Georges St. Pierre Not “Necessarily” Needed To Headline UFC 206
Former longtime UFC welterweight champion and Canadian superstar Georges “Rush” St. Pierre has made it clear in recent months that he’s ready to return to fighting after nearly three years away from the cage. He also said on a previous edition of UFC Tonight that fighting at December 10, 2016’s UFC 206 from Toronto, Canada would be ideal.
St. Pierre competing at this event is far from a done deal, however.
Tom Wright, General Manager of Operations in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, recently said that the promotion doesn’t ‘necessarily’ need a Canadian to headline the event. He also said that the a main event for November 12’s UFC 205 from New York must be secured before the focus shifts to UFC 206:
“We don’t need a Canadian necessarily to headline the event,” Wright told Submission Radio. “The last event that we had in Canada did not feature around a Canadian, so frankly it’s no different than here (in Australia). Our fans are sophisticated fans in Canada and they’re knowledgeable and sophisticated here in Australia. They want to see great fights, they want to see great competition and they’ll see it in Toronto.”
“It’s still a little bit early. We’re trying to figure out the main event for UFC 205, obviously that’s going to be a seminal event in Madison Square Garden in New York. So once that’s sort of cleared up, and that will happen in the next week or so, then we’ll start to bring more closely into focus what’s going to happen in Toronto.”
That doesn’t mean that the promotion wouldn’t like St. Pierre to headline the event as he’s obviously one of the promotion’s biggest-ever stars. Wright added that the two parties have been in talks, and that he would like to see GSP do ‘what he wants to do’:
“Well personally I’d love to see Georges come back, but I have been asked this question before and what I really want is for Georges to do what he wants to do. He made the decision to walk away from this sport back in 2013, and should he decide to come back, I’d be the first person to welcome him back with open arms. Should he decide to continue hanging them up, then I’ll salute that as well. It’s completely up to Georges. We’re trying to see if there’s a contract that can be pulled together and his team are talking with our team, and if it’s going to work out, it will work out.”
Do you still expect to see “Rush” make a return to fighting?
