After literally years of anticipation and uncertainty, it looks like former UFC welterweight champion Georges St Pierre is finally ready to return to competition inside the Octagon.
St Pierre vacated the UFC title at the end of 2013 following his decision win over Johny Hendricks. He has since been absent from the sport, but has never been far from fans and media asking questions on whether or not he will one day return to fighting. Now, at long last, those questions have been answered.
“The clock is running. I’m not getting any younger,” GSP said on The MMA Hour. “I’m in the peak of my career and if there is a shot, there is another goal, another run, I better do it and do it quick, because it is time to do it now.”
The French-Canadian athlete clarified that his management are currently in negotiation with the UFC regarding his return and so could not go into too much detail. However, one thing that does seem clear is the former champ is only interested in coming back for a big fight.
“I have a lot to lose in this, because I finished on top,” St Pierre said. “I finished as champion, and that’s the way everybody would like to leave the sport – on top, healthy, and wealthy – and I did it. If I go back and, it needs to be for something big. I think for my first fight, it needs to be for something big, and that’ll give me the swing and the momentum to do it again and again and again for another run.
“So it depends on what is going to happen, but I have a lot to lose, but the thing is also, the reason why I’ve been thinking of coming back is I don’t want to end up at 80 years old and telling myself, ‘I should’ve done this, I should’ve done that.’ Because all of the things I regret in my life the most, it’s not the things that I have done. It’s the things that I have not done, the things that I regret the most. So I don’t want to end up where I’m too old and say, ‘Oh, I should’ve done it. I was in great shape. My timing was impeccable, and I didn’t do it,’ so I would die with regret.”
