Georges St-Pierre recently opened up about a significant health scare that played a pivotal role in his decision to retire from MMA.
In a revealing interview on Pound 4 Pound with Kamaru and Henry, St-Pierre shared that before his retirement, he grappled with fears of a potential cancer diagnosis.
However, it turned out to be ulcerative colitis – a condition characterized by intestinal inflammation that initially presents symptoms similar to cancer.
St-Pierre explained:
The reason why I really retired is because it took a lot out of me and I started developing a condition called ulcerative colitis.
It’s an inflammation of the intestine and my last fight when I fought, I tried to eat to gain weight and I had a very hard time gaining weight.
And I forced myself to eat.The doctor told me that’s probably why and I developed that.
He shared what came about during the cancer scare:
I used to go to bathroom and it was a lot of blood.
I thought maybe I had cancer.But I was telling myself during training camp: “Whatever it is, I’m going to wait until the end of the fight.”
Because, to find out what it is you need to do what they call a colonoscopy; it’s a camera they put and for that they put you on laxatives.
And I was trying to gain weight, not lose weight.So, I was like – whatever it is, I’m going to fight and see what it is after.
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