White discusses possibility of GSP and ring rust

The last time Georges St-Pierre fought was November 16, 2013:
•Jon Jones was light heavyweight champion and hadn’t been title stripped even once;
•Chris Weidman was the middleweight champ;
•Carlos Condit was the Interim champ at 170;
•Lightweight champ Anthony Pettis had just won his belt and was a year off appearing on a Wheaties box; and
•Ronda Rousey had had just one fight in the UFC.

GSP returns vs. middleweight champion Michael Bisping at UFC 217. Ring rust is real, and St-Pierre is moving up a division, so there is a real question as to who will enter the Octagon. UFC president Dana White appeared recently on the Wall Street Journal’s The Unnamed Podvideocast With Jason Gay and was asked if he was worried the old GSP might now show up on the Octagon.

“It’s a possibility, yeah said White, as transcribed by Chisanga Malata for the UK’s Daily Star. “I’m a big believer in [ring rust].

I was just proven wrong recently when ‘The Korean Zombie’ had to go do mandatory [Korean military service]. They have to do mandatory military service in Korea. So they took him in, snatched him in the prime of his career.

He had to do the service, came back and knocked out Denis Bermudez in the first round. Which is incredibly impressive. No ring rust on him. So we’ll see what happens with GSP.”

GSP fights Bisping in the main event of UFC 217 on November 4, 2017 at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York. It’s one of just three title fights on the tremendous card.

Main Card (PPV)
Michael Bisping (c) vs. Georges St-Pierre
Cody Garbrandt (c) vs. T.J. Dillashaw
Joanna Jedrzejczyk (c) vs. Rose Namajunas
Stephen Thompson vs. Jorge Masvidal
Johny Hendricks vs. Paulo Borrachinha
Prelim Card (Fox Sports 1)
James Vick vs. Joseph Duffy
Walt Harris vs. Mark Godbeer
Ion Cuțelaba vs. Michał Oleksiejczuk
Randy Brown vs. Mickey Gall
Prelim Card (UFC Fight Pass)
Oleksiy Oliynyk vs. Curtis Blaydes
Ovince Saint Preux vs. Corey Anderson
Aiemann Zahabi vs. Ricardo Ramos