Former welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre to make UFC return to fight Woodley-Maia winner

Neither man has fought in the UFC for at least a year, but former welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre and ex-heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar remain as prominent mixed martial arts players.

UFC President Dana White said at Wednesday’s news conference that St-Pierre, who retired after defeating Johny Hendricks in November 2013, will return to fight the winner of Saturday’s UFC 214 co-main event between welterweight champion Tyron Woodley and Brazil’s Demian Maia.

St-Pierre was represented by powerful CAA agent Nick Khan at the news conference.

“They’re going to ask to fight [middleweight champion Michael] Bisping, because Georges doesn’t want to fight me,” Woodley said on stage.

Bisping, who’s in training at a Costa Mesa gym and still showing some effects of knee surgery, told The Times last week he believes his next opponent will be Robert Whittaker, who defeated then-No. 1-rated contender Yoel Romero in the UFC 213 main event.

“The Bisping ship has sailed. It’s gone,” White told Woodley. “You win on Saturday, it’s going to be you, pal.”

St-Pierre was supposed to fight Bisping on July 8, and White staged a news conference with the fighters to promote it, but St-Pierre, 36, ultimately sought more time to prepare as Bisping – who hasn’t fought since October – had his knee repaired.

Lesnar’s not eligible to return to the octagon until February following his positive test for a banned performance-enhancing substance in his July 2016 victory over Mark Hunt that was changed to a no-contest.

But Saturday main-event fighter Jon Jones, the former light-heavyweight champion seeking to regain his belt against champion Daniel Cormier, has said he’d be interested in fighting Lesnar and Lesnar told Associated Press he’d meet Jones “anytime, anywhere.”

Jones said Wednesday he first needs to complete his Cormier business before turning his focus to what would certainly become a massive pay-per-view offering.

BAD BLOOD (Continued): Jones and Cormier’s near four-year-long feud remains vibrant as they head to Saturday night’s rematch of the January 2015 title fight that Jones won before having his belt stripped due to out-of-octagon transgressions.

At Wednesday’s news conference, here were some of the highlights:

Cormier said he believes Jones was “trying to cheat” when he was caught using a banned substance used for erectile dysfunction when Jones was pulled off the July 2016 UFC 200 main event and suspended for one year.

“Why cannot I say what I feel? I can say whatever I want if I believe it in my heart,” Cormier said. “I do believe he’s done it for a long time.”

Jones replied, “How long do you think I’ve done steroids?”

Cormier said he believes Jones has been clean for just three UFC fights. “That’s why you look how you look. You looked like a bum last [year],” Cormier said.

Jones swiped back at weight-cutting Cormier, “You look like a crackhead with a suit on.”

“I can look like a crackhead, but I’ve never been a crackhead like you,” Cormier answered.

Cormier needed to fully undress and hide behind a towel in making weight for his fight against Anthony Johnson in April, causing a stir by pressing forward on the lifted towel to perhaps lighten himself to weigh 205 pounds.

He said it’ll be a test to make the weight. “We’ll bring a towel just in case,” Cormier said.

Jones said he believes Cormier missed weight in April and should’ve paid Johnson 20% of his purse as a penalty, calling him “the 206.2-pound champion.”

“There’s a lot of things … you shouldn’t even be sitting up here for all the ... you’ve done,” Cormier responded. “How the ... can you judge? Sit there with your mouth shut before I walk over there and smack the ... out of you.”

The bad feelings reminded Cormier that “I do need to win this fight.”

A BREAK FROM MCGREGOR-MAYWEATHER?: After absorbing the trash talk of his lightweight champion Conor McGregor and unbeaten Floyd Mayweather Jr. on four international stops earlier this month, White looked out at L.A. Live’s the Novo and saw fewer than 1,000 in attendance for the UFC 214 news conference.

“It’s good to be at a normal press conference again,” White said.

That was before Jones and Cormier went at it.

lance.pugmire@latimes.com

Twitter: @latimespugmire