When Georges St-Pierre first announced his intention to return to MMA, UFC President Dana White was skeptical about his desire to fight. That didn’t stop White from eventually giving St-Pierre an immediate title shot for his return bout. St-Pierre won the bout, submitting Michael Bisping at UFC 217 to claim the middleweight title, but then vacated the belt shortly afterwards citing an injury and an unwillingness to hold up the 185-pound division. Now everyone is left to wonder what will happen with St-Pierre next, and according to White, not much.

Speaking to ESPN recently, White said that there is no update on what’s next for St-Pierre, and opined that this was what “GSP” had intended all along: get in, get paid, get out.

"There is no status," White said. "I knew what he was doing. That's why I put that [stipulation] into his contract. We both knew what was going on.

"I don't know, man. I don't think the guy wants to fight. I think he jumped in, grabbed some cash and went back to Canada."

The contract stipulation was one St-Pierre and White made a big deal of before his fight with Bisping. Should St-Pierre win the title at UFC 217, he was then obligated to defend the belt for his next fight, instead of dropping back to welterweight or pursuing other money fights available to him. This was apparently done to assuage concerns that St-Pierre was only coming back to fight Bisping and that his move to middleweight wasn’t just a lark. Clearly, it did not work and St-Pierre became the first fighter to vacate multiple UFC titles.

Now, unencumbered by the middleweight title he held for only a few weeks, St-Pierre is free to pursue other pugilistic opportunities should he choose to fight again and the one everyone is speculating about is a superfight with current lightweight champion, Conor McGregor. McGregor and St-Pierre are the two biggest pay-per-View draws in the UFC and a fight between the two would almost certainly be the most lucrative fight in MMA history. But despite the prospect of an enormous amount of money, White shot down that idea, saying that if St-Pierre comes back, it will only be to challenge either the middleweight or welterweight title holders.

"He ain't fighting Conor McGregor," White said. "If he wants to come back, [UFC welterweight champion] Tyron Woodley or [middleweight champion] Robert Whittaker is waiting for him. They're both waiting, if Georges wants to come back."

Of course, Dana White has been wrong before. In fact, earlier this year he said that the St-Pierre-Bisping title fight “ship had sailed,” only to say that the ship “f*cking turned around and sailed back” after announcing the fight, so maybe don’t count out a GSP-McGregor fight just yet.

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MUST-READ STORIES

Main. Dan Hooker vs. Marc Diakiese promoted to main card after Rivera-Lineker cancellation.

Tony. Khabib Nurmagomedov says he’s not thinking about Conor McGregor at all.

Different. Cris Cyborg says fans should expect “a different Cyborg” against Holly Holm.

FS1. UFC 218 special re-air only drew 357,000 viewers.

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VIDEO STEW

UFC 219 Timeline. These are sensational.

Embedded 2.

Khabib’s camp.

Cyborg got remixed.

Big drama show.

Ian McCall ahead of his Rizin debut.

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LISTEN UP

Heavy Hands. Previewing UFC 219 and one of the biggest WMMA fights of all time.

Obviously Fight Talk. Review of 2017 and previewing UFC 219.

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SOCIAL MEDIA BOUILLABAISSE

Very cool.

Welcome to Rizin.

Bamgbose went ham on Twitter.

The number of fighters who miss weight and then talk trash is truly staggering.

Al stays after it.

Belal trying to be his huckleberry.

Moving on with life.

Boss Logic working with Invicta.

Ultimate Boomerang Challenge.

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FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS

Tecia Torres (10-1) vs. Jessica Andrade (17-6); UFC Orlando, Feb. 24.

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TODAY IN MMA HISTORY

2013: Anderson Silva snapped his leg when Chris Weidman checked a leg kick in the main event of UFC 168. In the co-main event, Ronda Rousey submitted Miesha Tate to retain her UFC women’s bantamweight title.

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FINAL THOUGHTS

Tonight is the return of Rizin. It’s not their best card ever but it’s got some good names and some good fights on it so if you don’t have anything else going on at 1 AM ET, you should give it a watch.

Other than that, take it easy and see y’all tomorrow.

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EXIT POLL

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