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A former MMA champion recently recalled sparring with a UFC Hall of Famer and described how he approached those sessions. He noted that the Hall of Famer was a consummate professional and never took liberties with his training partners.
Former Bellator champion Rory MacDonald and UFC Hall of Famer Georges St-Pierre were longtime teammates and trained with each other for years at Tristar when the latter was the reigning welterweight champion.
During his latest appearance on Tim Welch's Red Hawk Recap, MacDonald described his experience sparring with St-Pierre, who was regarded as one of the top pound-for-pound fighters in the world during his prime. 'Red King' mentioned that 'Rush' never let his ego get in the way of sparring and was without hurting his sparring partner:
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"Georges is a very professional guy. He's just there to develop his craft and he doesn't have a lot of pride or ego and things like that. You know, he's there to do his job, get himself in top physical condition and work on his skills. He's a fantastic training partner, probably the best guy you could ask for. Obviously, being one of the best ever, everyone always wanted to test themselves against him, me included."
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Check out Rory MacDonald's comments below (34:38):
Former UFC title challenger Rory MacDonald makes feelings known on hard sparring
Rory MacDonald also shared his thoughts on hard sparring, which has been a hotly debated topic among the MMA community.
During the aforementioned appearance, MacDonald mentioned that he believes hard sparring is beneficial and serves an important purpose, but highlighted the importance of doing so only with trusted teammates:
"[Hard sparring] needs to be balanced... I think it's important to do hard sparring with guys you trust that you're not going to go hard enough where you're going to try to hurt each other, but have the intensity there to be able to harden your body, be ready for the speed and intensity that a fight can have." [32:28]
Check out a video of Tristar fighters, including former UFC title challenger Rory MacDonald, sparring below:
