Hours after former Ultimate Fighting Championship welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre said he was no longer under contract with the organization, the UFC says not so fast.

In a statement, the UFC said that St-Pierre remains under the agreement he signed with Zuffa, LLC, UFC's former parent company. Zuffa - headed by Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta, along with Dana White - sold controlling interest in the company to William Morris Endeavor Entertainment (WME-IMG) in July.

"Georges St-Pierre remains under an existing agreement with Zuffa, LLC as his MMA promoter," the company said in a statement. "Zuffa intends to honor its agreement with St-Pierre and reserves its rights under the law to have St-Pierre do the same.”    

The 35-year-old Montreal fighter, who has been on hiatus since November 2013, has been campaigning for a return to action.

St-Pierre told the MMA Hour on Monday that his management team had been in negotiations with the UFC since February, with talks eventually focusing on the UFC show in Toronto on Dec. 10.

The fighter said both sides were close to an agreement before the UFC was sold. He waited for weeks before hearing the offer was off the table.

St-Pierre said his lawyer then gave the UFC a deadline to give him a fight. On the day of the deadline, he got a letter with a tentative offer to fight former champion Robbie Lawler, who is currently nursing an injury.

St-Pierre told the MMA Hour that his lawyer told him the next day he was a free agent.

- With files from The Canadian Press