The future of Georges St. Pierre was laid on the line today and it’s official. GSP is vacating his UFC welterweight title and taking some well-deserved time off. He made this announcement today via a media call and MMAFreak was on deck. This was brought to us via MMAjunkie Radio.
“I can’t sleep at night man,” he said after the Nov. 16 event. “I’m going crazy. I have issues and I need to get out for a while. I don’t know what I’m going to do. I feel like I’m leaving everything out now, but I need to leave part of my life personal. I need to get out for a little bit, and that’s it.”
It’s been a week of anticipation for fans and the UFC’s welterweight champion GSP. Since his statements directly after a controversial split decision victory against Johny Hendricks, his decision to walk away from the sport in today’s press conference was almost shocking, if not for the fact that he’s walked away from the sport for short periods of time in the past, but of course nothing like this time. Jon Jones vs Glover Teixeira will be effectively moved back to UFC 172.
“I’ve been fighting for a long time,” St-Pierre said. “I have 22 fights in the UFC, and 15 were for a world title. I’ve been fighting a long time at a high level, a lot of pressure and criticizing. I’ve decided I needed to take some time off… The UFC is a business. I’m vacating my title out of respect for the other competitors.”
Due to this, UFC President Dana White has no other choice but to make an immediate match for the now vacant UFC welterweight championship. The big question is, who is the most deserving?
After the announcement of GSP vacating his title, White announced the former number one contender Johny Hendricks and Robbie Lawler will meet at UFC 171 on March 15 at American Airlines Center in Dallas for the vacant title.
The main card, which featured a light heavyweight title fight between champion Jon Jones and Glover Teixeira, airs on pay-per-view following prelims on FOX Sports 1.
Carlos Condit was also put in the title picture, but White said he has a plan for the former interim title champion and expects him to fight on the UFC 171 card as well. He didn’t name a potential opponent as of right now, but Condit has already made it clear he still wants the Matt Brown fight.
If Brown is healthy by then, I could see that fight or a rematch between Condit and Rory MacDonald to take place at UFC 171. Either way, UFC 171 already has the potential to go down in history as one of the best PPV cards ever.
~Ben McPhee (Follow me on twitter – @mmawriter1)