Tuesday, June 24, 2014
Georges St-Pierre still unsure about return to UFC; is heavier than usual
Georges St-Pierre is still only semi-retired. We haven't heard much about the former champion lately, only that he wasn't motivated for his last couple fights and that he's a lot happier now. For all of you Marvel fans, we've also seen him have a little brawl with Captain America in 'The Winter Soldier'. Other than that, St-Pierre has kept quiet.
It is a widely known fact that GSP walks around off-season at 180-190 pounds, as he fights at 170 pounds. With him being a pretty small welterweight, he didn't have to cut much weight. Since he went on hiatus last year following his title defense against Johny Hendricks, he has gained a fair bit of weight. Although, as he is shown training on Instagram often, he is still in shape and has gained a lot of muscle. He now walks around at 200 pounds. That's 10 pounds of muscle he's gained. You can see that he is thicker now.
There aren't any guarantees he'll return to the Octagon because there are still some things preventing him to do so. For example, he wants there to be a better anti-doping system. Like he's said before, he wants more testing, although commissions have shown improvements lately, as the NSAC have busted both Wanderlei Silva and Chael Sonnen - I think we all know what happens next. This may have triggered St-Pierre a little.
This isn't the only thing he wants, although if the anti-doping system isn't improved, this won't prevent GSP's return for sure. So the question still remains unknown...will the former champion return?
Let's say we see him return to the UFC in 2015. Although some welterweights walk around at 200 pounds, 200 pounds isn't normal for him. If he does return, he'd have to get rid of the newly built up muscle he's gained...if he wants to fight at 170 pounds. This is where it gets interesting. I would love to see St-Pierre fight in the middleweight division.
A super fight had been talked about a lot a long ways back, when Georges St-Pierre and Anderson Silva reigned the 170 and 185 pound divisions. At the time they were the top 2 pound-for-pound fighters, and everyone wanted to see who's better. Following Silva's leg break (do I need to explain?) and GSP's beginning of his hiatus the super fight between the now former champs the thought of a super fight has brewed up once again. It was shut down quickly when St-Pierre said he didn't want it because he felt there was a big size difference, Silva being a lot larger. Of course that is the case, but not as much now because GSP is clearly bigger. I don't think a super fight is totally out of the books quite yet. Besides, even if the super fight doesn't happen middleweight with GSP would be awesome. There would be great matchups to be made, with Lyoto Machida, Vitor Belfort, Chris Weidman, Luke Rockhold, and more.
The welterweight division is great right now without St-Pierre. There are plenty of fighters chasing for the belt. Even if St-Pierre does decide to continue fighting at 170, there are still great matchups to be made there. Robbie Lawler, Hector Lombard, Matt Brown, Tyron Woodley are all title contenders. Woodley not as much following his loss to Rory MacDonald. Although MacDonald is a definite threat to Hendrick's title, I doubt St-Pierre would fight him as they are training partners.
As Dana White says, we'll see what happens.
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