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When Georges St-Pierre retired, the former two division champion said that a big part of his decision came down to not getting the opportunity to face Khabib Nurmagomedov in a fight that could secure his legacy as arguably the greatest mixed martial artist of all time.
St-Pierre already accomplished a lot during his career with the longest welterweight title reign in history along with winning the middleweight belt in a fight against Michael Bisping in 2017.
The Canadian superstar hoped to become the first fighter to ever win titles in three division by facing Nurmagomedov with the lightweight title on the line but the UFC wasn’t interested in making his dream become a reality.
UFC president Dana White has stated several times that he wasn’t going to make the fight and it seems a past promise broken by St-Pierre is the root cause of his disinterest.
“Well there’s two things — first of all, who doesn’t love Georges St-Pierre? Love Georges St-Pierre, the best ever as far as human beings, great guy, love him. Georges St-Pierre and I had a deal, he was going to fight [Michael] Bisping at 185 pounds and if he won, he would defend the title. He bailed on that. Didn’t do it,” White told TSN recently in Canada. “So you can’t just come out and hand pick fights that you want for titles.”
When St-Pierre previously returned after a nearly four year long hiatus, he wanted a shot at the middleweight title but said that he would stick around to defend the belt if he was successful in his bid to win the championship.
St-Pierre took care of Bisping with a third round rear naked choke submission but then 34 days later he relinquished the belt citing health issues that would prevent him from defending the title in a timely fashion.
Part of the problem St-Pierre dealt with in the aftermath of that fight was a bout of colitis, an internal condition he believes was partially caused by adding so much weight to his body so he could compete at 185 pounds.
Regardless, White gave him the opportunity to fight for the middleweight title under the precondition that he would stick around to defend the belt and that never happened.
“He made this deal with me that he would defend the title,” White explained. “He went in and he saw Bisping as an easy fight. He fought Bisping and then you look at the guys that are behind Bisping and they’re all killers. They’re all literally killers.
“But now to come back and he wants to fight at 155 for the title. We’re not doing a goofy 165 [pound] whatever, that’s not going to happen.”
As much as he doesn’t want the fight to take place, White admits if Nurmagomedov pushed for it hard enough, he would have to at least consider giving the undefeated Russian the fight against St-Pierre but it’s not something he ever intends on doing.
Add to that, the list of contenders lining up in the lightweight division seems to grow every week, which means Nurmagomedov already has plenty of competition to face at 155 pounds without St-Pierre skipping the line.
“I guess if I get into a position where Khabib the champ wants it bad enough, we’re going to have to talk about it but at the end of the day it doesn’t make sense to me,” White said. “You have other guys lined up behind him. You’re just asking me if Tony Ferguson is going to get a shot. We’ll give you a shot after Georges St-Pierre slides in at 155 and gets his shot. Then you’ve got Conor [McGregor] who wants a rematch.
“There’s guys backed up that want to fight in that division. You can’t come back out of retirement and hand pick fights that you want when you didn’t even keep your word with me on defending the [185] pound belt. Have I made that clear?”
St-Pierre already accomplished a lot during his career with the longest welterweight title reign in history along with winning the middleweight belt in a fight against Michael Bisping in 2017.
The Canadian superstar hoped to become the first fighter to ever win titles in three division by facing Nurmagomedov with the lightweight title on the line but the UFC wasn’t interested in making his dream become a reality.
UFC president Dana White has stated several times that he wasn’t going to make the fight and it seems a past promise broken by St-Pierre is the root cause of his disinterest.
“Well there’s two things — first of all, who doesn’t love Georges St-Pierre? Love Georges St-Pierre, the best ever as far as human beings, great guy, love him. Georges St-Pierre and I had a deal, he was going to fight [Michael] Bisping at 185 pounds and if he won, he would defend the title. He bailed on that. Didn’t do it,” White told TSN recently in Canada. “So you can’t just come out and hand pick fights that you want for titles.”
When St-Pierre previously returned after a nearly four year long hiatus, he wanted a shot at the middleweight title but said that he would stick around to defend the belt if he was successful in his bid to win the championship.
St-Pierre took care of Bisping with a third round rear naked choke submission but then 34 days later he relinquished the belt citing health issues that would prevent him from defending the title in a timely fashion.
Part of the problem St-Pierre dealt with in the aftermath of that fight was a bout of colitis, an internal condition he believes was partially caused by adding so much weight to his body so he could compete at 185 pounds.
Regardless, White gave him the opportunity to fight for the middleweight title under the precondition that he would stick around to defend the belt and that never happened.
“He made this deal with me that he would defend the title,” White explained. “He went in and he saw Bisping as an easy fight. He fought Bisping and then you look at the guys that are behind Bisping and they’re all killers. They’re all literally killers.
“But now to come back and he wants to fight at 155 for the title. We’re not doing a goofy 165 [pound] whatever, that’s not going to happen.”
As much as he doesn’t want the fight to take place, White admits if Nurmagomedov pushed for it hard enough, he would have to at least consider giving the undefeated Russian the fight against St-Pierre but it’s not something he ever intends on doing.
Add to that, the list of contenders lining up in the lightweight division seems to grow every week, which means Nurmagomedov already has plenty of competition to face at 155 pounds without St-Pierre skipping the line.
“I guess if I get into a position where Khabib the champ wants it bad enough, we’re going to have to talk about it but at the end of the day it doesn’t make sense to me,” White said. “You have other guys lined up behind him. You’re just asking me if Tony Ferguson is going to get a shot. We’ll give you a shot after Georges St-Pierre slides in at 155 and gets his shot. Then you’ve got Conor [McGregor] who wants a rematch.
“There’s guys backed up that want to fight in that division. You can’t come back out of retirement and hand pick fights that you want when you didn’t even keep your word with me on defending the [185] pound belt. Have I made that clear?”
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