Georges St-Pierre didn’t have to wait long after his victory against Michael Bisping at UFC 217 to find out who he’s fighting next.
St-Pierre capped off an incredible night of fights in New York by choking out Bisping to become the new middleweight champion and the fourth ever two-division champion in UFC history.
As soon as the event was finished there were already contenders lining up for a chance to get the next shot at St-Pierre but it turns out he’ll be facing another champion instead.
“It’s gonna be [Robert] Whittaker,” UFC president Dana White confirmed when pressed for information on St-Pierre’s next opponent at the post fight-press conference. “He’s staying at 185 pounds.”
Whittaker is the reigning interim middleweight champion, but he was forced out of action following a win over Yoel Romero in July with a knee injury. Whittaker was sitting cage side for the action on Saturday night and he certainly had a big smile on his face after watching St-Pierre put Bisping away to win the title.
White sounded confident that St-Pierre vs. Whittaker was going to happen next but the only question remains is when that title unification bout might take place.
Whittaker won’t be ready again until 2018 with his knee injury and unfortunately there was no word from St-Pierre after his fight on Saturday night as he was transported to the hospital to get stitches for his nose that was cut open during the fight with Bisping.
“I don’t even know what’s going on with GSP. He was transported to the hospital,” White confirmed. “He’s got to get stitches in his nose. If he doesn’t take Bisping down and keeps it standing, he comes out of that fight with almost no damage. Bisping did some serious work from his back, had his nose opened, blood all over his face. He took some big shots from the top position. If he didn’t do that, he probably would have come out pretty much unscathed but he’s gotta go to the hospital right now.
“So we’ll see how he is. I don’t know what the status is with him.”
Either way it looks like the middleweight division will see a unification bout next year when St-Pierre is ready to fight again with Whittaker anxiously awaiting his chance to become the undisputed champion of the world.
