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Georges St-Pierre doesn’t think he’ll defend UFC middleweight title
From the moment Georges St-Pierre announced that he would be returning to competition at 185 pounds, there were questions about how long he would stay there.
“GSP” recently came back from a four-year hiatus and defeated Michael Bisping at UFC 217 to capture the middleweight championship, and he repeatedly stated that his contract dictate that he defend the title against interim champion Robert Whittaker.
However, on Wednesday, St-Pierre told TSN that he is having serious doubts about returning to his new division.
“We’ll talk about it, but I’m not sure if I compete I will go back at 185,” St-Pierre said. “I don’t think so.”
St-Pierre has spent almost the entirety of his 28-fight career competing at 170 pounds, the weight class where he twice captured UFC gold (plus one interim belt) and recorded nine consecutive successful title defenses before stepping away from MMA in November 2013. The UFC 217 main event marked the first time that St-Pierre fought at 185 pounds.
UFC president Dana White recently broke the news that St-Pierre was suffering from colitis, an illness that may be related to the changes GSP had to make to move up a weight class.
“Of course, in terms of weight, if I want to go back to compete at 185, I will - obviously eating, like I did what I did, I learned from my mistakes, I don’t think it’s a good thing to do, force myself to eat to gain muscle mass,” St-Pierre said. “I’ve always been against performance-enhancing drugs, and I did it the natural way. There is no easy way. I did it the hard way and it was to gain weight and to maintain my muscles mass and it was very hard and it was not healthy. I think the body has a natural weight it can perform at its best athletic ability and for me, the weight that I am now is my perfect weight.”
As a result of St-Pierre's illness, preliminary talks are currently underway to book Whittaker vs. Luke Rockhold for UFC 221 on Feb. 10 in Perth, Western Australia, MMA Fighting's Ariel Helwani has learned. The fight isn't signed just yet, but it is currently moving in the right direction. It's unclear at this time whether the fight would be for Whittaker's interim middleweight title or the official title.
Georges St-Pierre doesn’t think he’ll defend UFC middleweight title
From the moment Georges St-Pierre announced that he would be returning to competition at 185 pounds, there were questions about how long he would stay there.
“GSP” recently came back from a four-year hiatus and defeated Michael Bisping at UFC 217 to capture the middleweight championship, and he repeatedly stated that his contract dictate that he defend the title against interim champion Robert Whittaker.
However, on Wednesday, St-Pierre told TSN that he is having serious doubts about returning to his new division.
“We’ll talk about it, but I’m not sure if I compete I will go back at 185,” St-Pierre said. “I don’t think so.”
St-Pierre has spent almost the entirety of his 28-fight career competing at 170 pounds, the weight class where he twice captured UFC gold (plus one interim belt) and recorded nine consecutive successful title defenses before stepping away from MMA in November 2013. The UFC 217 main event marked the first time that St-Pierre fought at 185 pounds.
UFC president Dana White recently broke the news that St-Pierre was suffering from colitis, an illness that may be related to the changes GSP had to make to move up a weight class.
“Of course, in terms of weight, if I want to go back to compete at 185, I will - obviously eating, like I did what I did, I learned from my mistakes, I don’t think it’s a good thing to do, force myself to eat to gain muscle mass,” St-Pierre said. “I’ve always been against performance-enhancing drugs, and I did it the natural way. There is no easy way. I did it the hard way and it was to gain weight and to maintain my muscles mass and it was very hard and it was not healthy. I think the body has a natural weight it can perform at its best athletic ability and for me, the weight that I am now is my perfect weight.”
As a result of St-Pierre's illness, preliminary talks are currently underway to book Whittaker vs. Luke Rockhold for UFC 221 on Feb. 10 in Perth, Western Australia, MMA Fighting's Ariel Helwani has learned. The fight isn't signed just yet, but it is currently moving in the right direction. It's unclear at this time whether the fight would be for Whittaker's interim middleweight title or the official title.
Georges St-Pierre doesn’t think he’ll defend UFC middleweight title