Tag: georges st-pierre

Georges St. Pierre responds to Michael Bisping’s UFC 206 challenge

Posted on by Josh Nason

In the ongoing ‘will he or won’t he’ story of Georges St. Pierre resuming his UFC career, the answer for now is still no according to GSP himself.

The former UFC welterweight champion released a short video on Twitter Wednesday where he addressed UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping’s recent tweets openly asking for the fight.

St-Pierre said nothing would make him happier than to fight Bisping at December’s UFC 206 in Toronto, CA, and that he met with new UFC head honcho Ari Emanuel and Dana White last week. While he said he made peace with White, nothing was resolved so for now, the fight isn’t happening but that “hopefully, things will change soon.”

The 35-year-old GSP has been out of the sport since a controversial split decision win over Johny Hendricks at UFC 167 in November 2013. A bit of a public feud with management ensued after he alluded to retirement and didn’t give White or then-UFC co-owner Lorenzo Fertitta a heads-up about the decision.

St-Pierre had made rumblings about returning to the UFC this year, but White was very non-committal in interviews about the possibility of him coming back, often saying it simply wasn’t going to happen because GSP didn’t want to come back.

The prevailing thought is that St-Pierre’s deal with Under Armour is conflicting with the UFC’s exclusive Reebok deal, raising contractual issues over compensation. Recently, St-Pierre told Ariel Helwani he was a free agent due to a contract clause, but the UFC shot that down the next day.

The strange story of a super-popular former UFC champion on the outside looking in will continue.

UFC insists that Georges St-Pierre remains under contract

Posted on by Joseph Currier

Despite his claims to the contrary, the UFC insists that Georges St-Pierre remains under contract with the company.

The company released a statement on Monday night: “Georges St-Pierre remains under an existing agreement with Zuffa, LLC as his MMA promoter. Zuffa intends to honor its agreement with St-Pierre and reserves its rights under the law to have St-Pierre do the same.”

St-Pierre made an appearance on the MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani on Monday afternoon to announce his supposed free agency. St-Pierre claimed that his lawyer terminated his contract with the UFC after they had failed to give him a fight when presented with a legal notice asking for one.

During the appearance, St-Pierre said that talks about his return fight had progressed when the Fertitta’s still owned the company, but Lorenzo Fertitta’s offer was pulled by the new owners after WME-IMG took control.

ESPN’s Brett Okamoto reached out to Bellator president Scott Coker on Monday about St-Pierre’s possible free agency, and Coker noted that the development was interesting.

St-Pierre issued a non-committal response when asked by Helwani if he would fight outside of the UFC, only saying that we’ll see what happens and that everything in mixed martial arts in about timing.

Georges St-Pierre: ‘I’m a free agent’ after terminating UFC contract

Posted on by Joseph Currier

It doesn’t appear that Georges St-Pierre will be returning to the UFC any time soon.

During an appearance on the MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani on Monday afternoon, St-Pierre claimed to now be a free agent.

“Right now I’m a free agent.” St-Pierre said. “You head it right, I’m a free agent. My lawyer terminated the contract with the UFC.”

St-Pierre said that he had made progress on a deal with Lorenzo Fertitta prior to the UFC being sold, but he was told by the new owners that Fertitta’s deal was off the table after the company was sold to WME-IMG.

After being told the offer was off the table, St-Pierre said that his lawyer sent the UFC a legal deadline to give him a fight. St-Pierre claimed that the UFC asked him at the last minute if he was interested in fighting Robbie Lawler at some point, but St-Pierre noted that Lawler had to pull out of UFC 205 and would be taking time off. After that deadline passed, St-Pierre said that his lawyer told him he was now a free agent.

St-Pierre claimed that what he asked for was financially reasonable, but he was told by the UFC prior to the sale that they were taking a financial risk by bringing him back and would have to spend a lot of money reintroducing him to the audience.

St-Pierre said that it was decided that UFC 206 in Toronto was the best place for him to return prior to negotiations falling apart.

“I don’t take it personal. I find it actually a little bit funny, to tell you the truth.” St-Pierre said when asked about the UFC’s claims that they would have to reintroduce him to the audience. “Because I know it’s a lie, but sometimes I really believe, I start to ask myself if they believe in what they’re saying, if they’re so caught up into what they’re saying that they start believing it.”

St-Pierre said that he was confident that fans didn’t forget about him, and felt that he would’ve sold out the Toronto show in minutes.

When asked if he would fight elsewhere, St-Pierre said that we will see what happens and that everything in mixed martial arts is a question of timing.

St-Pierre, one of the biggest draws and most successful fighters in the history of the sport, last fought at UFC 167 in December 2013, where he picked up a controversial split decision win over Johny Hendricks.

Georges St-Pierre: ‘I’m starting the USADA process to be tested’

Posted on by Joseph Currier

In an interview with Ram Gilboa on Bloody Elbow today, former welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre said that he is negotiating with the UFC about a possible return to the Octagon and will soon begin the USADA drug testing process that is required ahead of a potential fight.

St-Pierre is one of the biggest stars in UFC history, but hasn’t competed in mixed martial arts since scoring a controversial victory over Johny Hendricks at UFC 167 in November of 2013.

It has recently been speculated that GSP could face newly-crowned welterweight champion Tyron Woodley upon his return if it were to happen, and Nick Diaz has also been mentioned as a potential opponent.

When asked about a possible return, St-Pierre said, “My agent is negotiating with the UFC, they had an offer, we made a counteroffer, you know that’s how business goes. And then we heard a day after that UFC sold for $4 billion dollars. So we waited for a few days, to see what was going on, because even some of the employees were afraid of losing their job — even some of the high ranking people in the UFC were afraid. We wanted to let the management to take care of their own company first, and then see what happens.”

“Now we’re talking again and I’m starting the USADA process to be tested, I’m starting it Aug 10th in Las Vegas. Because to be eligible to fight you need to be tested.”

On the topic of the Diaz brothers, St-Pierre said, “I have no problem with Nate. It seems to me to me like it’s Nick Diaz that is running for another shot at me. I wouldn’t mind, I’m not afraid of Nick Diaz, I’ll tell you. I am telling you right now: If it’s what the fans want to see, I’m in.”

When discussing the negotiation process with the UFC, St-Pierre mentioned that Michael Bisping was originally offered as the opponent for his return fight in Toronto before Bisping defeated Luke Rockhold to win the UFC middleweight championship at UFC 199 earlier this year.