Georges St-Pierre hasn’t even made his return to the Octagon and most fans are already fatigued by his comeback. GSP’s glorious second coming was the worst kept secret in MMA for over a year, and now that he’s “back” there’s the whole issue with getting him a fight, that continually fails to materialize. The former UFC welterweight champion and all-time great was supposed to fight Michael Bisping for the middleweight title this summer, but then the matchup was moved to fall without a public reason why.
Now we know, thanks to the MMA Hour, that GSP has a minor eye injury that will keep him from sparring until September, and GSP doesn’t want to fight for the welterweight title at this time. Mostly because whoever the champion is this fall or later — Tyron Woodley or Damian Maia — isn’t worth the effort to add onto GSP’s nearly-perfect legacy.
So, GSP is still holding onto the Bisping fight, which has been delayed by Bisping’s own injuries and has led to an interim title fight between Yoel Romero and Robert Whittaker at UFC 213. If he loses that fight, which seems more and more like it will be against Bisping (thus keeping the interim title out there even longer for some reason), GSP is ready to retire.
GSP on #themmahour says if he comes back and loses, "this is it for me." Says he'd retire before becoming a punching bag.
— Shaheen Al-Shatti (@shaunalshatti) May 30, 2017
So, to recap: GSP wants to come back, he wants a big fight against the best possible name that will add to his legacy, but if he loses he’s done. Meanwhile, a division full of killer middleweights are wondering what’s going to happen with the *real* middleweight belt that Bisping holds. GSP said October was the earliest he’d be ready to come back, but what if it goes longer? What if Bisping ends up fighting the winner of Yoel/Whittaker and loses and GSP is on the outside looking in? Does he still leapfrog the division?
