Dana White Explains Reasoning Behind Not Booking GSP vs. Nurmagomedov
Former two division champion Georges St. Pierre retired earlier this year, ending a professional MMA career that began in January of 2002.
UFC Lightweight Champion Khabib Nurmagomedov and GSP had both expressed interest in fighting each other, but UFC President Dana White has his own reasoning for why the bout never came to fruition.
“Well there’s two things — first of all, who doesn’t love Georges St-Pierre? Love Georges St-Pierre, the best ever as far as human beings, great guy, love him. Georges St-Pierre and I had a deal, he was going to fight [Michael] Bisping at 185 pounds and if he won, he would defend the title. He bailed on that. Didn’t do it,” White told TSN. “So you can’t just come out and hand pick fights that you want for titles. He made this deal with me that he would defend the title. He went in and he saw Bisping as an easy fight. He fought Bisping and then you look at the guys that are behind Bisping and they’re all killers. They’re all literally killers. But now to come back and he wants to fight at 155 for the title. We’re not doing a goofy 165 [pound] whatever, that’s not going to happen.”
If the bout had come together and GSP won the UFC Lightweight Championship, it would’ve made him the first UFC fighter to hold three belts in three different weight classes.
White admits that he’d think about putting the a bout between GSP and Nurmagomedov together if Nurmagomedov really wants it to happen.
“I guess if I get into a position where Khabib the champ wants it bad enough, we’re going to have to talk about it but at the end of the day it doesn’t make sense to me,” White said. “You have other guys lined up behind him. You’re just asking me if Tony Ferguson is going to get a shot. We’ll give you a shot after Georges St-Pierre slides in at 155 and gets his shot. Then you’ve got Conor [McGregor] who wants a rematch.”
Nurmagomedov must first get past UFC Interim Lightweight Champion Dustin Poirier if any potential bout with GSP were to happen, as the two battle in a title unification bout at UFC 242.
