UFC middleweight champion Georges St-Pierre admitted that his debut at 185-pounds may have doubled as his last appearance in the weight class.
For all of the talk about Georges St-Pierre being contractually obligated to defend the UFC middleweight title he won from Michael Bisping, it looks as if he’s not going to stay in the 185-pound division. Dana White probably won’t be pleased about that.
In an interview with TSN’s Aaron Bronsteter, St-Pierre said of his future in the weight class, “We’ll talk about it, but I’m not sure if I compete I will go back at 185. I don’t think so.”
St-Pierre was recently diagnosed with colitis, which will keep him sidelined indefinitely, and the inflammatory disease may have been caused by the move up in weight for the welterweight legend.
“Of course in terms of weight, if I want to go back to compete at 185, I will – obviously eating, like I did what I did, I learned from my mistakes, I don’t think it’s a good thing to do, force myself to eat to gain muscle mass,” St-Pierre said. “I’ve always been against performance-enhancing drugs, and I did it the natural way. There is no easy way. I did it the hard way and it was to gain weight and to maintain my muscle mass and it was very hard and it was not healthy.
“I think the body has a natural weight it can perform at its best athletic ability, and for me, the weight that I am now is my perfect weight.”
The 36-year-old St-Pierre (26-2) returned from a four-year hiatus to submit Bisping in the UFC 217 main event, making him just the fourth fighter in UFC history to win titles in two divisions. It was the first time that GSP had ever competed at middleweight, and if Wednesday’s interview is anything to go by, it could double as his last.
What does this mean for the division in the long run? Well the UFC is reportedly looking into booking a title fight between current interim champion Robert Whittaker and former champion Luke Rockhold at UFC 221 in Perth, Australia on February 10th. Ariel Helwani reported the news but noted that it’s not 100% a done deal.