St. Pierre announced the news Tuesday via Twitter, hinting at his planned UFC 154 title unification bout against interim champion Carlos Condit. UFC officials previously announced the tentative booking between St. Pierre and Condit, provided St. Pierre’s recovery went as planned. UFC 154 takes place Nov. 17 at the Bell Centre in Montreal and airs live on pay-per-view.
“I’m now medically cleared to compete in professional mixed martial arts events,” St. Pierre wrote. “Rendez-vous [Nov. 17 at] UFC 154, Montreal!”
St. Pierre, 31, has not lost since April 2007. The reigning two-time UFC welterweight champion recaptured his belt in 2008 and has defended it successfully six times, most recently outpointing Jake Shields last year at UFC 129. St. Pierre was expected to hold his next title defense this past October at UFC 137 but was forced to postpone his fight until February due to injury. However, “Rush” was again injured while training for his UFC 143 bout with Condit, tearing his ACL and placing him on the sideline indefinitely.
Condit instead faced former Strikeforce champion Nick Diaz in the Feb. 4 headliner, outpointing the Californian to become the current interim title holder. “The Natural Born Killer” has yet to defend his new title since winning the interim belt, instead electing instead to wait for St. Pierre’s return.
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