Georges St-Pierre reveals he carried a brick with opponent's name on it following 'haunting' loss

UFC legend Georges St-Pierre said a sports psychologist convinced him to carry a brick with his opponent's name on it following his final loss.

After St-Pierre beat fellow legend Matt Hughes, who he admitted was seen as one of the greatest, the French-Canadian said his ego had exploded as his popularity grew.

"I remember everybody was telling me how good I am and this and that, and I was like the new thing, you know? The New Kids on the Block. Even [though] I [had] never been arrogant, I started to have a false feeling of security in a way," he recalled.

GSP said that even the people in his entourage were worried about the Hughes fight but afterwards assisted in his ego becoming inflated.

This eventually worked against the fighter as he went into UFC 69 in April 2007, about five months after he beat Hughes. At that event, he lost by an upset TKO to Matt Serra, which St-Pierre said caused him to become "obsessed" with getting a rematch.

St-Pierre said he lost confidence as criticisms poured in, and he recalled being labeled as "weak mentally" and not as good as everyone thought he was.

"These things get to you a little bit," GSP told Serra on his podcast, "Geeking Out with Matt Serra."

'Can I get rid of the brick? It's ridiculous!'

St-Pierre's new obsession was "haunting" his mind, leaving the athlete "angry" at himself and wanting to "get back and erase that mistake." This caused St-Pierre to hire a sports psychologist who told him to carry a brick with Serra's name on it in his gym bag.

"He made me carry a brick in my training bag with your name on it, 'Serra.' And I carried that in my bag weeks and weeks and weeks, and it was getting heavy," St-Pierre recalled.

It sounded like St-Pierre might have been referring to a cinderblock, however, given that the welterweight recalled how heavy his bag would get walking up the stairs at his gym.

"I was calling him, I was like, 'Can I get rid of the brick? It's ridiculous!' He's like, 'No, no, no,' and I kept carrying it."

St-Pierre said the psychologist eventually let him get rid of the brick before a fight against Josh Koscheck another five months later, which resulted in the memento getting tossed in a river.

"It sounds weird but it's an action that I did that manifested, that had a psychological manifestation on me because I [was relieved], and I was able to only focus on Josh Koscheck, because if I would not have done that maybe I would have lost that fight, as well."

One year and 12 days after his loss to Serra, St-Pierre beat him in a rematch at UFC 83, but he showered the American with praise over his march to the title.

"That's a beautiful story, it's like Rocky against the Russian," St-Pierre told Serra.

"Somewhere in Canada, there's a lake with a brick with my name on it, isn't there George?" Serra jokingly asked.

St-Pierre fought for another decade but never lost again, causing Serra to admit the brick may have helped.

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