EXCLUSIVE | Chael Sonnen predicts Georges St-Pierre’s next move

Ever since Georges St-Pierre submitted Michael Bisping to win the UFC middleweight title, we’ve been speculating as to what might come next for him. While a title unifying showdown with Robert Whittaker is certainly the most logical option, his other options include bouts with welterweight champ Tyron Woodley and even lightweight champ Conor McGregor. In the ever-interesting opinion of Chael Sonnen, though, the Canadian champ is likely to land in the cage with Whittaker next.

‘I think that he’ll fight Robert Whitaker,” Sonnen said on the most recent episode of BJ Penn Radio. “I know that it’s done verbally on both sides with no agreement on date, but that was part of the contingency for George to take the Bisping fight. Should you win, you take Whitaker. He said yes. I know things change in this business but I expect George to be a man of his word and I expect him to be at all times and I know Whitaker would take the fight, and Dana White said it’s happening. I think for me to say anything different would be a little bit reckless, but let’s see what happens there.”

While Chael Sonnen believes Whittaker is the most likely option for St-Pierre’s next fight, he also understands things could unfold differently

“Don’t forget the bigger statement here is that George will fight again, and that seems to be the narrative going around and it has landed on Whitaker’s lap,” Sonnen said. “The bigger statement is George will fight again if there’s something that the office decides in conjunction with George would be a bigger fight and make more sense to do, there could be a dialog there, but that’s a little bit of a tough spot. The politics are a bit against him, the PR is a little bit against him. They didn’t want a logjam in these divisions and it continually happens. They don’t love doing interim championships any more than we want to see interim championships, but it’s part of it and it comes along. When you’ve got a healthy interim champion, and you’ve got a healthy champion, you got to put them together. That’s just what the rules of the sport say. Let’s see what happens. If something really big came about, if all of a sudden you could get a Connor and a GSP in there, I think we all have to have an open mind to it.”

What do you think is next for Georges St-Pierre?

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 4/12/2017.