Georges St. Pierre announced in a press conference that he is leaving professional mixed martial arts fighting until he decides that he is ready and willing to fight in the cage again.

This announcement is different from the one Georges gave after his very close fight with Johny Hendricks. After UFC 167, Georges announced he was taking a break but with the announcement today he is giving up his Welter Weight title making this more definitive. What sets this apart from the previous announcement as well is that Georges has stated that he doesn’t know if he will return but if he does he will do so much stronger than he has been.

There had been different rumors surrounding why Georges decided to take a break from fighting in the UFC.

Some of these rumors, which have been proven wrong, were that he was dealing with his father’s health. The other more prominent rumor was that Georges had an unplanned pregnancy with someone. These rumors were provided by TMZ and proven false. The reason behind his departure from the UFC and professional fighting is, according to the former champ, due to the amount of pressure that has been put on his shoulders. Clearly trying to pry into his personal life, which is what TMZ attempts to do best, most definitely did not help the situation at all. However Georges has repeated many times that this decision had come before UFC 167 and the false rumors of why he would be stepping away from UFC.

The bottom line with Georges relinquishing his title and stepping away from professional fighting until he is ready is that he believes he is not 100% focused and has things in his personal life that he needs to deal with. While during the press conference many questions were attempting to find out what these things were, Georges gave nothing and rightfully so because it is his own life. Dana White has said that he completely agrees with George’s decision and is usually the person who talks to a fighter first in regards to suggesting that they take a break from fighting. Dana White is 100% sure that Georges will be back to fight again and will be the challenger to the Welter Weight title this time around.

So what happens to the Welter Weight title now that it is up for grabs? Dana White has said the title will be between Johny Hendricks and Robbie Lawler in UFC 171 on March 15 in Dallas, Texas. Lawler is getting a shot at the title instead of Carlos Conduit because Conduit has previously lost to both Georges and Hendricks. The next person in line would be Lawler so this is the reason that he is getting a shot at the title against Johny Hendricks. One of those two will walk away with the Welter Weight title and we will see on March 15 in UFC 171!