Everyone’s got an opinion on whether former UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre should return to mixed martial arts (MMA) competition.
You can count his previous foe, Johny Hendricks, as another pundit.
“Bigg Rigg,” who faces kickboxing import Stephen Thompson in the UFC Fight Night 82 main event this Saturday night (Feb. 6, 2016), was pitted against “GSP” back in Nov. 2013 and lost a highly competitive split decision to the Canadian stalwart.
Hendricks, 32, went on to capture 170-pound gold in his next outing, but is now on the championship chase following another contested split-decision loss, this time to current king Robbie Lawler at UFC 181 back in Dec. 2014.
Should St. Pierre opt to make a return to the sport he dominated for nearly a decade, Hendricks has his doubts on how successful his return fight would go down (via MMA Junkie):
“Enjoy that you were the best fighter for what? 4-5 years? Enjoy that. Don’t come back just because you had a close decision that you thought you won, but it wasn’t close. The next is going to be worse and that’s the thing, I’d really like him … to move on. Whenever it’s my turn and I know it’s time for me to go, I’m not going to sit here and say, ‘I’m going to train to comeback.’ I know whenever I’m beaten and I’m no longer at the top, it’s time to hang them up.”
It’s looking more and more like a no-go, which is potentially due to concerns over UFC’s oft-criticized partnership with apparel provider Reebok.
Numerous teases have come out of the St. Pierre camp over the last 12 months, including multiple training videos.
His former boss, UFC President Dana White, is one of the naysayers downplaying a possible St. Pierre comeback attempt. After all, they did have a tense moment prior to St. Pierre’s arrival at the UFC 167 press conference, which you may choose to believe or not.
Meanwhile, the welterweight division continues to march forward with no current title fight scheduled. However, the winner of this weekend’s headliner could definitely be in the running for a crack at the strap held by “Ruthless.”
As for Lawler’s opinion on all his hoopla, momma said knock you out!
For more UFC Fight Night 82 news and notes, including up-to-the-minute live results and play-by-play, click here and here.