There is nothing in writing and no contracts have been signed, but Georges St-Pierre may have just made Johny Hendricks’ day with his comments on Tuesday.
Appearing on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast as part of his book tour this week, St-Pierre talked about a great number of subjects during his hour-long interview, but just before he had to leave the subject of his next fight finally came up.
St-Pierre hasn’t committed to anything since his victory over Nick Diaz at UFC 158 in mid-March, and the world has been wondering if he would indeed face Hendricks next or if he was targeting a showdown with middleweight king Anderson Silva instead.
While he made no definitive statements during the interview, St-Pierre appears closer to another defense of his welterweight title than testing the waters in a higher division against Silva in a potential superfight.
“Probably Hendricks,” St-Pierre stated when asked what’s likely next for him. “We’ll see what’s going to happen. We’ll see with this fight. Now (Anderson Silva) is fighting Weidman and (Johny) Hendricks is freaking out and wants to fight me. We’ll see what’s going to happen.”
In all likelihood, St-Pierre will have a major part in the final decision on who he faces because as of just a few days ago UFC president Dana White was planning on talking to the champion to see where his mind was at when approaching his next trip to the Octagon.
St-Pierre believes he still has business to conduct at 170 pounds, and in all reality he’s not sure unless Silva moves down in weight that the fight with the most dominant fighter in UFC history even makes much sense.
“I know Silva is fighting Chris Weidman. Anderson Silva is very big. I’m 190 pounds,” St-Pierre said. “It’s a lot of weight difference. If this fight happens one day we’re going to have to decide what weight class and everything.
“I don’t do a lot of weight cutting. It would be easier for me to go and fight at 155 than fighting at 185. I would be more at my weight naturally. There’s guys at 155 that walk around at 190 like me. They think I’m big because I have a large frame, but I’m not a big guy. I’m not thick.”
No decision has been made as of yet and White said following the close of UFC on Fox 7 last weekend that he still hadn’t spoken to St-Pierre about his next fight.
With Silva already locked up against Weidman in July at UFC 162, all signs are pointing towards a St-Pierre vs. Hendricks fight happening later this year.
Damon Martin is a Featured Columnist at Bleacher Report
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