Neither Chael Sonnen nor Georges St-Pierre have competed inside the Octagon since UFC 167 way back on Nov. 16, 2013. However, it’s within the realm of possibility that one or both of them could make a return to the cage later this year.
St-Pierre, 35, took an indefinite leave of absence from the sport shortly after defending his welterweight title against Johny Hendricks but rumours of the Canadian making a comeback have swirled in recent months.
Sonnen, 39, is currently serving a two-year suspension, handed to him by the Nevada State Athletic Commission in 2014 for multiple failed drug tests.
That suspension expires in July.
If Sonnen decides to make a comeback, he’ll no doubt garner a notable opponent and one name that crossed his mind was that of the former the welterweight champion.
“I would love to kick Georges’ ass,” Sonnen told The MMA Hour. “I’ll tell you this. This is a true story. I got a call one day and it was from Kenny Florian, and he says ‘hey, you want to work out?’ I was in L.A. and I said ‘yeah,’ and he goes, ‘okay, well Georges is in town. Do you want to work out with Georges?’ And I said yeah. So we go to this gym. We went hard. I think I could’ve gone harder, but we went hard, and I came in second. And it drove me nuts, man. It drove me nuts.
“I really think I could’ve done better. It was close. It was fine. If you ask him, he might try to put me over. I’m not trying to put him over right now, I’m just telling you what happened. He won that go, but I could’ve done better with him, and it’s driven me nuts ever since. I thought, man, I could’ve gotten that guy. I could’ve done better. He knew he got the best of me, so at the end of the workout he tried to pay me a compliment. He goes, ‘Thanks for not using your size. If you would’ve used your size, you really could’ve crushed me,’ which was really his way of saying, ‘Hey man, I just beat you.’ And I knew what he meant, and I knew it was meant to be a nice thing. It stuck with me, man. This is a workout that was years ago and it stuck with me.”
Firas Zahabi, GSP’s head MMA coach, has said on numerous occasions he believes St-Pierre still has the ability to defeat anybody in the welterweight division. However, St-Pierre (25-2) has insisted that if he does come back he wouldn’t necessarily want to fight for the 170-pound title he vacated. Instead, he’d be looking for the biggest fights possible. Does that mean a long anticipated bout with Anderson Silva? Perhaps a superfight against Conor McGregor? Maybe moving up in weight and putting his skills to the test against Sonnen for real would float his boat?
St-Pierre never stopped training during his layoff and recently admitted he and his manager have been in contact with the UFC.
“If I feel good, I’ll give the thumbs up to my manager,” St-Pierre said. “They’ve been talking with UFC, but now they’re going to talk more seriously to see what’s gonna happen.”
The major hiccup in St-Pierre’s potential return to the UFC lies in the organization’s sponsorship deal with Reebok. St-Pierre’s sponshorship deals with Under Armour, Affliction and Hayabusa helped him become one of the highest-paid fighters in UFC history.
“There are a lot of issues. One of the main issues: When I was [under] contract back in the day, the Reebok deal was not in place. Now because of the Reebok deal, it changes a lot of things in my contract,” St. Pierre added. “We need to renegotiate, maybe a new contract. I’m not allowed to wear my sponsors anymore. I lose money.”
VanZant named Dancing With The Stars runner up
UFC strawweight Paige VanZant finished in second place on Season 22 of Dancing With The Stars, which had its finale Tuesday night. The 22-year-old became a fan favourite during the filming of the popular reality show. VanZant (6-2) was submitted by Rose Namajunas in December in her last fight and said she plans on fighting again despite her out-of-cage options.
Te Huna retires
Popular New Zealand knockout artist James Te Huna has called it a career. The 34-year-old announced his retirement from mixed martial arts after 10 fights and six years in the UFC.
“I gave it everything I had guys, and those closest to me know how much of my life I gave to competition,” Te Huna wrote on his Facebook page. “I didn’t have the gift when I started. Just put in the work to chase a childhood dream.”
Te Huna (16-9 in MMA, 5-5 in the UFC) had lost four straight fights dating back to May 2013, including a brutal knockout to Canadian Steve Bosse in March.
In other UFC news…
— Exciting bantamweights Erik Perez and Francisco Rivera are slated to throw down at UFC 201 at Philips Arena in Atlanta July 30.
— Welterweight prospects Michael Graves and Bojan Velickovic meet at UFC 201.
— TUF 22 winner Ryan Hall is set to meet Alex White in a featherweight bout at UFC Fight Night 91 in July.
— Scottish featherweight Rob Whiteford was released by the UFC following back-to-back decision losses to Lucas Martins and Darren Elkins. Martins is also a free agent after the UFC elected not to renew his contract despite the fact he’s coming off a win over Whiteford.
