UFC president Dana White was red-hot last Saturday night.
Not only did the head honcho believe Johny Hendricks had done enough to dethrone long-reigning champion Georges St-Pierre in the main event tilt and was upset about the decision, but because of GSP’s strange pseudo-retirement talk in his post-fight interview, White was enraged by the time the post-fight press conference rolled around.
White told the media in attendance that St-Pierre’s proposed “time off’ wasn’t going to fly and that the welterweight king not only owed Hendricks an immediate rematch but owed the UFC as well. His comments created a backlash on Twitter and sparked a slew of pointed op-eds throughout the MMA media universe, including a solid offering from Bleacher Report’s Jonathan Snowden.
The UFC figurehead appeared on Wednesday’s edition of UFC Tonight and didn’t back down from his earlier comments when asked about the situation by co-host Chael Sonnen.
“There will be a rematch,” White said. “Georges St-Pierre did not retire on Saturday night. Georges St-Pierre is unhappy with how he handled that on Saturday night. First of all, leading up to the fight, the media were hearing rumors of his retirement and I literally asked Georges if he was retiring. He said,’No way…I’m not retiring. That’s not happening. You’ll see what I’m going to say on Saturday.’ Then he comes out and nobody really understood what he said on Saturday. He’s not retiring. Then what I said…people are coming out and saying, ‘Dana doesn’t care about him.’
“First of all, I’m the guy who talks about Georges St-Pierre all the time. I talk about what an amazing champion he’s been. What an amazing human being he is. How he’s represented the sport, the title, his brand, his country, and the list goes on and on. But he made a big mistake on Saturday night when he went up there and said what he said. He shouldn’t have said it…it didn’t make sense, and it left everybody wondering what was going on, including me. He did not retire and he’s coming back.
“People are saying Georges St-Pierre doesn’t owe you anything and they’re wrong. OK…because here’s the reality. Georges St-Pierre took almost a year-and-a-half off and he’s had two fights since then because he blew his ACL out. When you fight in this sport, there is a small window of opportunity for people, and there is a line of people right now of people who want a shot at that 170-pound title. You can’t just say you’re going to take off and put this on hold because you have personal problems. You can’t do that.”
While White’s comments have undoubtedly caused a stir, he’s a promoter through and through. A rematch between St-Pierre and Hendricks would be a monster of a fight, and with the UFC heading to Dallas in early 2014, that particular fight would be a perfect fit. The company’s biggest draw versus a fighter based out of Texas with a chip on his shoulder as big as the state itself has the makings of a blockbuster if White can put it together.
But therein lies the problem.
Although White is adamant the rematch will happen and is expressing confidence on the matter in his interviews, St-Pierre has stuck by his guns and continued to say he’s walking away from the sport. Ariel Helwan also reported on Wednesday’s episode of UFC Tonight that the French-Canadian’s manager is uncertain whether or not he will return.
White has never been one to bite his tongue, and the reason this situation has created such an uproar has everything to do with the target he’s aiming at. St-Pierre has been one of the UFC’s brightest stars and most popular ambassadors for the better part of the past decade. And while White’s jabs may appear a bit bullish due to the timing of the matter, there is a bit of truth where the welterweight division is concerned.
The UFC 170-pound collective has consistently been one of the promotion’s most competitive divisions and has a deep list of potential title contenders. When St-Pierre went down at the end of 2011, the UFC put an interim title in play, which was decided in a tilt between Nick Diaz and Carlos Condit at UFC 143 in 2012.
“The Natural Born Killer” emerged from the bout victorious and held the interim strap until he faced St-Pierre in a unification bout at UFC 154 in November 2012. St-Pierre outworked Condit to claim the unanimous decision on the judge’s scorecards and resumed his place atop the division.
With his comments post-fight at UFC 167, it appears as if the champion wants to take some time to clear his head, and White is going to have nothing to do with it. There are several high-profile bouts already slated on the docket, not to mention the president deeming Hendricks worthy of an immediate rematch. If the division is to keep moving, there needs to be a champion at the helm.
This is the reason for White saying St-Pierre either needs to retire or get back to work; it will be interesting to see in which direction the pound-for-pound great decides to travel.
Duane Finley is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. All quotes are obtained firsthand unless noted otherwise.
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