Dana White: I'm leaning toward GSP is not coming back to UFC
The chances that former UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre will return to MMA seem slim to none these days, according to UFC president Dana White, who gets the feeling we may have seen the last of the Canadian legend inside the Octagon.
White was asked about St-Pierre's status while appearing on the Jay and Dan Podcast on FOX Sports this week while doing a media tour to promote UFC 189 in July.
St-Pierre remains one of the biggest names in the UFC despite not fighting since November 2013 when he defended his welterweight title for the last time against Johny Hendricks. Following the fight, St-Pierre said he was taking some much-needed time off and he's never committed to a return since.
"I offered him a fight in Montreal, and he said 'I'm not ready yet,' " White said about St-Pierre. "I'm on the fence. I'm leaning toward he's not coming back these days."
For the better part of the last year and a half since St-Pierre first went on sabbatical, White has maintained that he believed the longest-reigning welterweight champion in UFC history eventually would return to the sport.
St-Pierre suffered a setback in 2014 when he tore the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in his left knee, which required surgery and approximately a year to rehab.
He returned to training and began regular workouts again, but St-Pierre never has expressed a serious interest in returning to the UFC and White says he's unsure if that ever will change again.
"He's rich and really doesn't doesn't have to do anything anymore if he doesn't want to," White said. "He's filming some movies. You know the Jean-Claude Van Damme movie 'Kickboxer'? They're remaking it with him.
"So he's filming that, and he's doing some fun stuff. I was in L.A. one night and I went to the Clippers game, Georges St-Pierre is sitting over there in the front row. I went out one night to a concert, Georges St-Pierre is in the front row. Fighting is one of those sports that you got to be hungry, and you got to want it. He hasn't been hungry in a long time for a lot of things."
White stopped short of actually proclaiming that St-Pierre is retired, but his confidence that GSP will fight again is waning.
"He's got a lot of money, he's young, he's got a lot of other options," White said, "and he's going out on top."
