Dana White Has Been Caught in a Lie After Fox Sports Accidentally Revealed That Georges St. Pierre is Now a Lightweight Contender…
The future of Georges St. Pierre has been the subject of much speculation, as the Canadian MMA legend has been out of action for close to a year now. In November 2017, he finally returned after a four-year hiatus to claim the middleweight championship, adding that title to his incredible 12 welterweight title defenses.
The 37-year-old has a very strong claim to be the greatest UFC fighter of all time. He has made no secret of the fact that he wants to come back again and fight at least one more time. The problem for ‘Rush’ – and it’s a good one to have – is that any future fight has to enhance his legacy.
Many people have speculated that the lightweight title is an obvious target for the Montreal native. However, UFC President Dana White has emphatically denied that GSP will be given a shot at the 155 crown. It looks like he’s been caught in a lie though, as Fox Sports revealed that St. Pierre is now a lightweight contender. Hey, what’s new there?
Double Champ @dc_mma takes the top spot, but no @MightyMouseUFC in the top 5 👀…. pic.twitter.com/8dXaiTNrup
— FOX Sports: UFC (@UFCONFOX) August 20, 2018
Triple Champion
In a graphic uploaded on Twitter by UFC on Fox, they revealed the recently updated pound-for-pound best active UFC fighters. There are a number of interesting details to take away from it.
First-and-foremost is that Georges St. Pierre is clearly ranked at No. 5 and is described as a ‘lightweight contender.’ This clearly reveals the UFC’s intentions. If he’s going to make the mad cut down to lightweight, then he’s going to go for gold. It’s GSP and it’s a chance for him to become the promotion’s first triple champion. They’d be mad not to do it.
Weird Rankings
Bizarrely Conor McGregor is ranked at No. 2, despite having not fought in two years and losing to Nate Diaz in one of his last three fights. Yes, he won two championships, but still, surely his inactivity should have caused him to go down the rankings, not up?
This is especially strange when you consider that Demetrious Johnson has plummeted from the top of the P4P rankings, out of the top five. Daniel Cormier is now No. 1 – and fair enough, he’s a double champion – but surely one loss isn’t enough to make DJ fall that far? It’s clearly all about marketability.
Return
It is believed that the UFC was interested in a GSP v Anderson Silva fight at UFC 231 in Toronto, Canada. That would obviously be a massive event in ‘Rush’s’ native country, as he is a superstar there. However, he justifiably sees Silva as damaged goods now. A fight that would have been the greatest possible match-up a few years ago looks like it will never happen.
In an ideal world for the UFC, it will be McGregor v GSP for the lightweight title. Khabib is not as promotable, but hey – that would still do well. It remains to be seen whether or not GSP has one more tune-up fight at welterweight or even lightweight before that, as the UFC remain understandably wary about his ability to safely execute the weight cut.
His last fight was at 185, and now he’s going down to 155. That’s absolutely insane.
