UFC denies Georges St-Pierre is a free agent

Georges St-Pierre may soon have a lawsuit on his hands.

On Monday, hours after stating his UFC contract had been terminated, the UFC released a statement denying St-Pierre is a free agent.

"Georges St-Pierre remains under an existing agreement with Zuffa, LLC as his MMA promoter. Zuffa intends to honor its agreement with St-Pierre and reserves its right under the law to have St-Pierre do the same."

St-Pierre announced he had terminated his contract with the promotion after months of negotiations with new owners WME-IMG had not yielded a new deal. GSP had entered the USADA drug-testing pool late this summer in the first step toward ending his three-year layoff, but enlisted lawyer James Quinn to sever his ties with the promotion when talks left his comeback without a date.

According to St-Pierre, Quinn had given the promotion a legal deadline to offer him a fight. A day after the UFC responded with a bout against Robbie Lawler, - who's currently taking time off after losing the welterweight title at UFC 201 - the counselor contacted GSP to tell him he was a free agent.

The promotion's rebuttal of St-Pierre's claims hint at an imminent legal battle, although it's unclear on what grounds the fighter deemed himself a free agent. With the help of lawyers who called into his radio show, SiriusXM's Luke Thomas speculated GSP argued the "UFC unilaterally changed the material terms of old contract, thereby allowing termination."

The UFC's Reebok deal, which put a significant damper on the roster's income via sponsorship, presumably falls under that argument, given it was signed while St-Pierre was on the shelf. The former champion had previously named the pact as a major obstacle in the fruitless negotiations, as it deems his sponsorship deal with Under Armour unholy.

It looks like St-Pierre may have to put in another call to Quinn.