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Georges St. Pierre was welterweight champion for more than five
years. | Photo: Marcelo Alonso/Sherdog.com
Longtime Ultimate Fighting Championship welterweight titleholder Georges St. Pierre is hanging up his gloves -- for the time being, anyway. St. Pierre announced during a Dec. 13 media conference call that he was vacating the welterweight crown and taking an indefinite leave of absence.
“I’ve talked with [UFC President] Dana [White] and [UFC CEO] Lorenzo [Fertitta] about it,” St. Pierre said. “I’ve been fighting for long time. I’ve had 22 fights in the UFC at a very high level, and I decided I need to take some time off. I know the UFC is a business, and they have to keep things rolling. I don’t want to make people wait out of the respect for the sport, so I vacate the title. One day, when I feel like it, I might come back, but right now, I need a break.”
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A two-time welterweight champion, St. Pierre began his MMA career in 2002 and won the UFC title from Matt Hughes in 2006. Though the 32-year-old was upset by heavy underdog Matt Serra in his first defense, St. Pierre regained his belt from the New Yorker two years later and then defended the strap a record nine consecutive times, capping the stretch with his split decision win over Hendricks.
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