Dana White is adamant that the great Georges St-Pierre doesn’t really want to return to fighting.
However, all we hear out of GSP’s camp and from other people who have spoken to the fighter is that fire is still burning inside the Canadian superstar and he’s not ready to turn his back on the fight game for good.
The main stumbling block that appears to have delayed his return to MMA’s biggest stage is the issue of money, with Michael Bisping even claiming that “Rush” had priced himself out of a middleweight title fight for his highly anticipated return. However, light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier doesn’t believe that the purse he was looking for should have caused this much hassle.
Cormier is scheduled to take on knockout monster Anthony Johnson at UFC 206 in Toronto, but the light heavyweight title bout has not been confirmed as the headliner for the card. This leaves ample room for a certain former welterweight champion to fill the main event slot and bring in a nice boost to the PPV buys-rate.
Speaking on Monday’s MMA Hour, Cormier didn’t disguise his desire to have GSP added to the Toronto card.
“My friend Georges St-Pierre from Montreal where they speak French, like they do down in Louisiana. My French brother, GSP, let’s make money together. Man, get on this fight card. Card placement means nothing. I will be a co-main event to Georges St-Pierre. I’ll fight in the main card opener if you need me to.”
“I didn’t get told that Georges was going to be on it. When Georges came to UFC Tonight a little while ago, he said that he’d love to fight Toronto. He said that him being in a four-month testing pool of USADA, it fell around perfectly. For me, I’m thinking, ‘Wow! If everything winds up so perfect, why wouldn’t he fight?'”
As for the issue of how much of a payday GSP is looking for off the UFC, Cormier doesn’t feel like it should be that much of an issue considering how massive of a draw he is.
“Honestly, I had a conversation with Georges about what was stopping the deal from being made at the time and it did not seem like that big an issue for who he is and what he brings. If it’s a matter of money, the amount he told me should not be a deal-breaker. They should be able to get that done. Maybe that’s wishful thinking, but I do not think that should be a deal-breaker.”
