Georges St-Pierre hoping to return at UFC 154 in Montreal this November

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St-Pierre is currently in the midst of rehabilitation following surgery to repair a torn ACL, and he's making extensive progress. During a press conference to announce the UFC's Canadian events in 2012 on Wednesday, St-Pierre revealed via satellite that he's currently halfway through rehab, and hopes to be back to full training by July.

That would put him on track to compete by November 17, when the UFC returns to his home city of Montreal for UFC 154. The UFC announced that date, along with a September 22 date for UFC 152 in Toronto, during the press conference as well.

St-Pierre said doctors have told him he's recovering faster than anyone they've seen from this type of an injury and surgery, but he's still got to be careful so as not to re- aggravate anything and set himself back further. If he is indeed able to fight by November 17, he'll meet UFC Interim Welterweight Champion Carlos Condit to unify the titles.

Penick's Analysis: With the September 22 event in Toronto being named UFC 152, that means we'll get two numbered events between July 21 and September 22, in line with previous years which have seen multiple pay-per-view events in August. As for the November date, everything seems to be falling in line for St-Pierre's return on that Montreal card, and we can all only hope that nothing more happens to set him - and the welterweight division - back even further before that date. As well, we have to hope he's not pushing himself too hard, too fast, as he puts himself at risk of doing something even worse. If he continues to have issues with it, he may never be the same fighter he was before. We shall see in this fight with Condit, and hopefully he stays on track for that date.

[GSP art by Cory Gould (c) MMATorch.com]

Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/UFC_2/article_12836.shtml

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