Regardless of the speculation and rumors, it still came as a shock on Friday when former Welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre announced his indefinite absence and that he was vacating his long-held belt. The announcement came just a few weeks after winning a controversial split decision win over Johny Hendricks at UFC 167.
While discussing his choice to step away from the fight game, St-Pierre told another interesting story about what happened behind the scenes following his fight against Big Rigg. As GSP tells it, after getting first aid and stitched up from the superficial wounds he sustained he went to enter the post-fight press conference. He says a UFC official attempted to keep him out of the presser but let him through after his persistence. When he entered the room, he says, everyone was shocked to see him there.
Following UFC on Fox 9 on Saturday, UFC president Dana White addressed this story in a post-fight interview with Ariel Helwani. According to White, the UFC had no involvement with the opposition to St-Pierre being kept from the presser. He admits that there may have been difficulty as the medical staff had advised GSP to head straight to the hospital to address his injuries. Dana continued saying they’ve never tried to keep a fighter from appearing at a post-fight press conference.