The Dispute Between Georges St-Pierre And The UFC Is Getting Ugly

This morning on the MMA Hour, Georges St-Pierre said that his contract with the UFC has been terminated. St-Pierre, one of the greatest fighters of all time, was rumored to return for UFC 206 in Toronto, although Dana White poured cold water on that idea over the weekend. White has expressed doubt that St-Pierre wanted to fight again, but St-Pierre says that his lawyer was able to cancel the contract because the UFC failed to offer him a fight in time.

As he told it:

“It was like a shock, because we felt like we were making progress, we were almost there,” St-Pierre said. “When they told us that, I got angry.”

At that point, St-Pierre said he hired Quinn and Quinn gave the UFC a legal deadline to offer him a fight. GSP, the former longtime UFC welterweight champion, said right before his lawyer-imposed deadline the UFC asked him if he wanted to fight Robbie Lawler at a future date, but Lawler has said he is taking time off from MMA after a knockout loss in July. At that point, St-Pierre said, his lawyer told him his UFC contract was terminated and he was a free agent.

However, it turns out the UFC is not done with him just yet, and they released a rather pithy statement this evening that explicitly said that St-Pierre is still under contract.

St-Pierre has been on hiatus since 2013, but he’s been actively looking to return since the summer. If he’s truly free from his contract, perhaps he’ll head to Bellator, but this seems like it will be a protracted squabble that eventually ends with St-Pierre fighting in the UFC again, hopefully with a more satisfactory contract.