Yoel Romero’s Manager Claims Title Contender Turned Down Fight At UFC Belem

UFC middleweight title contender Kelvin Gastelum attempted to get a title shot against Robert Whittaker. However, despite his attempt at campaigning his case to UFC officials, the promotion decided to go in a different direction as they thought former champion Luke Rockhold was more deserving of the opportunity. Keep in mind that this bout all […]

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UFC middleweight title contender Kelvin Gastelum attempted to get a title shot against Robert Whittaker.

However, despite his attempt at campaigning his case to UFC officials, the promotion decided to go in a different direction as they thought former champion Luke Rockhold was more deserving of the opportunity.

Keep in mind that this bout all came about after Georges St-Pierre vacated the belt following his big win over Michael Bisping at UFC 217 last month.

With the fight already made official for the 185-pound title on Feb. 11 at UFC 221 in Perth, Australia, Gastelum is in need of his next opponent.

MMA manager Malki Kawa, who works with the likes of Jon Jones and Yoel Romero, is claiming that Gastelum turned down a fight with Romero at UFC Belem.

Romero, who is ranked at #2 in the official middleweight rankings, lost his first fight under the UFC banner this past July by losing via decision to Whittaker in an interim title bout at UFC 213. He holds wins over the likes of Lyoto Machida, ‘Jacare’ Souza, and Chris Weidman.

On the flip side, Gastelum, who won 2013’s Ultimate Fighter 17 middleweight tournament, feels he should have been granted the title shot over Rockhold. He is coming off a huge first-round KO win over Bisping. It’s likely he will respond to Kawa in the coming days.

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Georges St-Pierre Pulled His Second Great Escape Last Night

Last night, former UFC middleweight and welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre vacated the 185-pound belt he had just won by submitting Michael Bisping just over a month ago at November 4’s UFC 217. It wasn’t really a shocking move considering St-Pierre had revealed his intentions to no longer fight at the weight class as he recovers […]

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Last night, former UFC middleweight and welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre vacated the 185-pound belt he had just won by submitting Michael Bisping just over a month ago at November 4’s UFC 217.

It wasn’t really a shocking move considering St-Pierre had revealed his intentions to no longer fight at the weight class as he recovers from a fight with ulcerative colitis that was reportedly due to the diet required for him to bulk up and take on Bisping in his first-ever – and possibly only – fight at 185 pounds.

St-Pierre looked great in his return from almost four years off after he vacated the 170-pound belt in late 2013 as he submitted Bisping in the third round after dropping him with a power left hook, but if you paid attention to his words even directly after he won his second title, a lengthy foray at middleweight against the best in the world was never really in the cards for the French-Canadian superstar.

So thus ended St-Pierre’s short-lived reign at middleweight, if you even want to call it that. With it over, St-Pierre’s tenures at 170 and 185 are an odd juxtaposition the likes of which we rarely see in even a sport as wild and unpredictable as mixed martial arts. At welterweight, he ruled the division twice, with his second reign spanning nine straight defenses where he dominated the best in the world but failed to score a finish throughout the second half of his career there. At middleweight, he came back with seemingly more power and drive after refreshing his mind and desire to compete and score an epic finish in a bout many picked him to lose, yet there was something still missing from the entire ordeal, something different.

And in a way, the thing that was missing was an overall indication of the current state of the UFC. The absence of true meritocracy in the UFC right now rang true more than ever when Bisping held out to face ‘Rush’ in a fight that was on-again, off-again since the beginning of 2017.

Noah K. Murray for USA TODAY Sports

St-Pierre perhaps saw an opportunity to win a belt at a higher weight class because Bisping was an easy win for him after the two had trained together years ago and St-Pierre got the upper hand, and if he did, he proved that theory right at Madison Square Garden. The fact that he was even able to return to an immediate title shot in a weight class he had never fought in after almost four years off and a somewhat messy exit speaks volumes about how the company is willing to do any and everything to secure a potentially huge pay-per-view payday right now.

‘Rush’ took advantage of that, so fair play to him. He got a huge prize fight, and even though he insisted his contract stipulated he had to defend the title against interim champion Robert Whittaker, he waffled on that match from the second he strapped the middleweight title around his waist and discussed his victory with Joe Rogan.

That’s not to say St-Pierre was ducking the fight. The disease he’s dealing with is a serious condition, and if he was putting his body in danger just to bulk up and fight at middleweight, then he most certainly made the right decision in vacating the title and focusing on his health.

In another way, he also showed mercy to the crowded division in doing so, letting it move on and progress in an era when other champions like Conor McGregor hold up classes with no clear plans to defend in plain sight. Whittaker can now take on Luke Rockhold in the main event of UFC 221 from Australia and the division can go forward without the uncertainty and chaos Bisping lent it during his controversial 17-month reign. However, he also made it seem obvious that he saw an opportunity to cash in versus a man he knew he could beat, a man who was perhaps a fluke champion, and with no intentions of defending the title won in doing so.

So it’s somewhat insulting to the UFC, and Dana White is likely to be ‘super-pissed’ St-Pierre isn’t defending the middleweight strap. He also can’t be surprised.

Photo: Joe Camporeale for USA TODAY Sports

An all-time great no matter if you agreeing with his latest move or not, St-Pierre saw a window open to win a huge but questionable fight in an era where those seem to be popping up regularly. It was a huge departure from when he shocked fans by announcing he would be taking some time off to recharge his burnt-out mind and body in the moments following his incredibly controversial split decision win over Johny Hendricks at UFC 167 in November 2013.

The UFC’s consummate professional promptly took almost four years off after that; there’s no telling how long he may take to return this time if he ever does. Despite the criticism he may be garnering in many circles today, he got paid and won a UFC title a weight class up. Most fighters will never come close to laying claim to anything resembling that sentence. Ultimately it was a savvy business move in a time when spectacle fights seem to have priority above all others.

But this entire scenario has taught us two things: St-Pierre is a master magician when it comes to the fight game, and he pulled his second great escape on the UFC again last night.

If they can corral him again remains to be seen.

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Georges St-Pierre Reacts To Bisping’s Controversial Turnaround Following UFC 217

Georges St-Pierre recently revealed he would most likely not defend his newly-acquired middleweight title after the diet required to move up a weight class led to him contracting colitis following his impressive third-round submission of former champion Michael Bisping at November 4’s UFC 217. While St-Pierre’s Octagon return is uncertain, Bisping’s was not, however, as […]

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Georges St-Pierre recently revealed he would most likely not defend his newly-acquired middleweight title after the diet required to move up a weight class led to him contracting colitis following his impressive third-round submission of former champion Michael Bisping at November 4’s UFC 217.

While St-Pierre’s Octagon return is uncertain, Bisping’s was not, however, as “The Count” made an incredibly fast and controversial turnaround to face Kelvin Gastelum in the main event of November 25’s UFC Shanghai after original headliner Anderson Silva was forced out with his second failed drug test. The British star was promptly knocked out with a brutal strike in the first round, prompting legitimate questions as to whether or not Bisping should have been fighting so soon after “GSP” had choked him unconscious.

St-Pierre recently weighed in on the questionable decision by Bisping to TSN (via MMA Fighting), noting that it was far from the right choice medically but that he still understood why Bisping took such a big risk to get back in the win column right away:

“Medically, that was not the right thing to do. However, if he would have succeeded – you know, he took a big risk and me, I can accept that because he took a big risk – if he would have succeeded he would have been like a hero. It’s like, ‘Oh my God, he just lose the title and then he come back with no preparation, boom, wins a fight.’ I think he tried to do something that was very, very risky, but at the same time if he would have achieved it, it would have been a big reward for him. So I can respect that. For him, I can respect the idea that he had, the goal that he had doing it.”

Noah K. Murray for USA TODAY Sports

Much of the criticism surrounding the decision to let Bisping fight obviously rests on the UFC, as it was a somewhat surprising decision to clear the longtime veteran just three weeks after he had absorbed so much damage from a reinvented St-Pierre. With athlete safety, especially in terms of head injuries, becoming a more and more discussed concern in mixed martial arts, St-Pierre said he believed it was a bad decision for the UFC to let Bisping fight:

“However, I believe for the UFC, that was not good to let an athlete fight after getting concussed in a fight for the world title and then getting choked out. I don’t think it was medically a good thing for the UFC. But for Michael, as a fighter, I understand his point of view. He wanted to turn around the table and he wanted to do something that was special and I can understand that because coming back after four years myself, it was a lot of risk, and I wanted to do something special and I succeeded, I’m happy I did it. Unfortunately for Michael, it failed. But I can respect that from a man.”

Many fighters – especially UFC champions like Bisping regarded as the toughest in all of MMA – would want nothing more than to prove they were still at the pinnacle of the sport by avenging a loss if presented with the chance, so in that regard, it’s the UFC’s job to protect them from themselves in a sense when their health is on the line.

But they had no reserves about clearing Bisping to fight a young, up-and-coming knockout artist only three weeks after he brutally dropped, pounded, and eventually choked out in order to save the main event of a Fight Pass-aired card that was on at 7 a.m. EST in the United States. Some of that blame has to be directed at Bisping’s team and those who advise him, but ultimately he was going to try to prove he could still hang with the best when the chance arose.

From that point of view, the UFC may have been better served off thinking about their longtime star’s health, especially as he was prepared to head off into an expected retirement after one final fight in London this March. Now, that’s looking like it’s way too soon to fight again after two stoppage losses, and it also seems like the UFC will ut their bottom line above any and everything else, even if the event isn’t that big.

What is your opinion of the UFC’s decision to let Bisping fight again so soon?

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Tyron Woodley Says He’d Relinquish WW Title To Fight GSP

UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley has witnessed how fluid weight classes have become in the promotion; with former 170-pound kingpin Georges St-Pierre now middleweight champ, Conor McGregor going from featherweight to welterweight and eventually lightweight, it’s fair to say that weight classes are perhaps not as important as they were in the past. Woodley was […]

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UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley has witnessed how fluid weight classes have become in the promotion; with former 170-pound kingpin Georges St-Pierre now middleweight champ, Conor McGregor going from featherweight to welterweight and eventually lightweight, it’s fair to say that weight classes are perhaps not as important as they were in the past.

Woodley was initially aiming for a fight with GSP prior to his announcement of moving to 185 pounds, so now the welterweight champion will have to consider moving up a division as well in order to secure that fight.

Woodley was also rumored to have had a fight agreement with Nate Diaz but said that Diaz failed to sign the contract. Without a fight in the foreseeable future, the welterweight champion discussed his desire for a fight with GSP and what he would have to do in order to do so:

“If I went up to 185 – before Georges started having whatever the condition he had, I considered making a move up to 185 and fighting at that weight class. (I’d give) up my belt at welterweight (if close friend and retired ONE FC champ Ben Askren were to sign with the UFC), and fight (GSP) for the middleweight title and stay at middleweight.”

“I’m not going up to middleweight because I think that would boost me on the pound-for-pound. I want to fight Georges, and he’s not fighting in my weight. So I’ll come up and see you there. And I do think there are some guys I can compete with in the middleweight division. I’m going to be so much faster. I don’t think I’m giving up that much power in the punching.

“Guys like Chris Weidman, Ronaldo ‘Jacare’ Souza, Luke Rockhold – (those) brothers have got some size on me. I have to be real creative. But in reality I think I’m a competitor and I will find a way to do what I need to do.”

Woodley acknowledged the possibility of his friend Ben Askren making the jump to the UFC following his retirement fight against Shinya Aoki. Askren said the only thing that could convince him to come out of retirement would be a shot at the UFC welterweight title.

These factors combined mean Woodley could be a middleweight in the near-future. With so many possibilities at both welterweight and middleweight, the champ says he wants to keep his options open:

“I’m open to any fight – anything that makes sense for me. But right now, I’m not putting myself on a box and saying, ‘These are my next guys.’ Who else is doing that? What other division beside my division is forced to actually compete against the No. 1 contender?

“That’s forced to say you have to fight this guy? Nobody else is in that position. With that said, I’m just keeping my options open.”

How would Woodley perform at 185 pounds? Could the welterweight champion hang with the middleweight division’ elite?

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Luke Rockhold Sounds Off On Current State Of The UFC

Former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold hasn’t done anything close to mincing words about his opinion of the current state of the UFC under new owners Endeavor (formerly WME-IMG). He’s been especially critical of the company’s handling of the title picture in his 185-pound division. After he was shockingly upset by Michael Bisping at UFC […]

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Former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold hasn’t done anything close to mincing words about his opinion of the current state of the UFC under new owners Endeavor (formerly WME-IMG).

He’s been especially critical of the company’s handling of the title picture in his 185-pound division. After he was shockingly upset by Michael Bisping at UFC 199 in June 2016, the promotion let “The Count” make his only title defense against retiring then No. 14-ranked Dan Henderson before taking more than a year off waiting to fight former welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre, who had never fought at 185 pounds in his lengthy career.

‘GSP’ won the title from Bisping with a strong performance at November 4’s UFC 217, but then seemed to waffle on his previous promise that he would unify the titles with interim champion Robert Whittaker in his subsequent bout. Now he’s on the sidelines dealing with colitis and could be out for an undetermined amount of time.

Rockhold has long been a vocal opponent of St-Pierre’s foray into his division, and now he’s ramping up his criticism. Speaking to Ariel Helwani on today’s episode of The MMA Hour, Rockhold said he believes it time for St-Pierre to admit he doesn’t want to fight at 185 pounds in order to let the stagnating weight class move on:

“The fact is, come out and say that you don’t want to fight here in the division and relinquish the title and move on. Stop just, I’m tired of story after story and him dragging us on and you know, leaving us in the dark. Just state what it is. If you’re sick, you’re sick, but the fact is that you don’t want to fight in the division. I mean, he’s done his thing; he’s a legend, whatever. Just move on.

“Let us move on. Let’s fight. I’m ready to fight if it makes sense. I’m not just gonna fight fights to fight, to get nowhere.”

As for his own next move, Rockhold, who just got back into the win column against former WSOF two-division champ David Branch in September following a year and three months off, said he’s gunning for only one bout – a title shot against the man whom he believes to be the real middleweight champion in Whittaker. Anything else, he said, just isn’t worth his time:

“There’s been talks all along the way about potential this, potential that. They gotta make backup plans. They’re trying to make fights like Yoel Romero right now. Why would I fight Yoel Romero when there’s no clear-cut person fighting Whittaker? Obviously I want to fight for the title, and if that’s available, I’m not gonna sign any fuckin’ fight. I wanna fight for the title, and if that’s available, that’s what I’m gonna do.”

With offers of a so-called number one contender fight being pushed his way, Rockhold scoffed at those flimsy prospects by legitimately questioning what such a bout was worth when St-Pierre didn’t even need to win one himself after never fighting in the division his whole career.

The former champ framed his disgruntled attitude with the UFC by focusing on the recent reports that they had offered Nate Diaz a welterweight title shot, which he believed to be absolutely ludicrous given that many top fighters had spent their lives preparing to actually deserve it.

Overall, the state of the UFC is making him mad, and he believes they need to formulate a realistic way to grant title shots by moving back to what made the UFC and MMA as a whole great in the first place:

“And don’t try to make me fight fights, when you’re telling me, what’s a number one contender fight these days? Did Georges St-Pierre fight a number one contender fight? I don’t think so. So there’s no point in fighting guys when there’s no structure, there’s no rhyme or reason to who gets a title shot. And Nate Diaz is my boy, but the fact that they were even negotiating Nate Diaz for a welterweight title shot, it’s disrespectful to everybody in the division. These guys work their asses off to get where they are, and the sport is fuckin’ pissing me off. It’s losing its integrity and it needs to get back to its roots.”

Finally, Rockhold summed his thoughts up about the UFC with one strong statement that the new owners have put their focus completely into the wrong place:

“I can’t understand what their thought process is these days. They obviously don’t know have a clear understanding of what they’re doing. They’re not following the recipe that built this company. I don’t know, man. Invest in the fighters. No offense, but your investment is into Dana White. Dana White’s not selling pay-per-views. Invest in the fighters and they’ll solve your problems. You’ll hit your marks. You’ll sell your pay-per-views, and do your thing. But, get it straight.”

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Georges St-Pierre Issues Statement On Recent Health Issues

News, unfortunately, arrived today that recently-crowned UFC middleweight champion Georges St-Pierre was going to be on the sidelines for an indefinite period of time due to a battle with colitis after winning the belt from Michael Bisping at November’s UFC 217. The debate was already rife with uncertainty as to whether or not St-Pierre would […]

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News, unfortunately, arrived today that recently-crowned UFC middleweight champion Georges St-Pierre was going to be on the sidelines for an indefinite period of time due to a battle with colitis after winning the belt from Michael Bisping at November’s UFC 217.

The debate was already rife with uncertainty as to whether or not St-Pierre would unify the titles with deserving interim champion Robert Whittaker, who is recovering from an injury himself and issued a statement of encouragement to St-Pierre.

The champion then issued a statement of his own to his official Facebook page, where he detailed his symptoms and how is he is combating them before declaring his health was obviously his number one priority:

“I now understand the health issues that I had during my last training camp… I hoped my condition would improve after the fight but unfortunately it got worse and I had to go straight to the hospital for a colonoscopy when I came back from vacation last Wednesday. The diagnosis is ulcerative colitis and I am now taking medication that will hopefully appease the symptoms. My health is my #1 priority right now, I’m still a very happy man, thanks for your support!!!”

The news has also unfortunately fueled the flames of those who believed St-Pierre did not intend to defend the middleweight title in the first place because even if he wanted to, he could not for an indefinite period of time regardless.

It’s unknown when Whittaker plans to return to action after sustaining an apparently serious knee injury while winning the interim title versus Yoel Romero this July, but reports have ‘The Reaper’ looking to return at March’s pay-per-view (PPV) card from Perth, Australia.

Now, he may be looking for a new opponent even if St-Pierre was never truly a realistic possibility in the first place.

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