The greatest welterweight of all-time is about to take on the biggest fight of his career. And no, it’s not a return at UFC 206 in Toronto.
Georges St-Pierre announced on Monday that he is a free agent,telling Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour (h/t MMA Fighting's Marc Raimondi) that negotiations with the UFC had faltered since new ownership took over and he was moving on.
It’s a shocking turn of events considering the momentum a GSP return has collected in recent months, with his constant lobbying for a fight by the end of the year, his official return as a USADA-tested UFC athlete and his very public (and very bizarre) jousting in the media with UFC president Dana White.
At a time when star power is driving the sport more than ever, the notion that the UFC didn’t appear wildly interested in bringing back one of the biggest draws they’ve ever had was a curious development, and St-Pierre now seems willing to call their bluff to maximum effect.
GSP arguably was entitled to have a fight offered to him sans Reebok and USADA. If UFC did not do so he may be on solid ground
— Erik Magraken (@erikmagraken) October 17, 2016
“You heard it right,” he told Helwani. “I’m a free agent.”
He continued: “I have other options. I'm not caught up legally with a contract. I'm a free man."
Granted the UFC may not see things the same way, and you can bet they’ll be getting a particularly litigious itch when it comes time to fire back if past history is any indication, the former champion’s intentions are quite clear.
The whole objective of being a free agent is contractual freedom—you're cutting ties with one party so you're free to pursue a contract with any other parties who deem your services worthy of purchase. St-Pierre has an eye on freeing himself from the clutches of the UFC and hitting the market to see what he’s worth in the eyes of the sport at large.
And as much of a gentleman as he is, no one would doubt his interest in a good fight.
He’s already enlisted the help of James Quinn of Weil, Gotshal & Manges, a law firm with considerable experience in “high stakes commercial disputes.” Though he’s perhaps not as keen to hit a double leg or throw combinations as his newest client, Quinn has had fights in sports and entertainment by way of representing college athletes as well as players in the four major sports, among others.
The awards he’s collected are totalling into the billions. So yeah, there’s definitely a fight brewing.
The interesting part of all of this is the nature of the fight itself. With St-Pierre already proclaiming victory and the UFC oddly mum as of Monday evening, it seems like a storm is on the horizon. Fighters have been increasingly unhappy with their treatment in the back half of 2016, with multiple athletes voicing intention to quit the sport rather than be oppressed any further by the promotion.
Some have even already followed through.
It appears in the earliest stages of this free agency that GSP will look to fight the UFC in a way that no one successfully has to this point by attempting to undermine his contract with them.
UFC deals are notoriously favorable to the promoter and functionally ironclad in their structure, language and implementation, so much so that wealthy fighters of eras past accepted defeat after rallying against them and others have gone so far as to give up the rights to their own face rather than test the legal mettle of the UFC.
St-Pierre is a different case however, an athlete who is effectively retired and independently wealthy, and may well be willing to fight for a principle at this point instead of doing his fighting in the cage on a deal he finds offensive. There’s no question he doesn’t like the way fighters are being treated, and now he appears to have the motivation to do something about it considering how he’s been treated himself in recent months.
GSP: Most fighters are starving, which is good for the UFC. If your employees are starving, they are easier to control.
— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) October 17, 2016
GSP: Most MMA fighters will leave the sport "broke mentally, physically and financially."
— Scott Harris (@ScottHarrisMMA) October 17, 2016
The oddity on which all parties remain silent is how avoidable this all was. Between White railing against the Canadian’s return and St-Pierre himself stating that inflexibility from management was the biggest stumbling block in the negotiation, it looks as though the promotion simply chose not to play ball with one of the faces that defined its largest growth period.
GSP on #themmahour: "Dana White doesn't know what it is to be a fighter. I know what it is to be a fighter."
— Shaheen Al-Shatti (@shaunalshatti) October 17, 2016
A willingness to allow some Under Armour instead of some Reebok and some Gatorade instead of some Monster Energy, or a willingness to compensate for those things, and none of this comes to fruition. St-Pierre is happy and back in the octagon, fighters remain without a name to unify behind and the UFC makes a fortune all around.
Yet here we are, with St-Pierre fixing for his final UFC fight and it’s in the name of an ideal instead of in the name of competition in the cage.
This is his last stand, and he’ll stand it in the name of contractual freedom. We’re through the looking glass now folks, what happens from here on out is anyone’s guess.
