Georges St-Pierre crashes Raptors practice to give team pep talk
The Toronto Raptors are turning to one of the legends of the octagon to help them get their mindset in order.
Today, at the team’s first practice since the NBA All-Star break, legendary Canadian MMA fighter Georges St-Pierre showed up to give the team a 30-minute pep talk ahead of the team taking the court.
“He came here to inspire us, tell us about his journey, how he was able to ‘switch it on’ during his fights,” Toronto forward Scottie Barnes told the media today about the meeting, three days removed from competing in his first career All-Star Game. “He’s a great guy. He was very motivating… [He told us to] be a killer, when you go out on the floor, you know, when he [was fighting], he’s gonna be a dog, be a killer… when he comes back to the real world, he knows how to keep his peace.”
Georges St-Pierre is at Raptors practice today. Chatting with Scottie Barnes right now pic.twitter.com/L90YIAV1AA
— ššš«šØš§ ššØš¬š (@AaronBenRose) February 21, 2024
St-Pierre himself did not speak to the media about the pep talk.
However, if the team’s usual media rollouts are in order, there is likely a behind-the-scenes clip coming out on the Raptors’ social media and YouTube channels via the Open Gym series in the coming days, if we were to hazard a guess.
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A UFC Hall of Famer, St-Pierre last fought in an organized bout back in 2017, when he defeated Michael Bisping at UFC 217 to win the middleweight title belt, which he would later vacate.
A native of Saint-Isidore, Quebec, the 42-year-old currently lives in Montreal. He finished his MMA career with a record of 26-2, losing only between 2005 to his eventual retirement in 2017.
At 19-36 and sitting 12th in the Eastern Conference, the Raptors could definitely use a little motivation in the remainder of the season to try to reach a record like St-Pierre’s.
The Raptors return to action on Thursday night when they host the Brooklyn Nets. Tipoff is set for 7:30 pm ET at Toronto’s Scotiabank Area.
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