Georges St.-Pierre is officially back in the UFC. This news was confirmed by UFC president Dana White and marks the first time St.-Pierre returns to the Octagon since vacating his UFC welterweight title in 2013 to go on an indefinite hiatus from mixed martial arts.
Dana White confirmed the news of the former welterweight champion's return to the promotion in an interview with the Los Angeles Times. The 35-year old had agreed to a multi-fight deal with the UFC on Thursday after months of negotiations. Not only will this deal reunite the UFC with an all-time MMA great, but it also grants them plenty of leverage when it comes to pay-per-views as St.-Pierre has always been one of the sport's biggest PPV draws.
St.-Pierre is the longest reigning 170-pound champion in the history of the UFC and has an impressive 25-2 record for his professional MMA career. However, he has not fought in 39 months, and his last fight was in 2013 against Johny Hendricks which he won via a split decision of UFC 167. St.-Pierre walked away from the UFC citing a much-needed break from MMA and also began questioning the company's drug-testing policies. A policy being enforced by the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) was introduced by the UFC in July 2015.
So far there have been no opponents or return dates announced, but White mentioned that the victor of the rematch between Tyron Woodley and Stephen Thompson in UFC 209 for the welterweight title could be a possible opponent for St.-Pierre. Middleweight champion Michael Bisping was another name mentioned by White. Last October, Bisping claimed he had verbally agreed to a fight with St.-Pierre, a rumor which White quickly shot down.
The UFC president also teased that St.-Pierre was planning to drop to the lightweight division upon his return. According to ESPN, St.-Pierre had initially intended to return in July of last year, but a deal was never finalized. The Quebec native was a dominant force in the UFC from 2006 to 2013 and had won 12 straight fights before taking a sabbatical in 2013.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
