Lately, the relationship between the UFC President Dana White and former UFC Champion Georges St-Pierre has been blurred. Only on the last episode of MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani, GSP stated he was a free agent as he has terminated his contract with the UFC. It didn’t take long for the UFC to respond to his statements.
"Georges St-Pierre remains under an existing agreement with Zuffa, LLC as his MMA promoter," the statement read. "Zuffa intends to honour its agreement with St-Pierre and reserves its rights under the law to have St-Pierre do the same."
The UFC has pointed out that GSP is legally bound to be an employee of the company. This would mean the Canadian has nowhere else to go unless the company decides his next move for him.
Contrary to the statement, GSP had stated on MMA Hour that his lawyer got his ties with the UFC cut off after his employer had failed to meet the deadlines to offer him a fight.
He said he has an old contract with the UFC that was signed in 2011, and was trying to sign a new deal but talks died down with Lorenzo Fertitta after the company was bought by the WME-IMG group earlier this year
The former pound-for-pound best expressed his desire to fight:
"The reason I wanted to go back and fight is because I feel right now that I'm at my best. I'm truly confident I can beat the guys that are champions right now. I'm that confident. At least I'm a free man. Now, I know I'm free. I have other options. I'm not caught up legally with a contract. I'm a free man."
The UFC however, doesn’t seem to agree with GSP regarding his freedom from his contract with the UFC.
Dana White has been discouraging all rumours of a comeback stating that he feels GSP doesn’t want to fight anymore. White expressed his thoughts as he spoke with BT Sport earlier this month:
"GSP isn't even close. I'm telling you again, I don't think GSP wants to fight. I keep saying this. You guys know fighters as much as I know fighters, do you think GSP wants to fight? GSP wasn't crazy about fighting when he was fighting! Now three years later he's just dying to fight? He's not. I don't think he is."
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