Georges St-Pierre cites eye injury for delayed UFC return

Georges St-Pierre has come out of retirement, but a minor setback has already delayed his UFC return.

St-Pierre, who sports a professional record of 25-2, was initially slated to return in July against Michael Bisping for the middleweight championship — a fight that was officially announced in March — but claims he’s repeatedly informed the UFC that timeline wouldn’t work.

While speaking with MMAFighting.com, St-Pierre acknowledged suffering a minor eye injury prior to the announcement of his fight with Bisping, and says his doctors prefer he not even begin to spar until September.

“If it were up to me, I would come back,” St-Pierre said. “The reason is I had a problem with my eye. I had an injury. My vision has not been back yet. It will be back. It’s something very minor. The doctor insisted for me that I don’t spar until September.

“The UFC was aware of it. They knew I couldn’t fight during the summer, but they still insisted on doing that press conference with Michael Bisping. And when it happened, we were not very excited about the idea, but we wanted that fight, so we decided to do it, but then it turned into a negative thing because it took so long.”

Bisping himself is dealing with a knee injury, so Dana White says the UFC will move forward with interim middleweight title fight between Yoel Romero and Robert Whittaker in July instead.

Despite their injuries, both St-Pierre and Bisping insist they would like to fight each other when the timing is right.