Retired star, George’s St. Pierre, does not seem to be tired and done with the UFC yet, despite announcing his retirement early this year. The star has hinted he may put on his gloves once more for a possible match against reigning lightweight champion, Khabib Nurmagomedov.
St. Pierre, who has always talked about the possibility of retirement for a long time, finally announced it to the world back in February. He also admitted that he tried to secure a match with Nurmagomedov, but things did not play according to plan. St. Pierre has always hoped for a long time that he would retire just after a grand fight, and being against Nurmagomedov, seemed like the best option he could have.
Part of the reason for failure to secure the match may have come from the president of the UFC, Dana White. White’s refusal for the match to happen stems from a similar situation when St. Pierre won the middleweight title after beating Michael Bisping and left the championship immediately, back in 2017, after returning from a four-year break. White had claimed that he did not want such a situation to repeat itself. But that was in February.
Recently, White has seemed to make a U-turn on his previous stance, suggesting that he could allow the match to happen, as the two fighters are looking forward to it with the same zest. And this is very true. Nurmagomedov had previously also tried to secure a match against St. Pierre, but he was not also lucky to get one. For now, the UFC is more concerned about setting him up against Tony Ferguson, former lightweight champion. If the match goes well, with Nurmagomedov coming out the winner, then they may decide to fix him up against St. Pierre finally.
St. Pierre has come out now to say that he is ready for a fight “if everything is aligned contractually.” So if the UFC can make a good offer, then we may just see a St. Pierre v Nurmagomedov fixture.
Written by: Leon Osamor