While the unfortunate news of Khabib Nurmagomedov’s withdrawal from UFC 209 has killed some of the hype for this weekend’s blockbuster pay-per-view, Michael Bisping and Georges St-Pierre livened things up at Friday’s press conference in Las Vegas.
Things got heated during the staredown when Bisping — in classic Bisping fashion — tried to antagonize St-Pierre with trash talk. The Brit also told GSP to ‘go back to fu**ing Canada’ during a Q&A with reporters.
St-Pierre will return to the Octagon after spending almost four years in quasi-retirement. The Canadian star defended his welterweight title nine times and is still considered one of the greatest pound-for-pound fighters in the sport.
GSP stepped away from competition in 2013 and took some time to recharge the batteries after defending his belt against Johny Hendricks at UFC 167.
The 35-year-old will, for the first time in his career, compete at middleweight and challenge Bisping for the 185-pound title in hopes of becoming a two-division champion.
Bisping, a UFC veteran of ten years, shocked the world when he knocked out Luke Rockhold to become champ last year. ‘The Count’ went on to defend the MW strap against old rival Dan Henderson in his backyard of Manchester, England, at UFC 204 and was expected to defend the belt for a second time against No.1 ranked middleweight contender Yoel Romero later this year.
Instead, the UFC decided to book Bisping vs. St-Pierre and, according to Dana White, the championship bout is expected to take place in July.
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