Rumors have been escalating in recent weeks about a potential Georges St. Pierre comeback. The Canadian has not seen action inside the octagon since in nearly three years at UFC 167. However, rumors have been rampant with GSP attending UFC 196 and his coach Firas Zahabi pushing for a bout with Nate Diaz.
Now GSP’s teammate Rory MacDonald believes that the former welterweight champion could come back for the right amount of money and the right fight. MacDonald recently appeared on the MMA Hourand said this about when we could see GSP back inside the cage:
“I think he could come back if the right amount of money is on the table and the right fight is there for him,” MacDonald said.
So what are potential fights that could make sense for GSP? A long-anticipated bout with Anderson Silva makes sense or perhaps a fight with Nate Diaz. Either way, there is still no news yet of when St. Pierre could be back.
Be sure to stay tuned to mmanews.com for the latest updates!
Rumors have been escalating in recent weeks about a potential Georges St. Pierre comeback. The Canadian has not seen action inside the octagon since in nearly three years at UFC 167. However, rumors have been rampant with GSP attending UFC 196 and his coach Firas Zahabi pushing for a bout with Nate Diaz.
Now GSP’s teammate Rory MacDonald believes that the former welterweight champion could come back for the right amount of money and the right fight. MacDonald recently appeared on the MMA Hourand said this about when we could see GSP back inside the cage:
“I think he could come back if the right amount of money is on the table and the right fight is there for him,” MacDonald said.
So what are potential fights that could make sense for GSP? A long-anticipated bout with Anderson Silva makes sense or perhaps a fight with Nate Diaz. Either way, there is still no news yet of when St. Pierre could be back.
Be sure to stay tuned to mmanews.com for the latest updates!
It’s still highly unclear whether or not former long-time UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre will be returning to competitive fighting after vacating his title in 2013. With the massive UFC 200 event approaching this July, however, one would have to assume that the UFC is attempting to lure one of their biggest stars back to
It’s still highly unclear whether or not former long-time UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre will be returning to competitive fighting after vacating his title in 2013.
With the massive UFC 200 event approaching this July, however, one would have to assume that the UFC is attempting to lure one of their biggest stars back to the Octagon.
Ironically, St-Pierre’s long-time head coach Firas Zahabi took to twitter recently, suggesting that the Canadian superstar could make a return this summer.
After reports surfaced implying that fan favorite bad boy Nate Diaz had been interested in a bout with “Rush”, Zahabi threw out the idea of a potential showdown between the two at UFC 200:
Diaz’s stock has recently risen to new heights after the Stockton native scored the biggest win of his career on short notice last weekend (March 5, 2016), submitting Irish superstar the “Notorious” Conor McGregor in the second round.
St-Pierre has remained out of action since a highly controversial decision victory over Johny Hendricks back at UFC 167, but at age 34, a return is still a very real possibility.
The back story to this potential clash is there as well, as “Rush” has previously engaged in a bitter rival with Nate’s brother, Nick Diaz, which culminated in a one-sided St-Pierre win when the two met at UFC 158.
Would you like to see St-Pierre return, and attempt to complete the sweep over the Diaz brothers?
I may be wrong, but I’m pretty sure Georges St. Pierre and his camp are messing with us. In recent months, speculation that the UFC welterweight champion might soon retire after he fights Johny Hendricks this Saturday at UFC 167 has run rampant.
For the most part, St. Pierre himself and his head trainer Firas Zahabi have pretty much been the sources of this speculation, and since then they’ve attempted to discredit the rumor that they themselves got started. The latest “Georges should/might retire” item came from none other than St. Pierre’s long time mentor Kristof Midoux, a.k.a. the big old school fighter guy that recently appeared on the third episode of UFC Primetime: St. Pierre vs. Hendricks.
Midoux recently did an interview with French Canadian publication La Presse where he revealed that he told St. Pierre that, should he beat Hendricks in impressive fashion, the champion should retire right there in the Octagon. (Rough translation via Google/us):
“I said, after this, it’s over! Shine that night. Finish this guy in front of everyone. Shut the mouths of your critics. If you finish this guy, if you knock him out, then you will be free, you’ll be happy to take the microphone and tell everyone you’re done — to say that you will leave room for others.
“I told George, have the courage to take the microphone and say thank you to everyone. Those who do not understand are those who have nothing to understand, those who are selfish. It is time to think about him. This is the greatest gift that he could have. He could enjoy life, spend time with his family.
“I want it to happen like that. I really wish he doesn’t make the mistake of so many fighters. I do not want him to keep competing when he’s 35.”
(Georges St. Pierre, getting his lunch money stolen by Midoux and Zahabi. / Photo via LaPresse)
I may be wrong, but I’m pretty sure Georges St. Pierre and his camp are messing with us. In recent months, speculation that the UFC welterweight champion might soon retire after he fights Johny Hendricks this Saturday at UFC 167 has run rampant.
For the most part, St. Pierre himself and his head trainer Firas Zahabi have pretty much been the sources of this speculation, and since then they’ve attempted to discredit the rumor that they themselves got started. The latest “Georges should/might retire” item came from none other than St. Pierre’s long time mentor Kristof Midoux, a.k.a. the big old school fighter guy that recently appeared on the third episode of UFC Primetime: St. Pierre vs. Hendricks.
Midoux recently did an interview with French Canadian publication La Presse where he revealed that he told St. Pierre that, should he beat Hendricks in impressive fashion, the champion should retire right there in the Octagon. (Rough translation via Google/us):
“I said, after this, it’s over! Shine that night. Finish this guy in front of everyone. Shut the mouths of your critics. If you finish this guy, if you knock him out, then you will be free, you’ll be happy to take the microphone and tell everyone you’re done — to say that you will leave room for others.
“I told George, have the courage to take the microphone and say thank you to everyone. Those who do not understand are those who have nothing to understand, those who are selfish. It is time to think about him. This is the greatest gift that he could have. He could enjoy life, spend time with his family.
“I want it to happen like that. I really wish he doesn’t make the mistake of so many fighters. I do not want him to keep competing when he’s 35.”
Asked if he thought St. Pierre would take his advice and indeed retire Saturday night after fighting Hendricks, Midoux replied simply, “yes.”
After reading that interview, we thought that perhaps GSP was indeed considering retirement. But a couple of other recent interviews with the champion have made us consider another possibility: What if St. Pierre and his camp are using the retirement talk to A) hype the fight with Hendricks, and B) to serve as a distracting red herring only to announce big plans to continue fighting, perhaps at another weight class?
In an interview with Joe Ferraro conducted alongside teammate Rory “Mini-Rush” MacDonald, St. Pierre and the young contender said a couple interesting things. First off, they unequivocally said that they would never fight one another.
Then, St. Pierre gave some reasons why. Georges said that he has some plans for the future that he cannot talk about now but soon will announce, and also said that Rory will definitely become the new welterweight champion at some point.
In an interview with Yahoo! Sports’ Kevin Iole, St. Pierre didn’t sound like he wanted to retire but rather that he is hiding some super-fight plans up his sleeve.
“There are a lot of things I can’t tell you,” he said mysteriously.
“But I have plans. I’m ready for other things. We’ll see what happens. Moving up, moving down, fighting some other guy. I have big plans, but I can’t tell you everything. I just can’t give all of my secrets today.”
We doubt that St. Pierre is talking of retirement when he plays coy and smiles, promising “big” and “different” things. Also, what are the chances that the good ship GSP is so leaky as to have his head trainer, close friend and mentor all repeatedly/accidentally talk about his retirement? If they were doing so without the consent of the fighter, we’d imagine he’d get pretty upset about that.
So, if Firas and Midoux are all talking about retirement, but St. Pierre himself seems to be alluding to more fights, done differently, we’re guessing that this is all an elaborate ruse. Unfortunately, it’s worked.
Nothing against Johny Hendricks, but this writer is now suddenly rooting for GSP to win simply so we can see what top secret plans he’s got in mind. It would be the most interesting thing St. Pierre has done in a while, other than consistently and masterfully beat everyone up.
(Yup. We’re bringing this wishful thinking image out again. Read on, and you’ll see why)
Remember a few weeks ago when Georges St. Pierre’s former manager, Stephane Patry published the UFC welterweight champ’s supposed “secret plan” to retire after a fight with middleweight G.O.A.T. Anderson Silva and then St. Pierre and his head coach Firas Zahabi did a horrible job of lying and totally denied that GSP had made such a plan while focusing so intensely on his coming fight with Nick Diaz? Yeah, well, the ruse is pretty much over now.
Zahabi was on Sherdog Radio recently and spilled the beans on the record regarding tentative possibilities (I know, be still your hearts!) for St. Pierre’s career. After the champ returns from vacation, Zahabi says that the fighter, coach and management will listen to what the UFC wants and discuss their options.
According to the coach, Anderson Silva and number one welterweight contender Johny Hendricks are both possible. “I think Georges would do either fight, to be honest with you,” Zahabi told Sherdog.
(Yup. We’re bringing this wishful thinking image out again. Read on, and you’ll see why)
Remember a few weeks ago when Georges St. Pierre’s former manager, Stephane Patry published the UFC welterweight champ’s supposed “secret plan” to retire after a fight with middleweight G.O.A.T. Anderson Silva and then St. Pierre and his head coach Firas Zahabi did a horrible job of lying and totally denied that GSP had made such a plan while focusing so intensely on his coming fight with Nick Diaz? Yeah, well, the ruse is pretty much over now.
Zahabi was on Sherdog Radio recently and spilled the beans on the record regarding tentative possibilities (I know, be still your hearts!) for St. Pierre’s career. After the champ returns from vacation, Zahabi says that the fighter, coach and management will listen to what the UFC wants and discuss their options.
According to the coach, Anderson Silva and number one welterweight contender Johny Hendricks are both possible. “I think Georges would do either fight, to be honest with you,” Zahabi told Sherdog.
“If he fights Hendricks, I think he could fight for longer. He could have more fights after that. If he fights Anderson Silva, I could really see that being his last fight. He’ll retire after that because there won’t be a bigger fight for him to do, I think, anymore in his career.
“Win or lose, I think he’ll probably end on that note, on Anderson Silva. Maybe that’s why it’s been pushed back a little bit, but I think when it does happen, it’ll be the last one because once he goes up a weight class, he’s never coming back down.”
Yeah, so Patry is looking like a pretty credible source right about now. What do you say, nation? Do you want to see St. Pierre fight Silva next in a super fight we’ve been wanting for the last 3-5 years? Or, are you the only person not named Johny Hendricks that would rather see St. Pierre fight Johny Hendricks next, instead?
There’s always the chance that Chris Weidman beats Silva in July, however, and just absolutely ruins every freaking thing. How about Weidman and Hendricks fight one another, next?
Doesn’t really matter where – an arena, the loading dock of an arena, their front lawns – just so long as they are occupied and stay out of the way of St. Pierre and Silva fighting. No one has been lobbying harder for Weidman’s shot but sorry, Chris. St. Pierre no longer ducking Silva changes everything.
(“Yup. That’s an Affliction shirt alright. This guy must be guilty of something.” #DanaWhite’sInnerThoughts.)
You might have missed it during the UFC 158 post-fight press conference, but midway through Nick Diaz’s clusterfuck of a rant aimed at the UFC, wrestlers, his teammates, Stephen Hawking’s wormhole theory, etc., the Stockton native made note that there was something unusual about Georges St. Pierre’s hand wraps as well. Granted, Diaz also stated that GSP was on steroids, but while that accusation would require a little more, you know, evidence before anyone starts buying into it, the idea that St. Pierre and the Jackson camp might be stretching the rules in regards to his hand wraps didn’t seem that far outside the realm of possibility given the champ/camp’s history withgreasing allegations.
It all started when fellow Team Gracie/UFC fighter Jake Shields sent out a vague, accusatory tweet (Author’s Note: Truly a Team Gracie member, amiright?) aimed at GSP in the moments leading up to the fight:
I just checked GSP’s gloves and the wrap looked shady…now commission won’t let me back. Been trying to for the past 30 minutes…. Not saying he’s cheating but wtf?!
Things only got more tense once Team Cesar Gracie demanded to inspect St. Pierre’s wraps after he had already been gloved up. Thankfully, Dana White was able to make sense of the whole situation during the UFC 158 media scrum.
(“Yup. That’s an Affliction shirt alright. This guy must be guilty of something.” #DanaWhite’sInnerThoughts.)
You might have missed it during the UFC 158 post-fight press conference, but midway through Nick Diaz’s clusterfuck of a rant aimed at the UFC, wrestlers, his teammates, Stephen Hawking’s wormhole theory, etc., the Stockton native made note that there was something unusual about Georges St. Pierre’s hand wraps as well. Granted, Diaz also stated that GSP was on steroids, but while that accusation would require a little more, you know, evidence before anyone starts buying into it, the idea that St. Pierre and the Jackson camp might be stretching the rules in regards to his hand wraps didn’t seem that far outside the realm of possibility given the champ/camp’s history withgreasing allegations.
It all started when fellow Team Gracie/UFC fighter Jake Shields sent out a vague, accusatory tweet (Author’s Note: Truly a Team Gracie member, amiright?) aimed at GSP in the moments leading up to the fight:
I just checked GSP’s gloves and the wrap looked shady…now commission won’t let me back. Been trying to for the past 30 minutes…. Not saying he’s cheating but wtf?!
Things only got more tense once Team Cesar Gracie demanded to inspect St. Pierre’s wraps after he had already been gloved up. Thankfully, Dana White was able to make sense of the whole situation during the UFC 158 media scrum.
But first a little background info: In MMA, it is customary for a representative from each fighter’s team to sit in on the hand wrapping of the other. A member of the governing athletic commission is present during the tape job as well.
Now, back to DW, who explained the whole mess later in the evening (Via 5thRound):
So what happened was, Jake Shields was the one who sat in on the hand wrap. After they wrap [St-Pierre’s] hands, Jake Shields said, ‘Cool, see you later.’ And then they came back later and said they wanted another guy to look at the hand wraps and the commission said, ‘You already did the hand wraps. He’s gloved up. It’s over.
So then they started to freak out. But everything was taken care of. Then as soon as the fight was over, both hand wraps were cut off, put into bags and given to the commission.
St. Pierre, ever the class act, chalked up the freak out to a bit of last-minute head games on Diaz’s part:
Just before the fight, they send some guy to check my hand wrap. It was going back and forth, they were yelling in my locker room. Everything was about head games.
It was crazy. First time someone played a lot of head games like this with me.
St. Pierre’s trainer, Firas Zahabi, was not so forgiving:
Then it will be checking his shorts, then, what else, we’re warming up here, you don’t have infinite time to warm up. We’re going to go through a routine, we’re not going to be interrupted, the commission came in and said ‘please do check it again.’ The referee came in and checked the gloves and I said ‘you know what, bring NASA, if someone from the NASA office is out there, bring them in and let them check anybody who wants to check anything, you can have the hand wraps after the fight. You can have the gloves, send them to any laboratory you want, bring VADA in here right after, before, during, after.’ But I don’t want them to call the shots. I don’t want them to tell me when we’re warming up and when we’re not warming up.
So there you have it, the final Nick Diaz-related complaint that we will publish for at least eight hours. I’d tell you to tune in for more, but who am I kidding? Us MMA fans are all sheep anyway, sheep who will continue eating up this kind of news like it’s pasturage until Diaz tells us otherwise. Now can we just find a way to get Diaz and Chael Sonnen in the same room and record it for scientific purposes?
(After defeating Silva by a shocking first round KO, Rush will remove his mask to reveal that HE WAS KEYSER SOZE THE ENTIRE TIME. Photo courtesy of Fighters.com)
Earlier this week, Georges St. Pierre’s former manager, Stephane Patry, wrote a column where he revealed the champion’s “secret plan” for ending his MMA career in three fights. We don’t read French (not because we can’t, just out of principle…’Merica!) so we relied on MMA Fighting’s Mike Chiappetta to give us the details.
Patry wrote that on Jan. 11, while dining with St-Pierre and a few other friends at a restaurant in the city, the group discussed his fighting future. And during that time, according to Patry, St-Pierre discussed a “detailed” and “intelligent” plan that would take him possibly to the end of his career.
It would consist of only three fights: his Saturday night UFC 158 bout against Nick Diaz, one more title defense against Johny Hendricks, and then, the long-awaited super fight with middleweight champion Anderson Silva.
Chiappetta followed up with St. Pierre and his head trainer, Firas Zahabi, but both of their memories seemed to be fuzzy about that night, so many, many months…well, a month ago, basically. “I don’t know,” Georges told Chiappetta, “I don’t know. I don’t remember saying anything like this. I don’t think so. I’m focusing on Nick Diaz right now.”
How convenient, Georges. I’m not calling you a liar, I’d just like to know WHERE YOU KEEP THE MISSILE CODES, SECRET AGENT MAN.
(After defeating Silva by a shocking first round KO, Rush will remove his mask to reveal that HE WAS KEYSER SOZE THE ENTIRE TIME. Photo courtesy of Fighters.com)
Earlier this week, Georges St. Pierre’s former manager, Stephane Patry, wrote a column where he revealed the champion’s “secret plan” for ending his MMA career in three fights. We don’t read French (not because we can’t, just out of principle…’Merica!) so we relied on MMA Fighting’s Mike Chiappetta to give us the details.
Patry wrote that on Jan. 11, while dining with St-Pierre and a few other friends at a restaurant in the city, the group discussed his fighting future. And during that time, according to Patry, St-Pierre discussed a “detailed” and “intelligent” plan that would take him possibly to the end of his career.
It would consist of only three fights: his Saturday night UFC 158 bout against Nick Diaz, one more title defense against Johny Hendricks, and then, the long-awaited super fight with middleweight champion Anderson Silva.
Chiappetta followed up with St. Pierre and his head trainer, Firas Zahabi, but both of their memories seemed to be fuzzy about that night, so many, many months…well, a month ago, basically. ”I don’t know,” Georges told Chiappetta, “I don’t know. I don’t remember saying anything like this. I don’t think so. I’m focusing on Nick Diaz right now.”
How convenient, Georges. I’m not calling you a liar, I’d just like to know WHERE YOU KEEP THE MISSILE CODES, SECRET AGENT MAN.
Zahabi also demurred, saying, “I don’t think Georges probably said that in that way, the way it was written. I read the article. It was very strong. I don’t think Georges thinks that far ahead, honestly. He would not overlook Diaz.”
Buuuut, Zahabi went on to say that if St. Pierre did manage to pull off that trifecta in his next three fights, that would be totally badass and he’d tell the champ that he should retire, having nothing left to prove. Not like he and Georges are thinking of anything like that, of course:
I think if that happened, if Georges beat [Diaz and] Hendricks and Silva, I’d tell him, ‘Retire. It’s over. There’s nothing else to do. There’s no bigger fight. Just retire. Enjoy your life.’ Ideally, the Silva fight is the last fight of his career, win or lose.
What do you think, Nation? Is Georges looking past Diaz like he did against Matt Serra back in 2007, or is his mind simply capable of walking and chewing gum at the same time, so to speak?
All of these questions will finally be answered Saturday night. You’ll probably want to spend the evening with the rest of us degenerates, drinking heavily, throwing stockton heybuddies at will, and getting all the play-by-play action and analysis through our live blog, which goes live at 10:00 PM EST.
