White says St-Pierre vs. Hendricks II up next: ‘There needs to be a rematch; Johny deserves this rematch’

LAS VEGAS – When UFC President Dana White walked out of Saturday night’s UFC 167 post-event press conference, he admitted he was “miserable.” When he walked back in few minutes later, things had completely changed.

“I think everything is going to be fine,” White said. “I think everything is going to roll like it always does.”

At the center of White’s anger wasn’t that UFC welterweight champ Georges St-Pierre (25-2 MMA, 19-2 UFC) was granted a controversial split-decision win over Johny Hendricks (15-2 MMA, 10-2 UFC) in the main event of UFC 167, which took place at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand Garden Arena. Instead, it was that St-Pierre was expressing a desire to take some kind of unspecified time away from the sport.

After a fight White felt confident Hendricks had won, only for judges to award St-Pierre a split decision, the UFC boss was intent on booking the rematch. When the evening’s post-event press conference was over, that seemed impossible, unless Hendricks was willing to wait out the champ’s self-imposed resting period. But when White returned to the press room shortly after a private conversation with St-Pierre, he was singing a different tune.

“I don’t think there’s going to be a waiting situation,” White said. “I don’t think it’s going to be like that.

“[St-Pierre] wants to fight. This isn’t about fighting or retiring. It was a personal problem that has him very, very upset right now, and I’m very confident he’s going to work it out.

During the press conference, St-Pierre hinted at his concerns, seemingly suggesting the pressures of his position as champion were becoming an overwhelming responsibility.

“I can’t sleep at night, man,” he told MMAjunkie. “I’m going crazy. I have issues, and I need to get out for a while. I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

White said he sympathizes with the champ’s position and feels confident St-Pierre can make a quick recovery despite his current objections.

“I deal with guys in this company all the time with so much s–t that you guys don’t even know,” White said. “These guys all have personal problems and all these other things. How long has Georges St-Pierre been here? Eight, nine years? This is the first time Georges St-Pierre has had a problem. But it happens. He’s a human being. They’re all human beings, and they all get issues sometimes that need to be dealt with.”

Of course, the position is eerily similar to September’s UFC 165 event, when UFC light heavyweight champ Jon Jones and Alexander Gustafsson put on an incredible five-round affair. Afterward, White said a rematch seemed to make sense but shortly after elected to instead book Jones against Glover Teixeira and Gustafsson against Antonio Rogerio Nogueira. White said this is a different situation, as the only fight that makes sense for either St-Pierre or Hendricks is a second meeting, especially with no other clear contenders in line.

“There needs to be a rematch,” White said. “Johny deserves this rematch. Every fight is different. You can’t look at other situations and go, ‘But in this fight … .’

“Every fight is different. Johny Hendricks deserves this rematch.’”

For complete coverage of UFC 167, stay tuned to the UFC Events section of the site.