Former two division UFC champion Georges St. Pierre hasn’t competed since defeating Michael Bisping to win the UFC Middleweight Title in the main event of UFC 217.
While GSP was absent from MMA action in 2018, it could all be changing when we enter into 2019.
“It’s a big chance (I’ll fight in 2019),” St. Pierre said on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show. “Sometimes I feel like I want to fight – I’m very excited to fight. And other times, I feel like, ‘(Expletive), man, what do I have to gain?’ The competitor inside me always wants to fight. I know I’m capable. It’s not that I can’t. I’m in my prime right now. But sometimes I’m thinking the motivation is not the same as it used to be. I don’t have the motivation to go through the lineup again and fight my way up to another title. I’m done with this. I’ve done it for so many years. You reach a point in your career you want to do things different.”
GSP has spent the majority of 2018 battling ulcerative colitis, but the fighter recently announced that the battle against the medical condition is going his way.
St. Pierre even names UFC Lightweight Champion Khabib Nurmagomedov as a possible opponent for that return to action next year.
“I know Khabib has impressed the desire to fight me before the (McGregor) fight,” St. Pierre said. “Before the fight, there were a lot of contenders. … I don’t think the UFC would want me to fight for a title at 155. They don’t want me to run off into the sunset again with a title if that happened. I don’t think it will happen. I always said the thing that excites me the most is when I can be the first to do something. When something can’t be done, and people doubt me … he’s a great champion. In terms of legacy, I can’t think of a better man and fighter right now with a better legacy than Khabib.”
Nurmagomedov last competed in the main event of UFC 229 and could be facing punishments for inciting a post-fight brawl.
