It’s been almost a year and a half since GSP last fought in MMA. A five round brutal barn burner of a fight against Johny Hendricks. A bout that just barely saw him retain his welterweight title; by far his most difficult defense since losing the belt to Matt Serra 2007. After the fight, Georges St-Pierre was quick to tell fans in attendance that he was taking a prolonged break from MMA. For the UFC’s Dana White, the announcement went over like a lead balloon. White lambasted the move from GSP, essentially telling the champ that he owed it to the fans and the sport to keep fighting.
Since then, updates on GSP’s potential MMA return have been all over the place. Confidants have said he’s done, coaches have said he’ll come back, and throughout, Dana White has remained largely optimistic… until lately. Earlier this month, White told reporters that GSP, “doesn’t want to fight.” White got into a little more detail on GSP and where the former champion is at, in a recent interview on Fox Sports Live’s “The Jay and Dan Podcast” (transcript via MMAFighting):
“I’m on the fence,” said White. “I’m leaning towards he’s not coming back, these days. He’s rich and he really doesn’t have to do anything anymore if he doesn’t want to. He’s doing movies.
…
“Fighting is one of those sports where you’ve got to be hungry and you gotta want it,” said White. “[St-Pierre] hasn’t been hungry in a long time for a lot of things. He’s got a lot of money, he’s young, he’s got a lot of other options and he’s going out on top. I’m not announcing Georges St-Pierre’s retirement here.”
As we’ve recently seen with the UFC’s negotiations over Brock Lesnar, there’s very likely plenty of money on the table for GSP to return if he wants to. But, with Ronda Rousey and Conor McGregor both showing themselves to be major marketable stars for the organization going forward, the UFC’s push to get the former welterweight champion back on PPV may not be as strong as it was a few months ago.
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