Falcon and Winter Soldier Star Compares MMA and Acting Similarities

Falcon and the Winter Soldier star Georges St-Pierre thinks there are some serious similarities between acting and the sport of Mixed Martial Arts. During a conversation with Dan LeBatard, the former UFC champion talked about his current role on Disney+. When asked how retirement was treating him, St-Pierre launched into a thoughtful answer about how acting takes some of the same skills he used to climb the ladder in the MMA promotion. Focus, dedication, and attention to craft are all essential in both disciplines. He also shared that having this kind of goal in retirement was absolutely key in keeping himself motivated. There are moments where athletes are forced to retire and they have no idea what to do next. Because of his love of acting, GSP was able to throw himself into that with great success.

“There are a lot of similarity between an athlete like an MMA fighter and an actor. I’ve been acting all my career. Before every fight, I was terrified, I was scared, I was extremely unformfortable,” he revealed. “But, when you see me walking toward the Octagon, I’m putting on a mask. I’m pretending that I’m excited, I’m confident, I can’t wait to be in there. But, I’m lying to the audience, because deep down inside, that’s not how I feel.”

“To be honest, in our sport, we all have a lifespan. Unfortunately, the sad reality is that most of the athletes hang out too long in the sport of full-contact competition,” he began. “Whether that’s MMA or Boxing. I never wanted to make the same mistake, I wanted to retire on top. However, when you retire, I believe its important to find another goal. Whether you reach it or not, it does not matter. You need to find an objective, find a goal, a motivation, something that you need to work on. Mine? I turn it to movies now… I deal with so many high emotions, because it’s life-threatening. The thrill that you get, it is unmatched. So, you need to be able to put that into something else.”

“Right after I took my retirement, Disney came out and offered me the role,” GSP explained. “To come back as the Leaper. I did a little bit before with [Captain America:] The Winter Soldier. But, back in the day, I wasn’t prepared you know, I was more focused on competing in mixed martial arts. Now, it’s been two years that I’m training full-time as an actor. I’m having acting classes, English class, camera class, theater classes, audition classes. So, I was much more well-prepared for this one. So, it was perfect timing.”

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