Georges St-Pierre: My UFC contract has been terminated, I am now a free agent

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) president Dana White recently stated that Georges St-Pierre wasn't going to be making an appearance at the upcoming UFC 206 pay-per-view (PPV) event set to go down on Dec. 10, 2016 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

See those comments here.

Now, it seems a defiant St-Pierre won't be making an appearance inside the Octagon at all.

Ever.

During a recent appearance on "The MMA Hour," the former UFC welterweight champion revealed that his contract with UFC -- left in limbo after the UFC sale -- has been terminated and he is now officially a free agent.

His words:

"Right now I am a free agent. You heard it right, I am a free agent. My lawyer terminated the contract with UFC. What happened is, to make a long story short, last February I told Lorenzo that I wanted to fight again. We had a meeting and I came with my agent and told him I wanted to fight. Since February, my team was in negotiation with Lorenzo. Many names were offered for UFC 200, for New York, but the best date was the Toronto date. So that's why I entered the USADA pool. We had our ups-and-downs, you know. We had agreements and disagreements and was told I would be a huge financial risk to come back and it would take a lot of time and money to reintroduce me to the new audience. What we asked for was reasonable. We made comprises on both sides and we were close on an agreement until the news the UFC had got sold to new owners. Everything was put on ice until they took charge and we waited for weeks for new from new owners. The new owners told us that Lorenzo's offer was off the table. It was like a shock, because we felt like we were making progress, we were almost there. I got angry and talked to my advisor and hired the best lawyer in the business, James Quinn. He gave them a legal deadline. I have a 2011 contract, he gave them a deadline to give me me a fight because I wanted to fight. I heard Dana saying I didn't want to fight, it was probably a strategy in his part. I wanted to fight. The last day of deadline, late at night, we received a letter saying they were going to schedule us a fight and if I was interested in fighting Robbie Lawler. I knew he pulled out of New York UFC card and said he need a long break. So the next day my lawyer told me I was a free agent, and that's how it happened."

Wow.

Georges walked away from the sport of MMA in 2013 shortly after defeating Johny Hendricks in the main event of UFC 167, though his reasons for leaving were kept under wraps. Two months later, "Rush" revealed that his battle with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) was the main reason for bolting.

Furthermore, "GSP" wasn't too thrilled with the lack of drug testing within the promotion, stating that was another factor for going on a long hiatus. After United States Anti Doping agency got involved, St-Pierre applauded UFC for stepping up to the plate.

And after announcing his intention to return to fighting earlier this year, Georges entered the USADA testing pool in order to fulfill the four month testing window before getting a fight. But, that didn't stop White from thwarting the potential comeback, as he was constantly in the media saying that Georges simply didn't have what it took to be a fighter at the highest level anymore.

When you couple White's reluctance to buy into "GSP's comeback and the promotion's refusal to restructure his contract to work around the much-criticized Reebok deal, as well as their unwillingness to pay him the "Conor McGregor-type money," it seems St-Pierre's UFC comeback never had a fighting chance.

Where you at, Lorenzo?

Of course, there won't be a shortage of promotions who will now be eager to sign one of the best fighters of all time to its roster, but the question will now be if St-Pierre will be interested to fight elsewhere when his heart was set on taking on the best UFC had to offer.

Time will tell.