Georges St-Pierre is definitely one and done in the middleweight division after surrendering the 185-pound title earlier this week but from the sound of things he may not return to the UFC for another fight all together.
UFC president Dana White commented on St-Pierre vacating the middleweight belt after being diagnosed with a bout of colitis that will keep him sidelined in the immediate future while Robert Whittaker will face Luke Rockhold in February for the undisputed championship.
When St-Pierre defeated Michael Bisping in November to become middleweight champion, he stated that there was a stipulation in his contract that his next fight had to be a title defense at 185 pounds.
Obviously that’s not happening now and White certainly made it seem like we may have seen the last of St-Pierre inside the Octagon.
“You know at the end of the day, there’s a reason I put that stuff in the contract for him to sign. There’s a reason. Am I shocked? I don’t think anybody’s shocked. He came out, he hand picked [Michael] Bisping and went away again. Whatever. It is what it is,” White said on Saturday night in Fresno.
“He doesn’t want to fight anybody at welterweight. That’s why he fought Bisping. He didn’t want to fight [Tyron] Woodley, he didn’t want to fight [Stephen] “Wonderboy” Thompson, he didn’t want to fight any of those guys. He wanted to fight Michael Bisping and he did and now he’s off again.”
Last week before this all unfolded, White was adamant that he would be “pissed” if St-Pierre’s next fight took place anywhere other than the middleweight division but now that he’s faced with that very scenario, he’s actually not all that upset.
Instead, White says he honestly predicted that this would happen as soon as St-Pierre won the title to become only the fourth fighter in UFC history to win championships in two different divisions.
“Listen, I’m not shocked, I’m not mad. It is what it is,” White said. “I thought I would be [pissed] but I’m not. I expected it. I had him sign a contract saying that he would defend against [Robert] Whittaker for a reason. Because I knew he wouldn’t.”
