THE CANADIAN PRESS
MANCHESTER — UFC welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre says he may take a crack at making the Canadian Olympic wrestling team for the 2012 Summer Games.
"It’s something in my mind but the thing is I’m on contract with the UFC," the Montreal mixed martial arts star told reporters Friday prior to the UFC 105 weigh-in. "So I have to be very careful in what I’m saying, but we’ll see."
UFC president Dana White seemed supportive when told of St. Pierre’s Olympic dream.
"I think it would be great if he won a medal," White told a UFC conference call later Friday.
St. Pierre, seen as one of the best wrestlers in MMA, was training for the Olympic trials in 2007 when he was summoned as an injury replacement for Matt Serra to fight Matt Hughes at UFC 79. He put his wrestling plans on hold to fight Hughes. He was planning to compete in the 84-kilogram class.
"There is a big difference between saying I want to go to the Olympic Games and actually going to the Olympic Games," he added. "It’s very hard. To do the tryouts and everything it’s very hard. You have to pass through a bunch of obstacles before you get there."
St. Pierre, 28, routinely trains with some of Canada’s top amateurs at the Montreal Wrestling Club.
St. Pierre has also been sparring with pro boxers Librado Andrade (due to take on IBF super-middleweight champion Lucian Bute in a rematch) and Enrique Ornelas (slated to meet Bernard Hopkins).
"It’s tough. It wouldn’t be easy. But maybe we’ll see what’s in to happen in London," he said with a laugh of his Olympic dream.
White differentiated such a pursuit by St. Pierre with what Quinton (Rampage) Jackson did by foregoing a fight with Rashad Evans for a role in the movie The A-Team.
"Just because you’re under contract with me doesn’t mean I don’t want you doing anything else in your life," White said. "The thing with Rampage is, (he) committed to doing The Ultimate Fighter, the highest rated season ever in the history of (TUF) and then he bails on the fight. There’s a big difference."
NOTES: White says the UFC still plans to come to Vancouver, although it may not be in June as originally targeted. Toronto remains on the organization’s radar, although Ontario still has to sanction the sport.
"We’re still working on Toronto. Obviously it’s a huge market for us. We know it. And I think it will be the biggest mixed martial arts event ever in North America. And I think it will be a long time before we beat it." …
White said he would not hold off St. Pierre’s next title defence until it could be held in Canada.
"Canada is so crazy, we could go there with anybody headlining and it’s going to be big. People in Canada obviously love Georges St. Pierre, but people in Canada are UFC fans period."
With files from SPORTSNET.CA
