Its been almost two years since we’ve seen Georges St-Pierre but still MMA fans cal our for him to hit the octagon one more time.
The former UFC welterweight champion is in the process of setting up a mock 6-week training camp to decide whether he should return to the UFC.
It’s an interesting premise because this would mean GSP would have to do another camp leading into a fight later in 2016, which doubles the chance of injury but nonetheless it’s what the former-champ want to do. If he does decide that he has more left in the tank it’ll present the UFC with an interesting decision, does GSP receive an immediate title fight?
Jon Jones seems to be in line for an immediate title fight since he never dropped the belt in the octagon and one would assume GSP would be awarded the same opportunity. The problem with that would be the longterm commitment of GSP and whether he planned to defend the title moving forward? Freddie Roach suggests he’d only return for one fight, “He’s gonna have a six-week training camp. And at the end of the six weeks, if he feels like he’s ready to fight and he’s hungry for it like he always has been, he’s gonna do it. He’s gonna fight one more time.”
If that’s the case, the UFC would be better suited to give him a non-title fight with a popular opponent to drive up interest & PPV sales. Both Anderson Silva and Nick Diaz would be fights that would be immediate hits in the MMA world. Fans have been wanting a Silva-GSP super fight for many years and though both fighters are past their prime it’d still drum up interest. We’ve seen Mayweather and Pacquiao prove that fans will watch two of the sport’s greatest whether they are in their prime or washed up.
The Diaz fight would work due to the history of malice between the two fighters. The chance to retire GSP would be a deal even Nick couldn’t pass up and all signs point toward his suspension being reduced to 18-months.
This leads us to the UFC’s easiest decision, planning GSP’s return for UFC 200. GSP was a huge part of UFC 100’s success and pairing him with a possible Conor McGregor fight would be huge; not to mention the impending Ronda Rousey title defense.
That’d easily make UFC 200 one of the best cards in UFC history. Not convinced? Let’s throw in the CM Punk debut to ensure the highest PPV numbers in UFC history.