Georges St. Pierre, of Canada, kicks Johny Hendricks, during a UFC 167 mixed martial arts championship welterweight bout on Saturday, Nov. 16, 2013, in Las Vegas. St. Pierre won by split decision.Isaac Brekken/The Associated Press
After travelling to Las Vegas for UFC 200 last weekend, former mixed martial arts champion Georges St-Pierre popped in to celebrated boxing trainer Freddy Roach's gym in Los Angeles for a workout session.
By Thursday, he was home and ready to go to work at TriStar, the west-end Montreal gym where the 35-year-old Saint-Isidore, Que., native built himself into a global sports superstar.
According to those who know him best, St-Pierre is in peak physical shape – "he's been training five, six days a week, although he'll probably still be doing that when he's 60," said one friend – and a possible comeback to the UFC, after walking away three years ago, seems to be a financial and contractual matter, not one of fitness or will.
But is it actually going to happen?
Speculation has raged for months, and St-Pierre has confirmed on numerous occasions – most recently to a specialty MMA site – he wants to return and is in talks with the promotion.
Confirmation that UFC's current owners are selling to a Chinese-backed investment consortium led by the U.S.-based William Morris Endeavour-International Management Group for $4.2-billion (all currency U.S.) may well help make it a reality.
Dana White, the grandiloquent UFC president, said as recently as last week that "Georges St-Pierre is done" and that he doesn't expect to see him fight again.
But as the sport seeks to reach "the next level" of popularity, as WME-IMG co-chairman Ari Emanuel put it, rolling out an athlete such as St-Pierre wouldn't hurt.
As in all negotiations, the principals are not especially keen to comment publicly.
But associates of St-Pierre privately feel optimistic about a denouement.
"A lot still needs to happen, but let's put it this way: Georges is ready to come back, and they need him," said a St-Pierre confidant.
That may be true, but much will depend on who is pulling which levers once the sale closes.
White, who has been with UFC since his high school pals and casino millionaires Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta bought the fledgling company for $2-million in 2001, has reportedly signed on to remain in his role as president and public face of the company for at least the next five years.
The main question is whether White will conserve his considerable decision-making power after selling his ownership stake, or be forced to adapt as the new owners assert their vision.
This week, White told a Las Vegas television station, "I'm stepping forward, not stepping back." That may be true, but the dynamics of UFC are likely to change if only because Lorenzo Fertitta, the yin to White's yang, will leave his position as CEO.
Financially speaking, the company has never been stronger.
Zuffa LLC, UFC's parent firm, made a $158-million profit in 2015 on a record $600-million in revenues – nearly doubling its previous year's profit on 25-per-cent more revenues, according to figures obtained by UFC watcher and pro wrestling writer Dave Meltzer.
Though the top-line figure in the UFC purchase is certainly eye-catching – it was immediately touted as the single largest sports purchase in history, although the $1.1-billion paid recently for a 13-per-cent stake in Formula One suggests it is a more valuable property – it's not as though there aren't storm clouds on the horizon for the world's foremost purveyor of mixed martial arts.
Even if UFC is privately held, publicly-disclosed financial information suggests the revenue split between ownership and the athletes disproportionately favours the former to a far greater extent than other sports. It is no surprise, then, that several former fighters filed an antitrust lawsuit.
It is currently before the courts, but the sale isn't expected to affect proceedings.
But pay-per-view revenues, a key profit generator, have proved to be volatile in recent years, and attempts to expand the sport in Asia and the developing world are at best a qualified success.
Can online streaming help boost the bottom line? Possibly.
Attendance, like pay-per-view numbers, is variable. A UFC card in Brazil last May drew 45,000 fans, and the company apparently set a new profitability mark for ticket sales at UFC 200 in Las Vegas (which drew 18,000 fans).
But in Canada, long a key market, the days of setting attendance records at Toronto's Rogers Centre or Montreal's Bell Centre seem to be in the past.
A comparatively modest 10,000 tickets were sold to a UFC Fight Night event in Ottawa last month, although it was one of the better crowds this year for the secondary circuit.
As the UFC prepares to auction off its television rights in 2018, the company could benefit from some more star power.
Though the flagship 20th anniversary event last weekend was a financial success, the main card featured 39-year-old pro wrestler Brock Lesnar, 41-year-old former drug cheat Anderson Silva, 37-year-old Daniel Cormier (whose original opponent, former champion Jon Jones, was ruled out two days before the event for flunking a drug test), 34-year-old Frankie Edgar and 33-year-old Cain Velasquez.
This is not an outfit that is fearful of giving fighters the opportunity to relive past glories.
The emergence of younger stars Ronda Rousey and Conor McGregor has bolstered the UFC brand, but the once-invincible Rousey hasn't fought since losing her title eight months ago and McGregor was scrubbed from the UFC 200 card after a public spat with White over pre-fight promotional appearances.
Both fighters will return before the year is out, but what if one or both loses?
Should McGregor, who is to fight against welterweight Nate Diaz next month, ever decide to face St-Pierre, who won a controversial decision over Johny Hendricks in his last fight in 2013, it would provide worldwide buzz.
That he is famously clean-living and has taken an aggressive anti-doping stance may also be selling points.
Roach let it slip to Fight Hub TV this week that current middleweight champion Michael Bisping recently turned down a chance to fight St-Pierre, the former welterweight champ – which Bisping quickly denied on social media.
As with everything in the fight game, the negotiations over St-Pierre's return to UFC has the feel of an elaborate dance.
Resolving UFC's ownership situation could mean the song is about to end.