Former two division champion Georges St. Pierre returned after a four-plus year absence at UFC 217, defeating Michael Bisping to win the UFC Middleweight Title.
GSP has since relinquished the title and been on the shelf due to a battle with ulcerative colitis, but still wants UFC President Dana White to know that he doesn’t control the Canadian superstar.
“If I would’ve lost (at UFC 217), I would’ve lost big. It was a risk. I took the risk. And (UFC president) Dana (White) maybe is not happy about it, because he doesn’t control me. Maybe he’s used to dealing with people that he controls, but he does not control me. I don’t depend on fighting. I don’t need the UFC to live. I have been there, done that, but I don’t depend on fighting. I have other stuff on the side that has nothing to do with the UFC, and I don’t need to fight for the rest of my life if I don’t want to,” says GSP on The MMA Hour.
White and GSP haven’t always had the best of relationships, especially when the fighter was revealed to be a member of the MMAFA.
St. Pierre is willing to step back into the Octagon again, but there needs to be a scenario that excites him to make that return.
“I can’t fight right now, and things in MMA change very rapidly,” St. Pierre said. “I don’t know. Maybe in a few months a guy will win a title and he’s going to be the new pound-for-pound king, and maybe that will excite me. Who knows?”
At UFC 217, a history making GSP became just one of a handful of fighters to win two belts in two different weight classes in the promotion.
