Georges St-Pierre’s prediction on the UFC’s reaction to his request to face the winner of Conor McGregor vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov-was in fact correct.
In a post-fight media scrum, after the most recent episode of Dana White’s Tuesday Night Contender Series, UFC president shot down the idea of St-Pierre facing either McGregor or Nurmagomedov.
White’s primary concern seemed to revolve around St-Pierre’s desire to fight in multiple divisions.
“He gave up the 170-pound belt, he gave up the 185-pound belt. I mean it’s like no. Pick a division!” said White.
When Nurmagomedov and McGregor face off at UFC 229, the lightweight (155-pound) title will be at stake.
While White is known to publicly feud with UFC fighters, St-Pierre did forecast White’s reaction to the proposed fight. During a speaking engagement in Australia, St-Pierre said, “I fought at 170, I relinquished a title. I fought at 185, I relinquished a title. I don’t think UFC will let me fight for the title at 155. They will be afraid I relinquish, and I left the division in ruins.”
However, White was not entirely dismissive of St-Pierre returning to the UFC in 2018. Specifically, White seemed intrigued at the idea of St-Pierre fighting at UFC 231 in Toronto on Dec. 8.
As a native Canadian, St-Pierre was an anchor in the UFC breaking into the Canadian market, with St-Pierre headlining five cards in Canada during his welterweight title reign.
St-Pierre last fought at UFC 217 in November 2017, where he defeated Michael Bisping to become the middleweight champion. The championship run was short-lived though; St-Pierre quickly vacated the title due to health concerns.
He doesn’t deserve a title shot anyways. It was already BS that he got to come out of retirement after 4 years and automatically get a title shot. And what did he do right after winning that title? Vacate it. The guy doesn’t deserve another title shot (yet alone in a division he’s never fought in before).