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St-Pierre reveals delay in return is due to eye injury

Joe Camporeale / USA TODAY Sports

Former UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre revealed Friday that an eye injury suffered earlier this year has derailed his comeback, MMA Fighting's Ariel Helwani reports.

GSP didn't go into detail on how he sustained the injury, but claimed he has yet to fully regain his vision, with his doctor advising him to keep from sparring until September.

The timeline corroborates an announcement St-Pierre recently made regarding his ill-fated meeting with middleweight champion Michael Bisping. The pair were expected to tangle later this year, only for St-Pierre to announce he wouldn't be ready until after October and Bisping to reveal his recovery from minor knee surgery was progressing slower than expected.

Related: GSP tells Bisping he'll be ready to fight any time after October

The UFC had initially targeted July's International Fight Week for the bout, although St-Pierre claims the brass knew about the injury when he joined them on a new four-fight deal in February.

"The UFC was aware of it," St-Pierre told Justin Kingsley at the C2 Montreal conference, according to Helwani. "They knew I couldn't fight during the summer but they still insisted on doing that press conference with Michael Bisping. And when it happened, we were not very excited about the idea, but we wanted that fight, so we decided to do it, but then it turned into a negative thing because it took so long.

"But UFC knew. Everyone knew. The people concerned knew that that was the case, but they still tried to put pressure on me to fight in July. That's the reason why I'm coming out public today about the reason why I'm not fighting this summer."

The delay in putting a date to St-Pierre's comeback ultimately prompted president Dana White to put the kibosh on the fight. The UFC boss has since revealed St-Pierre will challenge the promotion's welterweight champion when he's cleared to return. Tyron Woodley currently holds the divisional strap.

Related - White: GSP will return to face welterweight champion

St-Pierre hasn't fought since he edged Johny Hendricks by split decision as welterweight champ at UFC 167 in November 2013.

As for the middleweight title picture, Yoel Romero and Robert Whittaker will meet to determine an interim champion at UFC 213, with the winner expected to face Bisping in a title unification bout.

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