Georges St. Pierre 'listened to the critics' and will deliver 'more exciting fights' with 'more finishes'

Remember the old days, when reigning Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) welterweight kingpin Georges St. Pierre was knocking people out and locking up submissions?

He does too.

"Rush" has come under fire in recent years for his play-it-safe approach to the fight game, where a wrestling-based offense allowed him to grind out decision wins against strikers, while a stick-and-move jab-a-thon netted judges' nods over wrestlers.

He was just doing it "because he had to do it" and it "wasn't fun anymore."

If it wasn't fun for him, you can imagine how fun it was for the fans, who may be in store for "more exciting fights" after St. Pierre returns from knee surgery later this year. That's according to a recent conversation GSP had with MMA Fighting.

Check it out, after the jump.

"Towards the end, I didn't have the drive anymore. I was doing it because I had to do it. I didn't have fun anymore. I lost a little bit of the love for the sport. There is a saying in English that you don't repair something that is not broken. Sometimes I believe you have to break it yourself to repair it, to make it better. Because the sport of mixed martial arts will evolve. If I stay at the same level, they will catch up to me. I need to evolve, to stay ahead of game. The critics are always there. I listen to the critics. I'm very critical on myself. I want to make more finishes myself. I want to be more exciting, take more risks, be more opportunistic. I've been working on that a lot."

"Rush" is expected to headline UFC 154 opposite Carlos Condit on Nov. 17, 2012 at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The champ has been riding the pine while he rehabs a surgically repaired knee, which has kept him out of the Octagon for over a year.

Now he's back.

But will he be better than ever? Let's get some feedback on St. Pierre's latest comments. Is he destined to fall back on old habits come fight night? Or will he execute "The Natural Born Killer" by putting the mixed back into his martial arts?

Thoughts?