As quick as he left us, Georges St-Pierre was suddenly back in all of our lives and causing a shockwave that is still reverberating through the UFC. After four years away from the sport, St-Pierre returned in a division above where he reigned supreme for so many years. …And it paid off. He became the UFC middleweight champion, but he went through hell to do it. It was a brutal journey to put on that much mass which ultimately resulted in ulcerative colitis. It seems this was the final nail in the coffin: St-Pierre is leaving the middleweight division.

“We’ll have to talk about it, but I’m not sure if I compete, if I will go back at 185-pounds. I don’t think so. Of course in terms of weight, If I want to go back to compete at 185-pounds I will. Obviously eating — I did what I did, I learned from my mistakes — I don’t think it’s a good thing to do. Force myself to eat to gain muscle mass. I’ve always been against performance enhancing drugs and I [moved up to another weight division] the natural way. There is no easy way. I did it the hard way and it was to gain weight and maintain my muscle mass. It was very hard and it was not healthy. I think the body has a natural weight where you can perform and its best athletic ability and for me, the weight I am now is my perfect weight.” — Georges St-Pierre speaking to TSN.

After the recent Dana White scrum, it’s clear that he will not be happy at all with Georges St-Pierre‘s latest news. However, if it is an ultimatum to have the former welterweight king in his home division or not at all, the UFC will choose to have St-Pierre back at welterweight. He gave them the biggest spike in pay-per-view buys since Conor McGregor went off to box and they’ll need that push. No word on St-Pierre’s next move, even he doesn’t seem sure, but it’s hard to think that the superfight against Tyron Woodley that the welterweight champ has wanted all along isn’t a possibility.

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 12/6/2017.