UFC President Dana White has revealed the newly crowned middleweight champion Georges St-Pierre has been diagnosed with Colitis, which will keep him out of action for an indefinite period of time.
“[St-Pierre’s team] called me yesterday and I think it’s out that he has colitis,” White told MMAjunkie. “So he’s out for a minute.”
Generally speaking, Colitis is an inflammation of the colon that causes abdominal pain, cramping and diarrhea, sometimes with blood in the stool.
However, what isn’t clear at this stage is how GSP contracted the illness as it can come via infection or more chronic, life-long conditions such as Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), Crohn’s Disease and ulcerative colitis.
The news throws a major spanner in the works for the UFC, who had hoped to have St-Pierre fight interim 185lb titleholder Robert Whittaker in Australia early next year.
There had been talk that St-Pierre may be looking to drop down to welterweight instead, with Dana White making it clear earlier this week that he would be unhappy if GSP did attempt to vacate his newly claimed middleweight title without making an attempt to defend it first.
News of GSP’s Colitis diagnosis only adds to the uncertainty about what comes next for the Canadian superstar.
