It's official: Georges St-Pierre is vacating his spot as the newly crowned middleweight champion.
The news was announced by the UFC via a press release, which contains a statement from St-Pierre explaining his decision.
"My fight at UFC 217 was one of the greatest nights of my life but I now need to take some time to focus on my health," he wrote. "Out of respect to the athletes and the sport, I don’t want to hold up the division. I will be giving up my belt and once I’m healthy I look forward to working with the UFC to determine what’s next in my career."
That health issue Georges mentioned is colitis, an inflammation of the colon which may have been worsened by the Canadian's poorly executed attempt to put on as much weight as possible leading up to his middleweight debut. According to GSP's coaches, he was throwing up on a daily basis and nearly had to pull out of his fight with Michael Bisping at UFC 217, which he ended up winning via submission at the end of the third round.
GSP's abdication of the title leads to Robert Whittaker being declared the undisputed middleweight champion, and his fight at UFC 221 in Perth on February 11th against Luke Rockhold is now for the 'real' belt.
With the main event and title implications laid out, tickets for UFC 221 in Perth Australia go on sale December 15th.