Georges St-Pierre believes ring rust will be an issue in Michael Bisping UFC title fight

While some fighters like Al Iaquinta and Chan Sung Jung proved ring rust isn’t that real, coming back and dominating their respective foes with first-round knockouts after taking a few years off (videos here and here), others believe ring rust is a very real phenomenon.

Among them is former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre.

“I believe in ring rust,” St-Pierre said in a recent Q&A with Hayabusa (via Bloody Elbow). “It will be an issue, but I am a very experienced man. I’m one of the guys who have spent the most time in the Octagon, maybe the most — I’m not sure — in terms of time. I think because I have more experience, the more time I spend, as the time goes, the more comfortable I will be.”

With eight of his last nine title fights going a full five rounds, “Rush” has indeed spent more time inside the Octagon than anyone else. But, the ex-titleholder hasn’t stepped foot inside the combat cage in nearly four years and has a tough task ahead of him as he moves up in weight to face middleweight champion, Michael Bisping.

“For me it will be very important, the first second of the fight, that’s when I should be very aware, careful. That will be the most dangerous moment for me,” he said. “With ring rust, that’s the hardest part of the fight — when you just step in and the fights start. The difficulty of adaptation. But after a few minutes, I will be back to normal.”

As evidenced by this leaked footage, St-Pierre has already packed on the pounds in preparation for his showdown against “The Count.” Aside from a more swole physique, Georges plans on unleashing a new arsenal of weapons come fight night.

“Preparation pretty much looks the same, but I’m going to try and get a little bit bigger. I’m working on different stuff, like I went back more to karate training,” he explained. “A lot of new tools, I’ve been acquiring during my time off. It’s not only what I’m going to do to get prepared for Bisping (in camp), it’s what I’ve been doing through my time off since the last almost four years, that will help me have new weapons for that fight,” he concluded.

Their fight has yet to be confirmed with a time and a place, but all signs are pointing to a possible July return for “Rush.”

Of course, this has to happen, first.