If Nate Diaz’s story checks out, George St-Pierre’s return to fighting could be imminent.
Arguably the greatest fighter to ever grace an Octagon has not fought since vacating his belt in 2013, following his successful defence against Johny Hendricks.
The MMA legend continued to tease the public about his future by maintaining that he has made no decision on whether he will return to the sport. However, Nate Diaz may have let slip some information about GSP’s return during an interview with BJPenn.com.
Diaz explained that he was campaigning for a fight against the legendary fighter when he was asked by president Dana White to replace Rafael dos Anjos, and fight Conor McGregor at UFC 196.
“I had just told Dana White, ‘I’m going to 170, because you know, Pettis, Alvarez and all those guys, all those scary-ass guys don’t want to fight me. So, what the hell am I going to do, sit around the division and wait for a fight? So, it’s all good, I’m going to go up to 170, then, start eating. I texted that to Dana. We were talking the day before they called me [to offer the McGregor fight].”
Nate was hoping to get revenge for his brother, who lost to GSP via unanimous decision at UFC 158 in 2013. However, White said the St-Pierre had another match up in mind.
“I said, ‘I’m trying to get the GSP fight,’ because I heard he’s coming back. He said, ‘Oh, I think he wants to fight Lawler.”
St-Pierre has famously never fought Robbie Lawler, who became champion on the second time of asking by beating Hendricks by split decision in their rematch. Lawler lost his first shot, losing by unanimous decision to Hendricks for the vacant belt at UFC 171.
Since the Hendricks loss, Lawler has gone on the rampage scoring victories over the likes of Jake Ellenberger, Matt Brown and Rory MacDonald. He has yet to book a fight since his latest defence against Carlos Condit with the general expectation being that he’ll be on the huge UFC 200 card.
GSP v Lawler at UFC 200? Sign us up!
