Chael Sonnen is not optimistic about Georges St-Pierre’s future in the middleweight division

In the latest episode of his “Beyond the Fight” series, UFC veteran and current Bellator star Chael Sonnen shared his belief that former UFC welterweight champ Georges St-Pierre should not be counted out in his UFC 217 showdown with Michael Bisping.

“People think Bisping is going to kill him,” Sonnen said of widespread perceptions that St-Pierre will lose this fight. “Luke Rockhold, one of the best middleweights of all time, former champion, Luke Rockhold’s opinion matters. He says it’s not even a close fight, that Michael Bisping runs him over.”

“Georges is now the underdog,” Sonnen added, touching on the fight’s actual betting odds. “That stunned me. I’m not sure what’s different now than when this fight got announced.”

While Sonnen believes St-Pierre has a good chance of defeating Bisping, however, he is not particularly optimistic about the former welterweight’s continued success in the middleweight division. He envisions real problems for St-Pierre when it comes time for fights with monstrous middleweight contenders like Yoel Romero, Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza, and of course, interim middleweight champion Robert Whittaker.

“When this [Michael Bisping vs. Georges St-Pierre] fight got announced, I almost wasn’t that interested,” Sonnen said. “I was thinking ‘well, what’s Georges going to do?’ If Georges is right, and he likes the matchup [with Bisping], and he goes out and gets the win, is going to go back and defend the title? So when you start having the conversation [about] styles, right, and you start thinking ‘Georges vs. [Yoel] Romero, or Georges vs. ‘Jacare’ [Souza], or Georges vs. [Robert] Whittaker, it’s very easy to close your eyes and just envision Georges not being big enough.”

What do you think of these comments from Chael Sonnen? Do you think Georges St-Pierre can hang with the UFC middleweight division’s premier contenders? Join the conversation in the comments section!

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 10/19/2017.