GSP Denies Return Rumors
 

GSP Denies Plan of Imminent Return to MMA

3 Oct, 2014

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Contrary to various reports, Georges St-Pierre currently has no plans to return to fighting.

According to MMAFighting.com's Ariel Helwani, St-Pierre’s former manager, Stephane Patry, reported to RDS on Wednesday that the former UFC welterweight champ had officially decided to return to MMA.

However, St-Pierre has informed MMAFighting.com that the rumors aren’t true and that he has yet to decide if he’ll ever fight again.

“Georges has absolutely no return plan [right now],” said Firas Zahabi, St-Pierre’s longtime coach and friend.

St-Pierre relinquished the UFC title and announced he would be taking an indefinite leave of absence from MMA in December 2013. Despite taking time away from competition, the French Canadian star continued to put in work in the gym, training alongside teammates and helping them prepare for upcoming bouts.

After a training session in March, St-Pierre announced via Twitter that he had torn his left ACL.

Given the number of talking heads, it was nearly a foregone conclusion that the injury would somehow invigorate St-Pierre into pushing for a 2015 MMA return.

Zahabi, speaking with MMAFighting.com’s Ariel Helwani in June, mentioned that St-Pierre was probably “more motivated than ever” to compete.

During an appearance on The MMA Hour, Renzo Gracie, who has helped train St-Pierre, claimed that he was certain the former champ would return to fighting someday. UFC President Dana White even threw out some bait in an interview with UFC.com, promising St-Pierre an immediate title shot upon his return.

There is, without question, a great deal of pressure from the MMA community for a return. Along with being the most popular athlete in UFC history, St-Pierre is widely considered one of the greatest fighters of all time.

But perhaps those are the very reasons for him not to return.

Every athlete dreams of a chance to ride off into the sunset on top. Having already avenged the only losses on his resume, St-Pierre has left behind an unblemished work of perfection.

It makes little sense to muddy it now.

Jordy McElroy is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. He is also the MMA writer for Rocktagon.