When Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre returns to the cage next weekend (Sat., Nov. 17, 2012) to face interim champion Carlos Condit at UFC 154, it will have been 19 months since the last time "Rush" saw the inside of the Octagon.

During the extended layoff, "GSP" has spent plenty of time in rehab repairing his torn knee, getting it stronger ahead of his much-anticipated return.

Another thing the French-Canadian has done is come to the realization just how much he truly loves fighting after being away from it for so long. And the only way St. Pierre can explain it is by comparing it to the love one has for a girlfriend.

When you're with her, you don't appreciate her as much as you do as when she is long gone. In other words, you don't miss your water until your well is dry.

"Rush" shared his view at today's (Nov. 7, 2012) UFC 154 conference call:

"What I realized the most is, when we get hurt, and you can't fight for a long time, is how much I missed it. It's like when you're in love with your girlfriend. When you're with her everday, sometimes you don't realize you love that person, but when you're away for a long time, you realize you really love that person, you miss her. It's the same thing in fighting. When you do it every day, the stress makes you forget you like that. The fact that I got hurt and I was away for so long and I had to change my routine and everything to make my life more efficient. Now, I'm very pumped and I'm glad to be back and I realized I miss it and I love it and I really enjoy it."

Eager to return to action, St. Pierre will find that his return to fighting will not be as soft and tender as that of a girlfriends' love as "The Natural Born Killer" is prepared to do anything and everything to prove he is the one who will rule the 170-pound weight class and take home the official belt that goes with it.

And spoil a mega super fight in the process.

Love hurts.