Georges St. Pierre News

Justin Golightly - March 6, 2018

Thanks to Conor McGregor, in part due to Frankie Edgar’s manager Ali Abdel-Aziz, the 165 division has been talked about more recently than it has in the last couple of years. When it was leaked he wanted a 165-pound title during the UFC 222 late replacement back-and-forth, few really believed it. However, Artem Lobov and later Dana White confirmed McGregor was indeed in talks to step up and fight Edgar. Now Diego Sanchez has brought everything back in discussion and has the monumental fight he wants to debut the division. “Conor McGregor, come on brother. We need the 165-pound weight class. You have the power with UFC and Dana White to make it happen. First three division champion fight and winner goes down as the real greatest of all time. The sport needs this weight class. Georges St-Pierre talks 155-pounds, 165-pounds is realistic. Make it happen, Audie Attar. History in the making.” — Diego Sanchez on his official Instagram.

Tom Taylor - March 6, 2018

On Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour, former UFC welterweight and middleweight champion Georges St-Pierre discussed potential matchups with many of the sport’s biggest names. Among those names were current welterweight champ Tyron Woodley, who has been calling for a fight with St-Pierre for months, and Nick and Nate Diaz. Apparently, none of these matchups are particularly interesting to the former champ St-Pierre. He started by poking holes in the merits of fights with the Diaz brothers.

Drake Riggs - March 5, 2018

“Ben Askren, I don’t understand why he’s not in the UFC. He’s one of the best in the world and I think it has to do with maybe a problem he has with Dana White, you know but he’s one of the best fighters in the world. If there is a guy that in my career, for my legacy that would have been good to fight, it’d be Ben Askren because he beat everybody. All the guys at Bellator, he beat all the champions outside the UFC but unfortunately, I think he has a fallout with Dana and he never had a chance to fight in the UFC and therefore is stuck. Never went to the value that he’s supposed to be at.

Justin Golightly - February 22, 2018

Ben Askren has made it no secret his retirement has one, big Canadian asterisk. He’s only coming back to fight Georges St-Pierre to finally prove to all the naysayers that, despite the fact that he never fought in the UFC, that he’s the very best welterweight in the entire world. But what if that fight can’t happen? What about a money fight with the likes of Nate Diaz or even Conor McGregor? Don’t get your hopes up. Askren essentially shrugs at the names and says he’s going to stay on course in campaigning for a fight with GSP. “Nate Diaz sucks. I mean, yeah. [Conor] McGregor is barely the best in the world. I mean, the guy beat up Nate Diaz barely a couple of times and Nate Diaz himself is a very mediocre UFC fighter. There is no way you can argue that sentiment because all you have to do is look at [Diaz’s] record. The record shows he’s a very middle-of-the-road UFC fighter, he’s a 500 guy. He wins half, he loses half. Sure, he’s had some good wins, but he’s also had some terrible losses.”

Drake Riggs - February 12, 2018

As it stands right now, labeling the career of undefeated Bellator and ONE  welterweight champion, Ben Askren a “mystery” wouldn’t feel very outrageous. How so? Everyone who has ever seen Askren fight can see how very clearly talented he was and is. The mystery just remains, “exactly how good was he?” Askren capped off his eighteen fight career in November fighting for ONE Championships and never stepping foot into a UFC octagon. Despite making it clear he’s retired, Askren has still left the door open to a possibility. Proving he truly was the best regardless of whether he fought for the UFC or not. To do so, Askren believes he must face one of the greatest of all time across all weight classes, Georges St-Pierre. Askren made a bold prediction when speaking with MMAJunkie today:

Drake Riggs - February 9, 2018

If it weren’t for Robert Whittaker suffering the knee injury he did prior to and in the Yoel Romero fight at UFC 213, it’s very highly unlikely that Georges St-Pierre would have had his middleweight title shot at UFC 217. When Whittaker and Romero fought, it was for the interim championship as the undisputed champ at the time, Michael Bisping has been sidelined himself. But after Whittaker’s big victory, he was unable to follow up with the unification title fight with Bisping which led to GSP’s return and taking of the title in an incredible performance.

Justin Golightly - February 7, 2018

The status of UFC great Georges St-Pierre is still up in the air after the grueling process of moving up to middleweight contributed to contacting ulcerative colitis. This weekend, Luke Rockhold and Yoel Romero will be fighting for the interim version of the undisputed title St-Pierre handed over to Robert Whittaker. We knew that if GSP came back, it’d probably be at his old welterweight home. …But that’s if he came back. That question may have been partly answered today from the leader of the Danaher Death Squad, John Danaher. He posted a statement after a training session between St-Pierre and former foe Jake Shields. “How would you do if you had to fight yourself? This is always an interesting hypothetical question — in the case of Georges St-Pierre and Jake Shields it is actually a practical question. I have never seen two athletes so closely matched in skill level, tactics, technique etc. in ground grappling. When they spar each other the only difference I see is their appearance and accent — other than that — identical. It’s great to see Mr. St-Pierre back in the gym despite his battle with ulcerative colitis.”

Tom Taylor - January 31, 2018

In the wake of last weekend’s UFC Charlotte card, the UFC has adjusted its official rankings. The biggest shakeup this time surrounds Former UFC middleweight and welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre’s ejection from the middleweight rankings. Given that St-Pierre is not expected to fight again for quite some time – if ever – his ejection from the middleweight rankings makes some sense. Contrary to this logic, however, Ronda Rousey, who is now a full-time pro wrestler for WWE, is still ranking at women’s bantamweight. Why? Who knows…

Justin Golightly - January 19, 2018

UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley is sidelined waiting for his shoulder to heal, but he’s made no question that he wants Georges St-Pierre when he comes back. After vacating the middleweight title due to health issues from gaining weight, it seemed like it was a fight that made sense for St-Pierre. Meanwhile, former title challenger Stephen Thompson is coming off a win over Jorge Masvidal and is gunning for another fight with Woodley himself. Friends with St-Pierre, Thompson recently sat down and gave us some insight on the potential welterweight title fight told us why he believes it doesn’t happen. “Do I see [Tyron Woodley] fighting Georges [St-Pierre]? Hell no. Well, that’s the thing. [St-Pierre]’s a very good friend of mine. I really, I don’t want that to happen. He understands that that’s my goal is to get that belt, you know what I mean? If that does come down to it, I would actually put that in his arena if he would like to [fight me] or not because he would be the champion if he beats Tyron. I would put that in his arena and say, ‘Hey,’ — make UFC go to him and say — ‘Hey, does this fight seem right?’ or whatever. Cause before I fought Tyron, we talked. [St-Pierre]’s like, ‘Man, I’m coming back. I have no interest in fighting you,” stuff like that as a friend.”

Tom Taylor - January 16, 2018

Back in November, former UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre made a triumphant return to the cage, toppling Michael Bisping to win the UFC middleweight title. Unfortunately for St-Pierre fans, however, this comeback is looking more and more like a one-off. Since then, St-Pierre has vacated the middleweight title, and admitted he’s dealing with ulcerative-colitis. Based on these developments his long time jiu-jitsu coach John Danaher is not optimistic that he’ll ever fight again.

Justin Golightly - January 12, 2018

While Tyron Woodley recuperates from his shoulder surgery, welterweight contenders are pacing back and forth itching at their shot to try and take his gold away from him. Rafael dos Anjos feels like he has earned it with his dominant performance against former champ Robbie Lawler, but Woodley already told him he has other plans. Colby Covington has had Woodley’s name in his mouth since his win over Demian Maia, but T-Wood thinks he doesn’t deserve it. What the UFC welterweight champion wants is to prove he is the best of all time. Something he can only do against Georges St-Pierre. “I’d say that’s my big prediction for 2018. Big prediction for me is I fight Georges St-Pierre on my first fight back. Georges, my shoulder is sore. I can’t even punch. Georges, I can’t even punch. I can’t punch.Georges, it’s hard to sleep. Georges, if you want to fight me brother, this is the time. If you want to get me Georges, it’s right now. He’s a G. He would exit the sport and nobody would give him that much stuff for losing to me.”

Justin Golightly - December 27, 2017

Heading into 2018, the middleweight division has been basically returned back to normal, but there is still a big mysterious cloud surrounding Georges St-Pierre. He came, he saw, he conquered, but now no one has any idea what his plans are. The only thing certain, is that he will not be coming back to middleweight after his diagnosis of ulcerative colitis. Fans aren’t the only ones unclear of what St-Pierre’s plans are, Dana White thinks it was a cash grab and he’s out for good. “There is no status [update on Georges St-Pierre]. I knew what he was doing. That’s why I put [a mandatory title defense] into his contract. We both knew what was going on. I don’t know, man. I don’t think the guy wants to fight. I think he jumped in, grabbed some cash and went back to Canada. He ain’t fighting Conor McGregor. If he wants to come back, [UFC welterweight champion] Tyron Woodley or [middleweight champion] Robert Whittaker is waiting for him. They’re both waiting, if Georges wants to come back.” — Dana White speaking to Brett Okamoto of ESPN.

Justin Golightly - December 23, 2017

We don’t have to tell you that Georges St-Pierre’s life is ridiculous. He came back after four years away from the sport and took the UFC middleweight title away from Michael Bisping. That accomplishment is extraordinary in and of itself, but even away from the sport, St-Pierre does some awesome stuff. He literally went searching for dinosaur bones with the History channel. As famous as he is here, he’s practically a deity in Canada. Even celebrities and athletes from other sports want to hang out with the man. Even Hulkamania was running wild getting to chill with Georges St-Pierre. Last night, had the chance to hang out with two good guys – @davidguetta and the one and only @HulkHogan!!! pic.twitter.com/asAz1h23XJ

Justin Golightly - December 21, 2017

No matter how many times we say it, it never sounds less crazy. Georges St-Pierre really did come back after four years away from the UFC and take a belt in a higher weight class. Honestly, he could walk away from the sport just like he vacated the title and no one could question his career. If he does decide to stay and finish out the last three fights on his contract, there simply aren’t a lot of huge options for the former two-division champion. Kenny Florian recently gave his insight on what St-Pierre’s next moves could be and there is no question they’d have to be giant fights. “I think [Georges St-Pierre] who has done it all in this sport, and I think if there’s one guy who deserves the super fight or a mega fight, it’s GSP. And talk about a guy who was old school, who did it the old fashion way of just clearly beating anyone and everyone. He wasn’t a guy who was going, ‘Oh, well this guy, he doesn’t promote himself enough so I’m not gonna fight Jon Fitch, or I’m not gonna fight Josh Koscheck, or I’m not gonna fight,’ he would just fight whoever the hell it was, whoever the UFC had for him is who he would face. So I think that he does deserve a mega fight. […] As far as asking or demanding a fight with Conor McGregor, I don’t think you’ll ever hear it from GSP because being a guy who was bullied when he was a kid, he feels like that’s kind of a bully mentality. You know, you don’t try to pick a fight with someone smaller than you, that’s kind of what has been GSP’s mentality.”

Tom Taylor - December 18, 2017

Shortly after he won the UFC middleweight title with a third-round submission of Michael Bisping, Georges St-Pierre vacated it, citing an ongoing battle with colitis and uncertainty about his fighting future. Since then, there has been widespread doubt as to whether the MMA great will ever fight again. According to his head coach Firas Zahabi, however, St-Pierre is likely to return if he’s offered a fight that interests him. Apparently, there are a few names that stand out to that end – one of which will definitely surprise you.

Justin Golightly - December 14, 2017

After the shake-up at middleweight, everything seems to have returned to normal. Not only is there movement, not only does Robert Whittaker get a fight, it’s with Luke Rockhold for the undisputed title thanks to Georges St-Pierre vacating the belt. While everything seems to be coming up Whittaker, he still lost out on a huge fight with the former welterweight king. It would have been a giant chance for the fighter just now reaching his prime, especially since Whittaker grew up watching him, to potentially put that win on his record. Belt or not, Whittaker wanted the fight out of respect. “I don’t think there was a doubt in any one’s mind who the real [UFC middleweight] champ was. I fought my way up through some hard dudes to get to where I am, and yeah, I am the champ, I was the champ. Yeah, it was [disappointing I couldn’t fight Georges St-Pierre for the belt], because I wanted to fight Georges out of respect more than anything. I idolized him as a child coming up and as a young man coming up in my career he was always like one of my biggest idols. To be able to fight him would’ve been great, to put him on my resume and say I fought Georges St-Pierre, that was great. But I don’t think I ever really convinced myself that he would fight me. I think it was a dangerous fight for him, a hard fight for him and it is what it is.” Perth make sure your ready 👊🏽 #ufc221 @ufc @lukerockhold pic.twitter.com/uEOtMOTh1k

Justin Golightly - December 12, 2017

Just last week, Georges St-Pierre vacated his freshly won UFC middleweight title, directly promoting Robert Whittaker’s fight with Luke Rockhold in Perth for the undisputed belt. It was the fallout from his UFC 217 health scare that led to his decision. St-Pierre basically tortured himself to move up a division, which culminated in a ulcerative colitis diagnosis. It became so bad, the fight was almost called off. Now John Danaher admits he even though St-Pierre would lose in his impaired state. “Halfway through this camp we knew there was something very seriously wrong. There was a point where we lost a week and a half of training. Even the day of the [Michael Bisping] fight, [Georges St-Pierre] was dealing with serious medical problems. I’m not going to lie to you, two weeks out I had a talk with Firas Zahabi and I said that the St-Pierre I saw train today gets knocked out by Michael Bisping. He did exactly what the plan was designed to do. He finished the fight with a beautiful strike setting up a submission hold. […] And he did it on a man above him in weight class. What made it all the more impressive if he did this with all the health problems he was dealing with.”

Tom Taylor - December 11, 2017

Back in early November, former UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre returned from a lengthy hiatus to capture the UFC middleweight title, hammering then champion Michael Bisping to a third-round submission win. While this stood out as one of the most impressive moments of St-Pierre’s incredible career, it was followed by a stretch of uncertainty, as it was unknown whether the Canadian would defend his title, or perhaps seek out a different opportunity in another division instead.