Georges St-Pierre responds to Dana White’s claims that he doesn’t want to fight

Although the UFC and former welterweight kingpin Georges St-Pierre were reportedly close to finalizing a deal that would see St-Pierre make his highly anticipated return to the Octagon in the near-future, St-Pierre and the UFC are now at odds after St-Pierre announced that he was a free agent, and the UFC refuted the claims.

St-Pierre, who hasn’t fought since his 2013 split decision win over Johny Hendricks, has maintained that he is ready to make his return to MMA. Despite that, UFC President Dana White has maintained that he believes St-Pierre doesn’t want to fight. In a recent interview, White went as far as to explain that he knows people who want to fight, and Georges St-Pierre isn’t one of them.

That didn’t sit too well with the former welterweight champ, who responded in an interview on The MMA Hour:

“When he’s saying that I’m not ready to fight, there’s only one person who knows if I’m ready to fight and it’s myself,” GSP said. “Dana White doesn’t know what it is to be a fighter. I know what it is to be a fighter. I’m a fighter and I will always stand and support fighters. I know what it is.”

Despite White’s comments, St-Pierre went on to praise White as the greatest promoter of all time, saying:

“Dana White, he’s the best promoter in the world, Ariel,” GSP said. “He is the greatest of all time. We wouldn’t make mixed martial arts for a living if it would not be for Dana White. We owe him that. He did that for all of us. He took the UFC when it was small, he took it and he raised the bar for every one of us. But now in this situation unfortunately he’s against me because of the business interests. I don’t dislike Dana White. A big part of what I do and what I have earned is because of Dana White.

“Dana White is so good he can organize a fight between Hulk and Mother Theresa and make believe it’s gonna be an even fight and make people believe that they need to see that fight. He’s so good at promoting. He’s the best in the world. And when he says something, everybody believes it. That’s how good he is.”