The return of George St-Pierre to the octagon has long been discussed.
After UFC 196 Dana White confirmed that talks were underway with the man regarded as the greatest welterweight of all time, but he was unsure if they ultimately would lead to a comeback.
GSP was in the crowd that night in the MGM Grand and the rumour mill has since gone into overdrive over who he might face at UFC 200, if that is when he makes a return.
Firas Zahabi, St-Pierre’s coach, hinted at a potential fight with Nate Diaz, but the reports that the UFC are close to announcing a rematch between Diaz and Conor McGregor would appear to put pay to that.
@NateDiaz209 let me see what I can do…I know @GeorgesStPierre was very impressed by your performance. & So was I. https://t.co/jFu3hSt0Q2
— Firas Zahabi (@Firas_Zahabi) March 9, 2016
But St-Pierre’s teammate at Tristar Rory MacDonald is in no doubt that he would like to see GSP enter the octagon to take on either Diaz or McGregor.
“That would be fun,” MacDonald said on The MMA Hour.
“I think it’d be good to see him fight Nate or something like that, Conor or something would be cool. I really don’t know, [St-Pierre is] so secretive. It’s hard to get a read on it, you know? But he’s training and he’s doing good, so I don’t know. I think it really comes down to the numbers.
“I think he could come back if the right amount of money is on the table and the right fight is there for him.
“That’s my guess. But I try not to ask Georges about that stuff, because that’s pretty much anything anyone ever asks him about. When it happens, it’ll happen, you know? I’ll just see it on the news somewhere or something. But I don’t know, he’ll do what he ends up wanting to do. He’ll be fine.”
If it’s a numbers game then you would have to think that McGregor would be the better option but at the same time a GSP return would get enough UFC fans salivating that he would surely be able to call his own shots.
Whatever the outcome the picture is likely to become clearer over the next few weeks as the card for UFC 200 begins to take shape.
