GSP making a comeback? Dana White says he’s ‘leaning towards’ no

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…

By: Zane Simon | 9 years ago
GSP making a comeback? Dana White says he’s ‘leaning towards’ no
Bloody Elbow 2.0 | Anton Tabuena

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.

Share this story

About the author
Zane Simon
Zane Simon

Zane Simon is a senior editor, writer, and podcaster for Bloody Elbow. He has worked with the website since 2013, taking on a wide variety of roles. A lifelong combat sports fan, Zane has trained off & on in both boxing and Muay Thai. He currently hosts the long-running MMA Vivisection podcast, which he took over from Nate Wilcox & Dallas Winston in 2015, as well as the 6th Round podcast, started in 2014. Zane is also responsible for developing and maintaining the ‘List of current UFC fighters’ on Bloody Elbow, a resource he originally developed for Wikipedia in 2010.

More from the author

Bloody Elbow Podcast
Related Stories