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Georges St. Pierre made his successful octagon return after nearly four years away from the sport of mixed martial arts on Saturday at UFC 217. Headlining the UFC’s second appearance at Madison Square Garden, the former welterweight champion moved up in weight to challenge UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping for his title.
With a submission finish, having choked out “The Count,” St-Pierre shocked the New York crowd by becoming the fourth UFC fighter to have ever achieved a title in two separate divisions. While UFC President Dana White is adamant that the fighter will be facing interim champion Robert Whittaker next, UFC analyst Kenny Florian has other thoughts.
Speaking on the Anik and Florian Podcast, Florian explained that he would not be shocked if Georges St. Pierre receded back into retirement.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if this is his last fight. Does it get any better than this? What is he going to accomplish here that’s going to elevate his status that much more? Does he need to defeat the 205-pound champion, maybe fight Stipe Miocic? Those aren’t realistic things. Even going up to 186, everybody doubted him. ‘This is going to be too much. Michael Bisping has been more active, he’s a bigger guy.’ I don’t know if it gets better than this.
“I think there was something that Georges wanted to prove to himself. I really don’t think, as much as Georges wanted to get what he felt he deserved, but I don’t think it was necessarily about the money. This wasn’t a Georges St-Pierre saying ‘Man, my bank account is low. I really need to get some funds here.’ It wasn’t about that. Georges is fine on money. I think more than anything else, he had something he needed to prove to himself. Being away for four years, I felt like he finished his career on top and wanted to come back and show everybody that in these days where USADA is kind of overlooking the sport, I want to come back and show what I can really do. At 170 pounds, he has already done it all. He wanted to do something different at 185 pounds and challenge himself. He did that against a phenomenal champion in Michael Bisping and I think that this is probably his last fight.”
