Former UFC champ Georges St-Pierre declares himself a free agent

After negotiations broke down on a return to the UFC, former welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre on Monday declared himself a free agent.

St-Pierre (25-2 MMA, 19-2 UFC) made the announcement on “The MMA Hour,” claiming he’s gone separate ways with the promotion after it failed to give him a fight.

“My lawyer terminated the contract with the UFC,” he said.

The news comes shortly after after UFC President Dana White said St-Pierre wouldn’t fight at UFC 206, which takes place Dec. 10 at Air Canada Centre in Toronto and airs live on pay-per-view.

In a familiar refrain, White doubted whether St-Pierre would return to the octagon three years after stepping away from the sport and questioned whether he still wanted to fight.

“There’s a certain mentality you have to have to be a fighter, and Georges St-Pierre hasn’t had that mentality for a long time,” White said. “And sometimes that’s not a bad thing. Listen, the guy went out on top. How many athletes really go out on top? Go out the way you want to go out? The guy made a lot of money and when you take – this isn’t a sport you take a three-year layoff from.”

The former welterweight champ called White’s words “strategy” and said he was absolutely preparing to make a comeback. While he had a contract with the UFC from 2011, he began negotiating a new deal with former UFC Chairman Lorenzo Fertitta in February after signaling his desire to return to the octagon.

For a potential fight with current welterweight champ Tyron Woodley (16-3 MMA, 6-2 UFC), who called him out upon winning the title in July, St-Pierre entered the testing pool with the UFC’s anti-doping partner, the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency.

The French-Canadian called his offer to the promotion “really reasonable,” but indicated there was pushback on the subject of his worth.

“I remember at some time, the UFC told us that they would take a huge financial risk to have me back, and they would need to spend a lot of money to re-introduce me to the new audience,” St-Pierre said.

Still, St-Pierre and his team remained optimistic about a return, three years after he stepped away from the sport with his ninth title defense.

Then, the UFC’s $4 billion sale brought negotiations to a halt.

“I think we were close to an agreement toward the end, until the big news arrived, and the news was the UFC had gotten sold to new owners,” St-Pierre said. “We were told that everything was put on ice until the new owners take charge.”

After weeks of waiting, St-Pierre said he got some bad news.

“Lorenzo’s offer was off the table, so it was like a shock for us, because we felt we were making progress,” he said.

UFC officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment when contacted by MMAjunkie.

For more on this story as it develops, check back with MMAjunkie.