When one door closes, another one usually opens sometime after. If you don’t believe in that saying, ask UFC welterweight champion Georges St.-Pierre. Eight title defenses deep into his current title reign, he continues to find a way to close the door on one title defense and open the door for his next challenger.
Of course, St.-Pierre’s dominance continues to create demand for a superfight with UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva as well. In fact, fans can trace the demand for the fight all the way back to 2008. However, while fans can quote Silva as wanting the fight, others cannot do the same for St.-Pierre.
However, from St.-Pierre’s mouth, it seems as though Silva’s name does not fit in the same sentence as St.-Pierre’s, or at least, it does not fit as well as we once thought it did. Not to say St.-Pierre versus Silva would lack any competitiveness, but remember that St.-Pierre actually stated that he would find more ease in trying to drop down to lightweight to fight UFC lightweight champion Benson “Smooth” Henderson.
Henderson remains officially unbeaten in the UFC, and while all of his bouts went the distance, he proved very competitive in all of those bouts. Henderson even declared intentions to challenge St.-Pierre with a win over Gilbert Melendez at UFC on Fox 7
Initially, neither St.-Pierre nor UFC president Dana White saw any reason to do the fight, but let’s say St.-Pierre was to beat Johny Hendricks, Henderson was to beat the winner of UFC 160’s Gray Maynard-TJ Grant showdown, and.St.-Pierre dropped down.
Who says the door can’t open up to the possibility of that fight?
Think about it. Few will call out for Dong Hyun Kim to fight St.-Pierre, Rory MacDonald won’t change his tune about fighting St.-Pierre anytime soon, and St.-Pierre’s M.O. involves making credible contenders look silly, so the few remaining other contenders don’t carry a heavy argument.
Just the same, after the Grant-Maynard winner, Anthony Pettis or Jose Aldo may await Henderson, with the likes of Josh Thomson and others not too far behind. However, if Henderson should clear out one or more of those contenders, who would come next?
If St.-Pierre can make the weight, and if the MMA world wants it, the bout could happen. As long as both men keep talking about it, though, it seems on course to happen much sooner than later.
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