Dana White tries to explain why he won’t book Khabib vs GSP: St-Pierre didn’t keep his word

Georges St-Pierre and Khabib Nurmagomedov have been wanting to fight each other for a while, but the UFC hasn’t shown any interest in making the fight happen. These failed negotiations is also one of the reasons why the two-division champion decided to retire.

Months later, and Khabib is still calling for the bout, while St-Pierre’s coach is hinting that an “amazing” offer could make GSP consider making a comeback. Dana White though just isn’t interested, and he tried to explain his reasoning.

“Georges St-Pierre and I had a deal,” White told Aaron Bronsteter. “He was gonna fight Bisping at 185 lbs, and if he won, he would defend the title. He bailed on that, didn’t do it. You can’t just come out of retirement, and hand pick fights that you want for the title.”

White also noted that a 165 lb division isn’t on the table, nor is any catchweight for the two.

“165 is never going to happen. It doesn’t mean anything. It’s not a super fight at 165, and Georges St-Pierre is coming from 85, 70, to 55… or 65?? C’mon!” White exclaimed.

“He made this deal with me that he would defend the title. He went in and saw Bisping as an easy fight — fought Bisping. And when you look at the guys that are behind Bisping, they’re all killers! They’re all literally killers, right? But now to come back and he wants to fight at 155 for the title… we’re not doing a goofy 165 whatever, that’s not going to happen.

“I guess if I get into a position where Khabib, the champ, wants it bad enough, we’re going to have to talk about it. But at the end of the day, it doesn’t make sense to me.

“Of other guys lined up, you were just asking me if Tony Ferguson is getting a title shot. ‘We’ll give you a shot after Georges St-Pierre slides in at 155 and gets a shot!’ Then you’ve got Conor who wants a rematch. There’s guys backed up that want to fight. You can’t come back out of retirement and hand pick fights that you want, when you didn’t even keep your word with me on defending the 85 lb belt.”

White mentioned fairness and people being skipped over a title shot, but there’s been many cases where they’d be more than willing to overlook rankings and a lot of the sporting aspects for what they deem to be good business decisions.

One thing consistent about the UFC though, is them always valuing control. While St-Pierre’s return would be very good business, it seems like ceding some of that just isn’t worth it for them.