Georges St-Pierre’s Coach Reveals When The Ex-Champ Will Return

Former UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre was sitting front row at UFC 196, and this led to speculation that he could be returning to the UFC. UFC President Dana White later confirmed that he has talked with “GSP” but did not give any insight into a possible return of the MMA legend.

St-Pierre has talked about coming back to MMA since retiring but has not done so yet. He decided to take a break from MMA following his split-decision victory over Johny Hendricks at UFC 167.

St-Pierre did a six-week training camp in late 2015. Once that camp was over, he would decide if he is able to comeback to MMA at the age of 34. “GSP” never made an announcement.

St-Pierre’s coach Firas Zahabi spoke with Ariel Helwani on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour and said that St-Pierre could return to MMA in 2016.

“I personally think, if you ask me my own personal opinion, I think he cannot stay away,” Zahabi said. “I think he’ll eventually get bit by the bug, and he’ll eventually do something spontaneous. That’s just Georges.”

“I would say yes [GSP will return in 2016], if I had to venture,” Zahabi said. “Keep my comments in context. If I had to venture, I would say yeah, he comes back in 2016. Again, it’s no guarantee. I’m not confirming that…I think he’s a motivated guy, I think he’s in shape, I think for him it’s just the fight that excites him. That’s all that he needs.”

Zahabi explained that St-Pierre could make the decision to come back at any time.

“It’s all on Georges’ motivation,” Zahabi said. “But Georges, to say that he’s a very spontaneous guy. I wouldn’t be surprised if tomorrow he calls me up and says, ‘I want to do this.’ It wouldn’t surprise me because he’s a very spontaneous guy, so I think it’s just that motivation, that one fight that he’s going to be motivated to train for, the one training camp that he’s going to be excited to do, he’ll do it.”