Search icon

Sport

31st Mar 2017

Do we have Conor McGregor to thank for arguably the greatest ever fighter returning?

His next opponent seems to think it's all part of his master plan

Ben Kiely

It seems all too convenient that Georges St-Pierre ironed out his UFC contract just after Conor McGregor made promotional history.

For ages, it looked like the negotiations were going nowhere, with that pesky Reebok deal none of the fighters asked for impacting on GSP’s lucrative Under Armour sponsorship contract.

Not long after McGregor knocked out Eddie Alvarez to become the first fighter to hold two UFC belts simultaneously, it was announced that Michael Bisping would be defending his middleweight throne against the former welterweight champion.

Dana White infamously maintained that GSP was done with fighting, but he flip-flopped on that statement once the is were dotted and the ts were crossed on the Canadian’s new fight contract. Although he’s going to try to become the 185 lb king in his next trip to the Octagon, Bisping believes that’s just the first step of his master plan, as he explained on his SiriusXM radio show The Countdown,

“Here’s what I think GSP’s plan is. He comes back, he fights me, he beats me. In the time that takes, Demian Maia beats Jorge Masvidal then he fights Tyron Woodley. [St-Pierre] believes – because he said this – that Maia beats Woodley. Then, from him fighting me, he fights Maia, relinquishes the 185-pound belt, then he goes for the 170 belt. He fights Maia because stylistically it’s a good fight for him because Georges is a great wrestler and he’s very, very accomplished at jiu-jitsu. I think he can do what I’m going to do to GSP, stop his takedowns and win the fight on the feet.”

Bisping agrees with Freddie Roach about GSP’s ultimate goal. ‘The Count’ believes everything is building up to that huge money fight against Conor McGregor. Perhaps he was inspired by the Dubliner’s ambitious plans coming to fruition, perhaps there was a little jealousy over the fame and money McGregor garnered in his absence, or what’s most likely, Sy-Pierre just knows good business when he sees it.

“Then from there – he’s spoke about this – then he’s gonna relinquish that and then fight Conor McGregor for the lightweight belt. That is his master plan, I guarantee it. And if he can pull it off, then he would definitely go down as the greatest mixed martial arts fighter in history.

“I do think that after that, he’s gonna fight at his weight class – 170 – and then go for the big, big money fight against Conor, which would be almost as big as, maybe, Conor vs. Floyd. That would do bigger numbers than Conor vs. Nate Diaz. It would be massive.”

No arguments here. It would most likely be the biggest fight in the history of the sport.

Catch up with this week’s episode of 888Sport Football Friday Live