Firas Zahabi: Georges St-Pierre open to UFC return for ‘really amazing’ offer

Although Georges St-Pierre officially announced his retirement from the UFC back in February, his long-time head trainer at Tristar gym still believes he could one day return to the Octagon.

Speaking on his YouTube Channel, Zahabi admitted that the welterweight legend is still training in his hometown of Montreal, and that he thinks St-Pierre could make a return to the Octagon if the right offer materializes.

“Georges is officially retired, but he still trains regularly in the gym, absolutely, all the time. We work together on a regular basis. We like to train. Just because he is retired, doesn’t mean the training has to stop,” Zahabi said (transcript via BloodyElbow.com).

“If something very interesting comes his way as an offer — this is just my opinion, I don’t want to talk for Georges — I feel Georges still has that spark in him. I think he might come back if something really amazing comes about. But other than that, I think he’s happy being retired. He’s living a good life.”

Georges St-Pierre (26-2) was the defending UFC welterweight champion when he vacated the belt in 2013 following a split decision win over Johny Hendricks at UFC 167. After four years away from the sport, he returned at UFC 217 in 2017 and defeated Michael Bisping to win the UFC middleweight title. He then vacated that belt too, and later on officially retired.

St-Pierre had been negotiating a potential superfight against UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov. However, the negotiations failed because the UFC was worried the Canadian would defeat Nurmagomedov and then retire once again. But that’s still a fight both men want, with Nurmagomedov even negotiating a GSP clause in his recent new contract with the UFC.

If St-Pierre is truly waiting for the right offer to return, perhaps a big-money fight against Nurmagomedov — or potentially even Conor McGregor — could be the type of fight to lure him back to the cage, not to mention a possible fight with Ben Askren. For now, he remains retired, but if Zahabi is right, it could be a short-lived retirement for the long-time champ. It’s up now to the UFC to make him an offer he can’t refuse.

What do you think the right offer for Georges St-Pierre would be to make him return to the UFC?

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 6/27/2019.