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White's angry warning to GSP over Whittaker fight

UFC president Dana White has sent a stern warning to new UFC middleweight champion Georges St-Pierre, urging the superstar to go through with plans to fight Aussie middleweight Robert Whittaker in a unification bout.

After winning the 185-pound middleweight belt from Michael Bisping at UFC 217, GSP has refused to commit to any fight, despite his contract requiring him to now face Whittaker.

White told reporters he would be angry with the Canadian superstar if he ended up walking away from the middleweight division.

“I don’t want to hear that. That’s not what I want to hear,” White said.

“I want to hear he’s going to defend his 185-pound title. That’s the agreement we made. That’s the deal we made when we made the deal.”

GSP is contracted to fight Whittaker. Pic: Getty
GSP is contracted to fight Whittaker. Pic: Getty

“I’m going to be super pissed (if St-Pierre wants to drop the title), and I don’t know where we go from there.

“Go to 170 — who’s better to fight at 170? You’ve got [Tyron] Woodley, you’ve got ‘Wonderboy,’ you’ve got [Yoel] Romero, and then you’ve got Luke Rockhold. F***ing monsters. They’re all monsters.

"There’s no fight that looks like, ‘Oh, maybe this is the fight for me to take.’ You looked at Bisping like he was a tune-up. You got your tune-up. There’s nothing but f***ing animals at ’85 and ’70.

“Rockhold is massive. He’s massive when he cuts weight. There’s no good options. To sit there and try to handpick people, or where you want to go and everything else, you can’t in this f***ing sport.

"They’re all nasty. You’re a fighter. Get in there and see who you can f***ing beat. You wanted to f***ing come back. Welcome back, it’s ugly.

“I said, ‘I’ll tell you what: You want to come in and take this shot against Bisping, I’m cool with that, but you’ve got to defend the title’.

“You can’t drop the title after the fight and then go somewhere else. It’s just, my thing is, to be the man, you’ve got to beat the man. And when the man just goes away — listen, if a guy is on a run and undefeated then wants to retire, that’s one thing. The guy retires the belt, that’s another thing. ‘Well, I’m going to drop this one and jump to 170 now,’ I don’t like it.

“That’s language in the contract. It’s in the contract.”

However in bad news for Aussie fight fans, White isn't insisting that the fight happens at the upcoming UFC 221 event in Perth.

"I don’t even know if Perth is what I want for him [St-Pierre] yet, so we’re going to talk today and we’re going to figure it out," White said.