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Georges St-Pierre Faces Knee Surgery After Tearing ACL in Training

  • Frank Doyle's Author profile. Frank Doyle

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Just when it was beginning to look like former UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre was inching closer to a comeback, he suffered a left knee injury in training and will undergo surgery.

St-Pierre posted a couple of brief messages via social media on Thursday to announce the news.

Via GSP’s Facebook page:  “Just got confirmation that I tore my left knee ACL during training this week… Surgery in a few days and rehab starts right away. We all face challenges in our lives and I know only one way to take this one: Pain, hard work, no shortcuts and I will soon be back at 100%. Stay tuned and thanks for your amazing support, as always.”

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The silver lining of the injury is that it isn’t the same knee that required surgery in 2011. Still, you have to wonder about GSP’s future after this latest setback. His last ACL surgery had him on the shelf for more than a year and he’s now 32 years old. He’s still more than capable of coming back from the injury, but the real question is whether he’ll want to.

He “stepped away” from the Ultimate Fighting Championship after his controversial win over Johny Hendricks at UFC 167 back in November and hadn’t committed to returning to the octagon before hurting his knee. Now, there are even more questions as to whether we’ll ever see the future Hall of Famer in the UFC again.

“I didn’t think his hiatus was going to be that long,” UFC president Dana White told the Los Angeles Times of St-Pierre Thursday. “That’s one of the risks you run when you get away from the sport like that. You have a small window as a professional athlete to make what you can. The guy gave up his belt, walked away from the sport, and now he’s out for who knows how long … last time he had this injury, it was 14 months.”

In the meantime, the welterweight division is wide open. Hendricks defeated Robbie Lawler to claim GSP’s vacated belt at UFC 171, but he suffered a torn bicep and will be out of commission until at least October or November if all goes well. So, while he rehabs his injury, expect to see a couple of fights within the division to see who the No. 1 contender will be. Hector Lombard, Tyron Woodley and Rory MacDonald are all strong candidates.