectionist as a fighter.
“Like the whole obsession thing ... he’s very much that way and he’s obsessing over something else right now that might seem like the end of the world but it’s not.”
Added White: “He wants to fight. This isn’t about fighting. It really isn’t about fighting or retiring. It was a personal problem that has him very very upset right now and I’m very confident he’s going to work it out.”
White had not been as calm earlier at the post-fight news conference, raging at GSP’s request for time off prior to the champion’s arrival.
“You don’t just say ‘Hey. I’m going to take a while off and maybe I’ll be back, maybe I won’t.’ You owe it to the fans, you owe it to that belt, you owe it to this company (the UFC) and you owe it to Johny Hendricks to give him that opportunity to fight again. Unless you’re going to retire.”