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MONTREAL – Dana White and Georges St-Pierre have not always been on good terms.
For more than ten years that they've been working together, White has blamed St-Pierre for wanting to stay away, questioned the champion's willingness to fight for welterweight and has refused the big matches that would have made everyone richer.
But when St-Pierre personally called White to announce that he was retiring for good, the UFC office had only good things to say.
"He said," Congratulations, "St-Pierre, 37, told a news conference announcing his decision. "He said:" No one is retiring at this time in this match, and you have done it. I am very happy for you. We left very well. We remain friends, so that's a good thing. "
St-Pierre said he called everyone who had an impact on his career to inform them of his decision to hang up and that White was definitely on the list.
As recently as last August, White said his relationship with St-Pierre (26-2 MMA, 20-2 UFC) was good. At the same time, he had laid down conditions for another return for the UFC star, who was returning from a three-year layoff to conquer the middleweight title and return to retirement when problems of health would arise.
When St-Pierre expressed his keen interest in facing the blockbuster winner between lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov and Conor McGregor in UFC 229, White said he repeatedly told Rush.
"Georges St-Pierre is looking for one-off battles in which he can make a lot of money – that's smart – that's what he should do," said White. "But that does not interest us."
St-Pierre seemed to recognize that his return conditions did not make things easy with his promoter.
"I was going to fight one fight at a time, but it's a little selfish on my part, because this case is about the future, not what was happening and what was happening now," he said. declared. "It's all that makes money."
Even if St-Pierre did not exclude completely a return if White changed his mind and he was spending big for one, he did not want to keep the world in suspense.
"It's like a commercial offer," he said. "When you make a commercial offer, it's now. You take the companies offer, yes or no. You can not say in a few months, "Hey, your commercial offer, well, I want to accept it." No, it's now. You take it or refuse.
"In MMA, it's a professional game. It has become for me a business game. I first started doing it because I liked it. I have agents who take care of it for me. I do not know where I will be mentally in a few months. But I do not know. For me, he is retiring now. I'm off the grid. I do not care about other guys. I do not want them to call me because I'm out.
"If anything happened, or if Dana reminded me and there was something interesting, we would see. As in a movie script, "Oh, he's coming back." We will see. But for now, I do not think about it. I'm outside."
It would not be the first time that St-Pierre would reconsider his future in the sport. But at 37, he is less interested in doing other damage on his body. And when it comes to his relationship with the most powerful man in the sport, it's probably best to drop while he's ahead – or at least a little bit.
To learn more about the UFC's upcoming schedule, check out the UFC Rumors section on the site.
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