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ESPN analyst Chael Sonnen foresees Georges St-Pierre returning this year.
Two-division UFC champion Georges St-Pierre retired from competition nearly a year ago. At 38 years of age, the former longtime welterweight titleholder felt it was the right time to walk away, after what he says took a long process to come to such a decision.
Chael Sonnen, however, isn’t buying all of it. In a recent video, the fighter turned analyst says he is expecting a Georges St-Pierre return in 2020.
“I don’t believe that for a second,” Sonnen said of St-Pierre’s retirement (transcript by BJPenn.com). “In fact, it’s the opposite. As we come to the new year I am very confident we’re going to see Georges St-Pierre in 2020. The only question is, where are we going to see him?”
Trainer Firas Zahabi never shut down the idea of a comeback, stating that a megafight may just lure St-Pierre back into fighting. Sonnen feels the same way, as he also sees numerous opportunities.
“We know he’s in the gym,” Sonnen said. “We’ve seen the pictures. His coach has come out and talked about it. We know all of these things.
“There is something about how he all of the sudden went a little bit quiet at the same time that Conor [McGregor] came back at the same time that [Jorge] Masvidal’s now the biggest star in the sport, at the exact same time that [Kamaru] Usman is looking for an opponent, and the true No. 1 contender, who is Colby Covington, happens to have a broken jaw right now, and you’ve got a 155-pound title that’s going to be contested in April between Tony and Khabib,” he added.
“There just seems like a lot of spots where the great St-Pierre could fill in, and he happened to shut his mouth right as all those pieces are coming together.”
St-Pierre last saw action in 2017 at UFC 217, when the former welterweight king dethroned Michael Bisping to become the UFC middleweight champion. He later had to vacate it due to illness.