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Georges St-Pierre’s UFC Return Hinges on His Contract and Health
We’ve all been waiting for the day that Georges St-Pierre says yay or nay to a return to the Octagon.
It doesn’t appear that St-Pierre is going to give a definitive answer anytime soon, but he has clarified a couple of the hurdles, which center around his contract status and his health.
The last time St-Pierre set foot in the Octagon was at UFC 167 in November of 2013, when he won a split-decision victory over Johny Hendricks. Since then, he has been content to focus on life outside of the cage, while speculation about him returning to the Octagon has remained just that, speculation.
In an interview on The MMA Hour on Monday, St-Pierre didn't appear to be teasing a return, but talked openly about the possibility. Yet, there were still those pesky hurdles.
Despite going on sabbatical more than two years ago, injuries have remained a problem for St-Pierre. In 2014, he underwent surgery for a torn anterior cruciate ligament. His knee healed and he planned to undergo a simulated training camp to help gauge his interest and ability to return, but St-Pierre revealed on Monday that he recently injured his rotator cuff, putting his simulated camp on hold for the time being.
St-Pierre has always been particular about his preparation, and he doesn’t want to commit to a UFC return without knowing that his body is up to the rigors of proper training.
“You can be in the gym, but the Octagon is a different thing,” said St-Pierre. “I need to make sure if I do this, I need to do my tryout first, push myself to see if my body and I really want to do this again, go through that training camp.”
That’s the lower of the hurdles to clear: either his body can handle the training or it can’t. If it can, St-Pierre could easily return to the cage.
His contract status is another hurdle altogether.
Since St-Pierre last exited the Octagon, the UFC has struck a deal with Reebok, which has become the official supplier of fighter uniforms. The deal stipulates that fighters will be paid a specific some of money based upon his or her Octagon experience to wear Reebok-produced gear and uniforms during fight week promotional events and during the fight itself. Fighters are still free to have individual sponsors, but the kicker is that the Reebok gear cannot include any of those individual sponsors.
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Disallowing individual sponsors when a fighter makes the trip to the cage reduces visibility and is financially crippling for a fighter like St-Pierre, who was paid hefty sums of money to represent specific companies when he fought.
The Reebok deal has weighed heavily for many fighters during recent negotiations. It factored into the decisions of former UFC champion Benson Henderson and Ultimate Fighter standout Matt Mitrione when they each decided to leave the UFC for Bellator, and it is something that could become a serious stumbling block to St-Pierre’s return.
“Because of the Reebok deal, it changed a lot of things in my contract,” St-Pierre said. “We need to renegotiate maybe a new contract. I'm not allowed to wear my sponsors anymore, and I lose money. It depends how it's going to go down with the UFC.
“I'm not on bad terms with nobody. I understand it's a business.”
But the decision the UFC made to get into business with Reebok could potentially be a hurdle too high to clear.
“I don't know if I'll be back for sure,” said St-Pierre. “I haven't discussed all the possibilities with the UFC. Maybe the negotiations won't go well. A lot of things can happen.”
Constantly active and in shape, it's unlikely that St-Pierre's health would be the primary factor in keeping him out of the Octagon. The more questionable factor is likely to be his contract. At the end of the day, it's too soon to rule one way or the other.
