Georges St. Pierre warns broke-ass fighters: Ditch your friends and hire competent professionals to manage your UFC career

Trust him, he has been there.

Former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) welterweight titleholder Georges St. Pierre is one of the wealthiest fighters in mixed martial arts (MMA), which is one of the many perks of being the king of pay-per-view (PPV) events.

But it wasn't always wine and roses for GSP.

In fact, "Rush" made his share of mistakes on his climb to the top, including his trust in "fake friends" who were tasked with managing his combat sports career. But after losing money and struggling to make a profit, St. Pierre decided to hire real professionals to handle his business.

From his conversation with Chael Sonnen's You're Welcome podcast (transcribed by MMA Fighting):

"One thing I can advise the professional athlete in mixed martial arts, you have to take it in a way that, you need to see your career as a business. I'm not qualified, I'm not competent for business because I'm a martial artist. I am competent to fight. So, when it is time to negotiate deals, or deal with my taxes or lawyer, I'm hiring the best people, the people I could find most competent for the job. I don't try to do this stuff myself or to pick one of my friends. A lot of fighters, they got caught up in those kind of things and I did myself as well, I had a lot of problems, I got different law disputes and stuff like that, I lost a lot of money. I made a lot of money, but I could have made way more. I'm lucky because it happened in the beginning of my career, and I learned from those mistakes. Nothing breaks my heart more than in this world than to see an athlete who has an outstanding career and then when he is finished, he retires, he is broke. I heard that in newspapers in documentaries. I've seen it many times in football and MMA and it broke my heart. Please guys, make sure you are well surrounded, not by friends but by competent people."

Rich people are popular people.

But not every fighter has to worry about fake friends or shady management. Chris Leben was making bank as a hard-hitting middleweight brawler, but spent most of his earnings on illegal drugs. Top lightweight contender Donald Cerrone once admitted he was broke and had no idea how to save money.

Skip the boat, hire a financial planner.