Georges St-Pierre has called upon the only man to beat Johny Hendricks to help him train for his UFC 167 welterweight title defense against "Bigg Rigg."
Rick Story has been training with GSP for the last four weeks in Montreal, according to La Presse. Story defeated Hendricks via unanimous decision at The Ultimate Fighter 12 Finale in Dec. 2010. That loss is the lone blemish on Hendricks' 16-fight resume.
"It's a plus for me," St-Pierre told the French news outlet. "He's a guy with a similar style to Johny Hendricks. He's also the last person to beat him. He won by decision. It was a close fight. But he won. He has even trained with him. He can give me some tricks, tell me how he is."
Hendricks trained with Story in February prior to his win over Carlos Condit at UFC 158. And it was at that event in Montreal that GSP's head coach Firas Zahabi approached Story about helping St-Pierre train for Hendricks.
"I wasn't convinced at first." Story said. "But I told myself it would be good for my career to work with a such a reputable camp. I am certain Johny [Hendricks] will understand my decision to come here. I have to do everything to succeed and he'll understand that."
In fact, Story's trainer, Pat White, reached out to Hendricks via text message to tell him Story would be training with GSP for eight weeks prior to the fight, and according to the report, Hendricks didn't object.
Story will spend a total of eight weeks training with St-Pierre in Montreal. The timing works out for the 29-year-old because he is scheduled to fight Brian Ebersole at UFC 167, as well.
The event, which is being billed as the UFC's 20th anniversary show, will take place Nov. 16 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
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