Georges St. Pierre planning his Octagon return for November 2012

After suffering two serious injuries in a span of only three months, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Welterweight Champion Georges St. Pierre has seen better days.

"Rush" initially suffered a sprained medial collateral ligament (MCL) injury in October of 2011, which forced him to withdraw from the much anticipated title fight against former Strikeforce champion Nick Diaz, which was set for UFC 137 in Las Vegas.

After rebooking the title fight between arguably the two best welterweights in the world for UFC 143 on Super Bowl weekend (Feb. 4, 2012), UFC President Dana White dropped another bombshell that St. Pierre had suffered yet another injury.

This time, a blown anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) was to blame.

"Rush" went under the knife to repair his ACL on Dec. 13, 2011, in what was deemed a very successful surgery. Now the long road to recovery is St. Pierre's next challenge on his way back to the Octagon.

Which could happen in November of this year.

That's according to the man himself, who told HDNet's Inside MMA that he expects to resume "hard training" in July and could be ready to compete just four months later.

St. Pierre breaks it all down, after the jump.

As head trainer at Tristar Gym in Montreal, Firas Zahabi tells Sherdog.com, Georges is "doing great" and his rehab is going well and will soon start the next phase of his recovery.

"He's doing great. He's doing fantastic. He's doing the post-surgery rehab, and then after he's done doing that -- it should be done in March -- he's going to start his sports rehabilitation."

Zahabi also went on to say his prized pupil will be doing some of his rehab with Gavin MacMillan, who is the founder and head trainer at Sport Science Lab and has worked with top sports stars such as NBA superstar Tyson Chandler and NFL star Troy Polamalu:

"He trains Troy Polamalu from the NFL. Tremendous trainer. I've been corresponding with him for the last little bit since Georges got injured. We have complete faith in him. He's been through this process before with NFL players. The doctor was more than happy with the results of the surgery. Things are looking really good. Georges is extremely motivated to come back. He's very excited. He's got that fire roaring now bigger than ever. Everything is lined up for success hopefully. He had an existing injury before the tear. He kept training, and it tore. He realized he was trying to save time and not miss a fight, and it turned out that he's going to miss a whole year. I don't think he'll come back too fast. It was a mistake he did before, and I think he'll be sure not to repeat it again."

Firas also touched on comments made by Nick Diaz, who claimed the St. Pierre's training methods are what caused his injuries:

"For Georges, working explosively has always worked for him. You can get an injury from any type of training. Anything you do a lot of, you can get hurt at. You've got to manage the risk and do the training that's best suited for you. [Endurance training] works for Nick, and Georges' training has been working for him."

The welterweight kingpin has not seen action since defeating Jake Shields at UFC 129 on April 30, 2011, and if all goes well with his training, it can very well be close to a 20 month gap in between fights for St. Pierre.

In Georges absence, a couple of stars have stepped up and possibly surpassed him in the mythical pound-for-pound rankings such as UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones and UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo.

Also in his absence, an interim UFC welterweight champion will be named as Nick Diaz and Carlos Condit are set to collide at UFC 143 on Feb. 4 in Las Vegas and quite possibly, will determine Georges' next opponent once he is deemed fit to return to action.

What do you Maniacs think? Following successful surgery, can Georges St. Pierre return to his old form and maintain his place atop the welterweight division?

Or will the devastating injuries hinder his future performances inside the Octagon?