Georges St. Pierre Tears Left ACL In Training

The hits won’t stop coming for the UFC — namely its supposedly stacked welterweight division — as longtime former champion Georges St. Pierre, who has been desperately missed since stepping away from MMA after controversially defeating new champion Johny Hendricks at UFC 167, has reportedly torn his left ACL in training once again.

The legendary fighter took to Twitter to describe the bad news just moments ago:

Tore my left ACL in training. Surgery in a few days. Rehab, pain, hard work, no shortcuts- I’ll soon be back at 100%. Thanks for the support

— Georges St-Pierre (@GeorgesStPierre) March 27, 2014

It’s another huge blow for the UFC, who just saw Hendricks go under the knife this Monday. Middleweight champion Chris Weidman will also have a scope performed on each knee, but with the titleholder set to return at UFC 175 in early July, his injury pales in comparison to St. Pierre’s.

“GSP” recently said that he would return to the UFC if certain things were to change, and most of that focus was centered on his perceived disdain for drug testing in MMA. But, that doesn’t really matter at this point because he’s now facing a long road back to recovery.

St. Pierre famously tore his right ACL once before heading into his scheduled UFC 143 bout with Nick Diaz, which ultimately turned into an interim affair between Diaz and Carlos Condit.

Now he’s torn the other one, and with Anderson Silva on the shelf for the rest of 2014, the UFC just lost the biggest draw it could have potentially brought back in the midst of all this chaos.

All told, it’s a huge mess that could end up shaping the overall direction of MMA as a whole. The coming months are going to be a telling tale of just how resilient of a business the UFC truly is.

Photo: Eric Bolte for USA TODAY Sports