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  Ariel HelwaniESPN Staff Writer

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Georges St-Pierre, arguably the greatest mixed martial arts fighter of all time, is set to retire, though lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov has made a last-ditch effort to get St-Pierre to reconsider.
Sources confirmed to ESPN that St-Pierre will announce his retirement at a news conference in Montreal on Thursday morning. RDS, a French-language sports network in Quebec, first reported that St-Pierre would be retiring.
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St-Pierre, 37, had hoped to secure a fight against Nurmagomedov later this year, sources said. But as a deal wasn't materializing, the longtime welterweight champion decided it was time to walk away.
UFC is aware of St-Pierre's decision and is helping to organize the news conference, sources said.
Following the reports of St-Pierre's retirement, Nurmagomedov posted to Instagram saying he would be willing to fight St-Pierre in November and telling GSP, "After this fight you can retire."
"I saw what Khabib wrote, and I appreciate it very much," St-Pierre told ESPN. "Unfortunately, these decisions aren't up to us. I will address everything at the press conference tomorrow."
St-Pierre (26-2), born in Saint-Isidore, Quebec, last fought at UFC 217 in November 2017, when he defeated Michael Bisping to win the middleweight title at Madison Square Garden. At the time, the victory made GSP just the fourth fighter in UFC history to win belts in two weight classes.
Nurmagomedov, undefeated in 27 professional fights, most recently defeated Conor McGregor by fourth-round submission at UFC 229 in December. To challenge Nurmagomedov for the lightweight title, St-Pierre would have drop down to 155 pounds. If victorious, he would become the first to win UFC titles in three weight classes.
St-Pierre fought at middleweight (185 pounds) against Bisping. Nurmagomedov said on Instagram that he would be open to fighting St-Pierre at a catchweight of 160 pounds.
Making his MMA debut in January 2002, St-Pierre started his career a perfect 5-0 before signing with UFC in 2003. He won the welterweight title at UFC 65 in 2006 when he defeated Matt Hughes. He ended up losing the title in his next fight, though, when he was upset by Matt Serra at UFC 69 in 2007. That fight is considered one of the greatest upsets in MMA history. GSP would avenge that loss the following year at UFC 83 and in doing so regained the belt at the first UFC event in his hometown of Montreal.
During his title reign, St-Pierre was viewed as one of the faces of UFC and Canadian MMA. He headlined the promotion's debut in Toronto at UFC 129 in front of 55,724 partisan fans at the Rogers Centre.
St-Pierre walked away from the sport in November 2013 following his split-decision win over Johny Hendricks -- his ninth successful title defense -- though he never officially said he was retiring. St-Pierre's next fight came four years later when he dethroned Bisping at 185 pounds.
Following the fight, GSP stayed in the Octagon a little longer than usual to acknowledge the crowd. That would end up being his final moments as an UFC active fighter.

[Demonata]

Damn it my favorite fighter too. Gonnna have to chsnge my avatar

[Sanity Check]

26-2!

There goes one bad man.

[Fence]

Could be just a negotiation tactic, GSP has a fairly intelligent team surrounding him? I was hoping to see him fight at 155, either Ferguson or Nurmagomedov. I'm pretty sure he could negate Khabib's take downs and jab his face into oblivion but not sure how the Ferguson fight would go? I suppose he would take Ferguson down if Kevin Lee did. Hmm, oh well, he had a legendary career, time to enjoy life with millions in the bank.

[k13]

must be scared

[Heltah Skeltah]

Ben Askren is the guy that needs to fight khabib.

[JAKEPEAVY21]

he has fought once in the past 5.5 years, not a shocker.

I don't blame him for wanting no part of Khabib.

[Thrilla]

A look back at the legend's historic career in the UFC.

[Thrilla]

Former UFC welterweight and middleweight champion Georges St-Pierre announces his retirement from mixed martial arts, citing he is “very happy” to retire at the top of the sport and wanted to do so on his own terms. GSP addresses discussions with the UFC for a potential fight with lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov, revealing the promotion has other plans for Khabib, and adding that he is a little disappointed that the bout will not come to fruition (0:47). St-Pierre describes the proudest moment of his career, which was when he was dropped by a head kick from Carlos Condit at UFC 154 and still managed to get back up and continue the fight (5:16). As much as he loves to fight, St-Pierre iterates that MMA isn’t his whole life and he has other plans, including spending time with his family (7:13). In regards to Dana White possibly calling him in the future about a fight with Khabib, GSP doesn’t know where his mind will be, but for now he is retired (8:57).




Ariel Helwani and Chael Sonnen make the case for why Georges St-Pierre is the greatest MMA fighter of all time because of his overall record in the UFC and how there are no dark clouds over his legacy.

[Thrilla]

UFC legend Georges St-Pierre sits down for an exclusive interview with Ariel Helwani after announcing his retirement from mixed martial arts. GSP goes in depth on why a potential fight vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov never happened (1:00), his decision to retire on top of the game (5:34), and his relationship with UFC president Dana White (8:39). St-Pierre also details his favorite moment in the UFC (14:25), how he wants his legacy to be remembered (19:32), why he always detested fight day (21:35), and if GSP would have believed his career’s storybook ending (24:48).



Firas Zahabi says the two interesting fights for Georges St-Pierre if he hadn’t retired would have been Khabib Nurmagamedov and Conor McGregor. Zahabi added it’s a “storybook ending” for St-Pierre, but he believes St-Pierre might come back for an incredible opportunity.