By the time Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Welterweight Champion Georges St. Pierre will climb back inside the cage at UFC 154 to unify the 170-pound titles against Carlos Condit on Nov. 17, it will have been 18 long months since the last time he competed professionally.

That's a long time, folks.

It's so long, in fact, that the entire landscape of the division has changed. Nick Diaz, who St. Pierre was supposed to have a date with, has won, lost, and been suspended for a year for failing a drug test. Jake Ellenberger has risen to and been knocked out of contention while Martin Kampmann and Johny Hendricks have become title hopefuls.

That's without even mentioning the elephant in the room, Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva, who is ready and willing to cut down in weight to put the highly anticipated super-fight together.

All this is serving as motivation for "Rush," who can't wait to get cracking on all the new challenges that await him.

"It's a lot of fun. It's like there's a lot of new challenges and I'm very happy to be back. It's like a new thing; it's actually pretty cool. I feel a lot more motivation right now. It's exciting. Look for bigger and better challenges."

First, though, "GSP" will have to figure out the puzzle that is Carlos Condit, who he'll meet in Montreal, Quebec, Canada in just a few short months. This after the previously mentioned layoff that he spent the majority of rehabbing a major knee injury.

St. Pierre is ready for that, too, as told to MMA Weekly.

"He can change, that's why he's so good. He can change the way he fights according to his opponent. That's why he's so good and I know that. I'm going to take that fight and fight the best I can, and give it all I can."

First Condit, then (maybe) Silva, then the world?