Georges St-Pierre thinks Michael Bisping fight still happens: I want to retire him

Despite UFC President Dana White telling the world otherwise, Georges St-Pierre is still confident his UFC comeback fight will be against Michael Bisping – for the middleweight title, and later this year.

In March, the UFC hosted a press conference to announce a fight between St-Pierre (25-2 MMA, 19-2 UFC) and current 185-pound champ Bisping (30-7 MMA, 20-7 UFC) for later this year. No date or location was revealed, though, which marked the beginning of months of uncertainty around the fight.

St-Pierre initially stated he could not fight until at least November due to outside commitments, which irritated White to the point he said the fight was off and Bisping would instead defend against top contender Yoel Romero.

Those plans reversed course soon after, though, and Bisping revealed a knee injury while St-Pierre declared a lingering eye issue that still needs several more months to heal. That puts both fighters back on a similar timeline, and as “Rush” recently told TSN.ca, leads him to believe the pair will remain matched up.

“(The fight) was changing, but I talked to Dana a few days ago,” St-Pierre said. “I tried to convince him that it was a good thing, that if I come back it needs to be a situation where I put a lot of the risk, but I need to have something I can gain from it.

“Big risk, big reward. Fighting Michael Bisping, that’s what it gives me. … He said we’ll figure it out. We’ll see what happens.”

St-Pierre doesn’t deny Bisping is the most desirable matchup for him at this stage, and he said “The Count” feels the same way. Not only would a win make St-Pierre, a former longtime welterweight champ, just the fourth fighter in UFC history to win belts in two different weight classes, it would also earn him into a tie for the most victories in UFC history (20), a record he owned before Bisping surpassed him.

Both St-Pierre and Bisping have publicly stated that the next loss in their careers will likely result in retirement. That gives St-Pierre even more motivated to have the fight, he said, because if he can force the Brit out of the sport, it would open the door for him to gain back to the all-time UFC wins record for himself.

“I want to be the one that retires him,” St-Pierre told TSN.ca. “He’s got the most wins (in UFC history). I don’t want him to win again because he beat my record, and I’m the one that had the record before. He’s got one over me. I’m going to beat him and then win another few more. Then I’m 36, so it will be time to retire after a few more.”

For more on the UFC’s upcoming schedule, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.