Georges St-Pierre has massively slimmed down - and fans have a theory on why

AP Images

Georges St-Pierre and Conor McGregor.

• Georges St-Pierre is looking slimmer than ever.
• The Canadian fighter last competed in 2017, when he choked Michael Bisping in three rounds and won the UFC middleweight championship.
• But fans looked at a photograph St-Pierre posted on social media and suggested the 37-year-old looked like he was slimming down to lightweight.
• This means he could be preparing his body to challenge the winner of the upcoming lightweight championship bout between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Conor McGregor.
• Read all of Business Insider's UFC 229 coverage right here.

Georges St-Pierre has massively slimmed down since he last fought, and fight fans are speculating that he may be preparing his body for a lightweight championship fight against the winner of the upcoming bout between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Conor McGregor.

St-Pierre is a rare breed of UFC fighter. He was a long-reigning welterweight champion, defending the title nine times (2,204 days). He then took a four-year break, dusted off his mixed martial arts gloves in 2017, and challenged - and submitted - Michael Bisping, winning the middlweight belt in the process.

St-Pierre weighed 184.4 pounds for the Bisping bout but in a recent photograph, it looks like he is back to a welterweight size, with some fans even claiming it looks like he could end up competing at lightweight - the 155-pound division - if he were to ever fight in the UFC again.

Here is the new-look St-Pierre:

The most-liked reply to St-Pierre's photograph said: "Oh you're coming for the 155lb belt for sure."

Many other replies also speculated on a potential lightweight match-up against the Nurmagomedov vs. McGregor winner at UFC 229 in October.

A fight with McGregor, if it were to ever happen, would pit two two-weight world champions against each other and could be the biggest bout UFC could promote - but it is a fight UFC boss Dana White has previously ruled out.

Speaking on the BBC MMA show in August, White said: "I'm not interested in that fight."

However, it is one St-Pierre would likely campaign for. "I would be interested in that fight," St-Pierre said, according to MMA Fighting. "That's a win-win situation. It's a legacy upgrade and it's good money."