UFC welterweight champion Georges St Pierre, who is expected to take on UFC lightweight champion BJ Penn in his next bout, may not return to the octagon this year in favor of taking some time off.

St Pierre announced his tentative plans in a recent blog post on RDS.ca (translated by Fightline):

Many state that my next opponent should be BJ Penn. Nothing has obviously been signed yet, but he is my number one challenger.

I believe he deserves a chance to challenge me for my title, but we’ll see what happens on that matter in the next few weeks.

Will my next fight be in Montreal? I deeply hope so…

In the course of the last week, UFC president Dana White indicated that he’d like to come back to Montreal before the end of the year. On my end, however, I don’t know if I’ll be stepping back into the Octagon before 2009.

I’ve fought four times in the last 12 months. I therefore need some rest. I like the life I lead, but I sometimes need to relax.

It’s not the fight as such that’s exhausting; it’s all the preparation that comes with it. I’ve made so many sacrifices to prepare myself. During training camps, I practically do not live anymore. It’s therefore on a psychological level that I need to recharge.

The proposed bout between St Pierre and Penn was to headline UFC 92 on December 27th in Las Vegas, but it now appears that the fight is likely to be delayed until early-2009.

Source: www.mmafrenzy.com