St. Pierre’s options plentiful after UFC return
his only option for a return to mixed martial arts would be in the UFC.
St. Pierre met with WME-IMG coCEO Ari Emanuel late last year. UFC president Dana White said during an interview with TSN last week he had been speaking with St. Pierre and indicated everything between them was “straight.”
No date for a return has been set, and it’s unclear in which weight class St. Pierre will fight. Middleweight champion Michael Bisping has yet to book a fight with top contender Yoel Romero and has indicated he hoped to instead land a lucrative bout against St. Pierre.
That now appears to be a real possibility for the second half of this year, though St. Pierre would have plenty of options. He also could challenge for the welterweight belt or fi- nally fight Anderson Silva, the other dominant champion of his era.
There’s also a chance St. Pierre could fight Nick Diaz in a rematch. White indicated he thinks St. Pierre could get down to 155 pounds to challenge superstar Conor McGregor for the lightweight belt.
St. Pierre has won 12 straight fights and a UFC-record 12 title fights.
One of his biggest gripes with the UFC was the lack of a true drug-testing policy. The organization partnered with the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency to implement a year-round program in 2015.
In other UFC news, Cris “Cyborg” Justino has received a retroactive therapeutic-use exemption for Spironolactone from USADA and will not be sanctioned. The 31-year-old Brazilian, who failed a 2011 test for steroids, is immediately eligible to fight.
She had been flagged by USADA for a potential violation of the UFC’s anti-doping policy in December, but cooperated with an investigation into her use of the drug for a medical condition. Spironolactone is commonly used to mask performance-enhancing drug use.
The UFC recently created the women’s featherweight division specifically for Justino. Germaine de Randamie defeated Holly Holm last Saturday to win the inaugural title. Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com or 702277-8028. Follow @adamhilllvrj on Twitter.