Dana White Says GSP ‘Hand-Picked Bisping & Took Off Again’
UFC President Dana White is not Georges St-Pierre’s biggest fan to say the least.
Earlier this week it was announced that GSP would be vacating the 185-pound title he won from Michael Bisping early last month, citing an illness that would keep him out-of-action indefinitely. Interim champion Robbert Whittaker was promoted to undisputed UFC middleweight champ and is expected to make his first title defense against ex-champion Luke Rockhold.
During the UFC Fight Night Fresno post-fight media scrum earlier this morning (Sun. December 10, 2017), White expressed frustration with St-Pierre’s actions and claimed the Canadian “hand-picked Bisping” before taking off again:
“At the end of the day, there’s a reason I put that stuff in the contract for him to sign,” White said. “There’s a reason. You know, am I shocked? I don’t think anybody’s shocked. He came out, he hand-picked Bisping, then went away again. So whatever. It is what it is.”
When asked if he would ever consider allowing the former welterweight kingpin to return to his old stomping grounds at 170 pounds, White said that St-Pierre doesn’t want to fight any of the top names in the weight class today:
“He doesn’t want to fight anybody at welterweight. That’s why he fought Bisping,” White said. “He didn’t want to fight Woodley, he didn’t want to fight “Wonderboy” Thompson, he didn’t want to fight any of those guys. He wanted to fight Michael Bisping. He did, and now he’s off again, so – listen, I’m not shocked, I’m not mad, it is what it is.”
The UFC boss isn’t mad about St-Pierre’s reluctance to defend the middleweight throne against Whittaker, as he contractually agreed to, but he was actually expecting the move and knew it would never happen:
“I thought I would be, but I’m not,” White said. “I expected it. Listen, I had him sign a contract that said he would defend against Whittaker for a reason. Because I knew he wouldn’t.”
