It doesn’t appear that Georges St-Pierre will be returning to the UFC any time soon.
During an appearance on the MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani on Monday afternoon, St-Pierre claimed to now be a free agent.
“Right now I’m a free agent.” St-Pierre said. “You head it right, I’m a free agent. My lawyer terminated the contract with the UFC.”
St-Pierre said that he had made progress on a deal with Lorenzo Fertitta prior to the UFC being sold, but he was told by the new owners that Fertitta’s deal was off the table after the company was sold to WME-IMG.
After being told the offer was off the table, St-Pierre said that his lawyer sent the UFC a legal deadline to give him a fight. St-Pierre claimed that the UFC asked him at the last minute if he was interested in fighting Robbie Lawler at some point, but St-Pierre noted that Lawler had to pull out of UFC 205 and would be taking time off. After that deadline passed, St-Pierre said that his lawyer told him he was now a free agent.
St-Pierre claimed that what he asked for was financially reasonable, but he was told by the UFC prior to the sale that they were taking a financial risk by bringing him back and would have to spend a lot of money reintroducing him to the audience.
St-Pierre said that it was decided that UFC 206 in Toronto was the best place for him to return prior to negotiations falling apart.
“I don’t take it personal. I find it actually a little bit funny, to tell you the truth.” St-Pierre said when asked about the UFC’s claims that they would have to reintroduce him to the audience. “Because I know it’s a lie, but sometimes I really believe, I start to ask myself if they believe in what they’re saying, if they’re so caught up into what they’re saying that they start believing it.”
St-Pierre said that he was confident that fans didn’t forget about him, and felt that he would’ve sold out the Toronto show in minutes.
When asked if he would fight elsewhere, St-Pierre said that we will see what happens and that everything in mixed martial arts is a question of timing.
St-Pierre, one of the biggest draws and most successful fighters in the history of the sport, last fought at UFC 167 in December 2013, where he picked up a controversial split decision win over Johny Hendricks.