UFC Rumors: Georges St-Pierre Nearing Return to Octagon?

Former Ultimate Fighting Championship welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre admitted that his camp is talking to UFC about a potential comeback fight later this year

St-Pierre, who has been inactive since scoring a split decision win over Johny Hendricks during their welterweight title fight in November 2013, confirmed recent UFC rumors to The MMA Hour, saying that talks are getting more serious, but declined to commit to a possible return date.

St-Pierre, who was linked to a possible fight Conor McGregor before the UFC featherweight champion lost to Nate Diaz, said that he will train hard in the coming weeks and see if he is ready to return to the Octagon instead of making a rushed decision so he will not have any regrets along the way.

“I think I’m doing well and I haven’t been active in a long time in the Octagon,” St-Pierre said. “You can be in the gym, but the Octagon is a different thing. I need to make sure if I do this, I need to do my tryout first, push myself to see if my body and I really want to do this again, go through that training camp.”

The 34-year-old superstar also admitted that money could be a factor when he makes his final decision this summer. GSP said that his current contract with Reebok prohibits him from having other sponsors, which means he might look for a big-money deal from UFC before ending his long hiatus.

“It changed a lot of things in my contract,” St-Pierre said, referring to his Reebok contract. “We need to renegotiate maybe a new contract. I’m not allowed to wear my sponsors anymore, and I lose money. It depends how it’s gonna go down with the UFC. We’ll see what’s gonna happen.”

St-Pierre opted to stay away from the sports despite winning in his last 12 fights, complaining about the lack of strict policies against the use of performance-enhancing drugs. GSP said that hurdle is now out of the picture after UFC struck a partnership with USADA to combat doping in mixed martial arts.