By Josh Sanchez 

Georges St-Pierre made a successful return to mixed martial arts at UFC 217 after nearly four years away, choking out Michael Bisping to claim the middleweight championship on Saturday in New York. 

It was an impressive showing for St-Pierre, who was once the king at 170 pounds, but his coach, Freddie Roach, seems to believe we may have seen the last of “Rush” at middleweight. 

During an appearance on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani, Roach claimed St-Pierre  fatigued much quicker than he is used to due to his added weight for the fight.

“I was a little concerned (with his stamina). It was obviously a fast-paced fight, and he did box very well in the first round, and I was very happy with it," Roach said. "Bisping is a very tough opponent. He came back in the second round. 

“I think moving up in the weight division, I am not sure that’s his best weight division or if we will fight there again. We will see where it goes. The weight got to him. He’s not used to carrying that much weight, and it fatigued him quicker than usual. Again, we will work it all out and get together with the whole team and discuss what the next best move is for Georges.”

Following St-Pierre's win over Bisping, UFC President Dana White said interim champion Robert Whittaker would be next in line for St-Pierre. 

Whether those plans stay intact will all come down to St-Pierre’s willingness to return to 185 pounds. 

Due to the unpredictability of MMA, that is no guarantee, as St-Pierre said himself following the fight. 

“This is not my real weight,” St-Pierre said. “I did it for the challenge and there was a time in my career I was too busy — the challengers were one after the other and I was too small to go up. I was even small for a welterweight.

“I’m still welterweight-size but I decided to take a shot because I put on some muscle mass. There is a point that it’s too much, but now I’m at a point that it’s OK.”