by Dane McGuire

UFC Hall of Famer and former two-division champion Georges St-Pierre is yet another combat sports great not ruling out a return, despite having been retired five years.

Hereafter referred to as GSP, he has revealed that he is officially no longer under a UFC contract despite his last fight being in November 2017. That night at UFC 217, he earned a victory over then middleweight champion Michael Busping for a second belt.

Prior to the Jake Paul-Anderson Silva boxing match, GSP who was involved at the weigh-in, said a combat sports return would not be in MMA.

“If I wanted to [I could compete in boxing],” St-Pierre said. “You never say never. If it’s for a good cause, it’s well organized, who knows? I could do boxing or grappling. Who knows? But my days of trying to prove I’m the strongest man in the world, it’s gone. I have other priorities in life and I’m still training, I’m still getting it. When I go with a guy, when I spar with a guy, I still get it. But my heart is not there anymore.”

GSP said his reasoning for moving into another sport mostly has to do with safety.

“I might compete because I’m in an entertainment business, in boxing or in grappling, something that is safer than MMA,” St-Pierre said. “Not MMA. Something that is safer, that has less risks, because I have a lot more to lose and it’s not my priority anymore. And yeah, why not? You know what I mean? If it’s well done and everything. But something like a boxing match with small [gloves], nah, I’m done with it.

By the time the bout came and went, Jake Paul got the unanimous decision win over Silva. He then delivered a somewhat inspiring post fight speech to kids chasing dreams before calling out boxing’s Canelo Alvarz and recently departed UFC veteran Nate Diaz.

Now 6-0 as a boxer Paul is fighting back against fight fixing claims, which he also dealt with when facing former UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley.

“I lose faith in my generation and my peers, and us as a society and a world when I see that type of stuff and that type of stupidity. It just sucks. It sucks because I worked so hard for this. I dedicate everything, sacrifice everything, every single day, bust my balls, have a 15-person team working around the clock to help me become the best boxer possible, and when I do something like beating Anderson Silva, they try to take it away from me. But I know deep down, and I guess that’s all that really matters.”

Meanwhile, Silva said the loss simply came down to a flaw in his gameplan.

“I failed in the strategy, and the last round, Jake [made] the good punch, and my base was not correct,” Silva told reporters at the post-fight press conference. “And that’s when I took the punch, but I didn’t feel knocked out. I don’t feel power, but I wasn’t in good balance, and that’s when I took the punch.

“I fell two times, and I just talked to my coach: ‘I don’t believe it. I trained hard to not do the same stupid position.’ But I’m human. I’m a superhero, but sometimes, my half-human fails.”