Any hope of a last-minute effort to get Michael Bisping vs. Georges St-Pierre on the UFC’s big International Fight Week pay-per-view in July can be laid to rest. It’s not going to happen.
And for those Canadian fans that were hoping that UFC 216 being announced for Sept. 9 in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, meant that St-Pierre would soon return to fighting on his home turf… nope.
St-Pierre released a video message directed at Bisping via social media on Friday, pushing their fight back to November, at the earliest.
“Mr. Bisping, I clear my entire schedule to get ready for training camp after the summer. So, I can fight you any time after October, you pick the date. Let’s get it on,” said St-Pierre.
That is certainly not good news for UFC president Dana White, who had initially been pressing for the fight to take place at UFC 213 on July 8 in Las Vegas.
With Conor McGregor taking time off for the birth of his first child and angling for a boxing match with Floyd Mayweather, a Ronda Rousey return becoming less likely by the day, and Jon Jones still sidelined due to a suspension, the UFC has been struggling to find strong draws to headline its pay-per-view events in 2017.
St-Pierre’s return may have been an effort to bolster the top end of the roster, but it’s going to come way too late in the year to do much good for the promotion’s bottom line, especially follow a highly successful 2016, which saw high-drawing pay-per-views.
Bisping has previously stated that he wasn’t going to wait around for St-Pierre and would instead be willing to face top contender Yoel Romero. It will be interesting to see if the UFC takes him up on his offer.
