Georges St. Pierre Spotted Talking With Dana White In Montreal

Legendary former UFC welterweight champion Georges St, Pierre has been out of action since a highly controversial decision victory over current champion Johny Hendricks in the main event of last November’s UFC 167.

“Rush” vacated the belt soon after, and the rumor mill blew up with speculation as to why he left MMA behind in the midst of one of the most historic win streaks the UFC had ever seen. There were whispers he had gotten a woman pregnant and that his father was ill, but at the end of the day, St. Pierre was simply sick of fighting.

He was so obsessed with winning, so hell-bent on remaining champion that he had precious little time for anything else resembling a normal life.

And it certainly didn’t help that GSP had grown increasingly more disenfranchised with the plague of performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) currently in place in MMA. The decorated former champ made it clear that if he were ever to return, things would have to change in a big way regarding that matter. Steps have been taken towards that, as the much-maligned testosterone-replacement therapy (TRT) was banned in February, and the UFC will begin giving fighters multiple random drug tests next year.

St. Pierre also tore his ACL while training in March and underwent surgery to correct the injury. No official announcement has come of his return, only talk, but if a recent development has any weight to it, we could be seeing GSP back in action soon.

Montreal journalist Steven Chmielash tweeted that he walked past a restaurant in St. Pierre’s French Canadian hometown and spotted “Rush” dining with UFC President Dana White and CEO Lorenzo Fertitta:

Walking around St-Antoine and peer into a window of resto, see Dana White and George St-Pierre and the others grabbing a bite. #Montreal

— Steven Chmielash (@s_chmielash) October 14, 2014

Now, this whole scene should probably be taken with a grain of salt, but it’s also hard to discern exactly why White and Fertitta would make a trip to Montreal just to see how St. Pierre was doing.

White was notoriously angered at St. Pierre’s vacation of the belt, and understandably so; St. Pierre was his top pay-per-view (PPV) draw and his absence has left a massive void in the UFC’s business strategy.

Their credit was recently downgraded due to the lack of star power in 2014, and although they have a huge star in the making with Irish featherweight Conor McGregor, it would take years to build the following that St. Pierre garnered as champion.

It’s true that St. Pierre has not closed the door on a return to fighting, but there are some major roadblocks to his return, especially in the way of a potential return to the championship.

Welterweight is currently one of the most (if not the most) talented divisions in the UFC right now, and St. Pierre’s friend and training partner Rory MacDonald has been granted the next title shot at an upcoming PPV in Canada.

They’ve repeatedly stated that they would never fight one another, but it’s hard to imagine a scenario where their paths wouldn’t cross if St. Pierre does decide to return.

The other major issue is his injury history. He’s now suffered two torn ACLs in under three years, and it is highly unknown if St. Pierre can regain explosiveness that made him famous in the UFC.

He’s an elite athlete in every sense of the term, but the deck is stacked against him here. Still, he’d almost certainly get an immediate title shot if he did come back, and that has to be at least part of the reason White went to visit him.

So the waiting game continues. When, if ever, will we see St. Pierre back in the octagon?