George Sotiropoulos Eyes Summer Return

[No More Sorrow]

The Ultimate Fighting Championship's recent trip to Australia was bittersweet for George Sotiropoulos (14-4 MMA, 7-2 UFC).

After all, the native Australian always enjoys welcoming the sport's biggest promotion to his homeland, but he had hoped to do so after celebrating a win at the previous wee's UFC 144 event in Japan.

Injuries prevented that dream from becoming a reality, but Sotiropoulos said he's now feeling better than ever. And with a summer return date in his sights, the submission specialist is ready to get back to work.

"I feel great since my surgery," Sotripoulos told MMAjunkie.com (UFC blog for UFC news, UFC rumors, fighter interviews and event previews/recaps | MMAjunkie.com). "I've made significant improvements, and I feel really good. I can't fully train yet, but I can easily work toward that, and it will only be a matter of time. But I'm on track."

Sotiropoulos was expected to face Japanese legend Takanori Gomi at UFC 144, but a broken toe forced him to withdraw from the contest. Once out, Sotiropoulos decided to have a few lingering injuries examined, and he went under the knife shortly after.

"It was just the meniscus," Sotiropoulos said. "So I had both knees done, and that's what it was. I feel really good. I have not yet put 100 percent pressure on my knees. I'm still in the physical therapy process, but they do feel significantly better."

Sotiropoulos was on quite the run after a stint on "The Ultimate Fighter 6," rattling off seven-straight wins in the octagon, including "Fight of the Night" wins over Joe Lauzon and Joe Stevenson. But back-to-back losses to Rafael dos Anjos and Dennis Siver derailed a run that had some MMA pundits discussing a potential title shot.

Sotiropoulos admits the results were frustrating but isn't dwelling on the setbacks.

"It happens, but it happens for different reasons to every person," Sotiropoulos said. "It just unfortunately happened. I think it's just part of the game."

And unfortunately, so are injuries. But Sotiropoulos believes there's a potential he'll return even stronger than he was before, and he hopes to fight as soon as July.

"I was having great training leading up to this last fight," Sotirpoulos said. "Everything was going good. I was in great shape. My weight was really, really good. Things were going great.

"My drive is to get back to where I was. That's my focus. That's my desire, and that's what I'll do. It's only a matter of time."

Looking forward to seeing him back always been a big fan of him, shame he couldn't have fought at last weeks UFC Australia show.

 

[Troy]

That fight against Siver is still so clear in my mind. Sotiropoulos simply didn't have a backup plan when Siver stopped every single takedown attempt. It was so disappointing since I truly believed that if he won he would have been given a title shot. Going to be a long way back for him but good to see that he is getting his body right before returning. Be glad to see him back fighting again.

 

[Ben]

I was on the GSTOP bandwaggon big time last year, hopefully he evolved though as his losses really exposed a clear gameplan to beat him on a regular basis.