UFC President Dana White Says Georges St-Pierre Isn’t Coming Back

If you’re holding out hope that MMA phenom Georges St-Pierre will return to the UFC, you should probably let that one go. Well, according to UFC President Dana White, at least.

Dana White spoke at a press conference in Australia last week while promoting UFC 193, and answered a question as to whether we’d ever see the former Welterweight Champion back in the cage.

“I don’t think so, buddy, I’m sorry. GSP’s rich, man, he’s hanging out and he’s living the good life. In this sport you have to be hungry. You have to jump out of bed every day and want it. You’ve gotta want to win, you’ve gotta want to be a world champion. He’s had it. He’s accomplished all that stuff. He’s made a lot of money, he’s accomplished a lot of things. I don’t see him ever coming back, no,” White said.

Georges St-Pierre walked away from the sport of mixed martial arts after his razor-thin victory over title challenger Johny Hendricks at UFC 167. However, earlier this summer, St-Pierre told Ground and Pound TV that he felt like he probably should have walked away from the cage sooner.

“I became world champion by training for fun. And then the fun became business, and business became stressful, and then you lost fun. I didn’t have fun at the end, I did it because I had to, not because I wanted to. I should have actually stopped maybe one fight before, or two fights before, but I couldn’t. It was always constantly another guy challenging me. Carrying all this weight on my shoulders, I felt like I needed to do it, instead of wanting to do it,” said GSP.

Rumors have swirled about GSP’s health, especially considering the heavy studies as it relates to brain trauma in sports. GSP hasn’t necessarily voiced that concern, but has been more than outspoken about MMA’s drug testing policies. St-Pierre was a huge advocate of more strict drug testing, something that the UFC has embraced. Still, he didn’t say that was the reason he took time off.

“There is different reasons of why I took a break. What I can say is, I’m not sure, I don’t know right now if I wanna come back or not. I’m not sure when, if I do. So it’s still the same answer as before,” said St-Pierre.

It appears as if the door may be rapidly closing as it pertains to any hope of a return of the Welterweight kingpin. Either way, Georges St-Pierre has made his mark on the sport.

[Image via Jeff Zelevansky / Getty Images Sports]