It may sound preposterous to some, but Georges St-Pierre still contends that Anderson Silva belongs atop the UFC’s pound-for-pound rankings.
The last time St-Pierre, the UFC’s No. 2-ranked pound-for-pound fighter, offered up an opinion on the future of Silva, the longtime welterweight champ ultimately came off as downright prophetic.
Despite the fact that one of his training partners, Chris Weidman, had just nine pro fights under his belt, St-Pierre predicted that the 29-year-old New York native would knock off Silva, the former pound-for-pound linchpin, at UFC 162.
Not only did St-Pierre forecast that Weidman would upset Silva, he also suggested that The All-American would finish The Spider. His theory, of course, came to fruition when the former Hofstra University wrestler flattened the 38-year-old Brazilian at the 1:14 mark of the second round at UFC 162.
Less than a month after Weidman became the first man to KO Silva, St-Pierre told MMA Fight Corner’s Heidi Fang that The Spider still represents the sport’s top dog, despite the fact that he dropped from No. 1 to No. 3 on the UFC’s pound-for-pound ranking’s list.
I still believe Anderson Silva is the best in the world pound-for-pound. It’s a mistake he made. He got beat by Chris Weidman. I believe it was a style match-up and he got caught. I believe he’s the best in the world. Even the best can lose sometimes. When I saw that fight, you know, of course Chris Weidman is my friend and training partner, I was cheering for him and I thought he was going to win because the style match-up and he was very well prepared. But it made me realize when I was watching that fight that even the best can lose sometimes.
St-Pierre went on to elaborate on the pitfalls of complacency and on the lessons he learned from Silva’s first setback since January 2006.
It made me realize that what I got, I’m the world champion now, [but] it can go away in the blink of an eye. If I don’t pay attention, one punch, one submission, one mistake, and it can change the whole thing. It made me realize that I need to work very hard to maintain what I have. It gave me that motivation. It kind of woke me up a little bit. As much as I feel happy for Chris because it cannot happen to a better man than Chris Weidman, it woke me up to see Anderson falling like this. As much as I feel happy for Chris, I feel sad for Anderson. It can happen to anybody.
The Spider will get the opportunity to prove St-Pierre right when he locks horns with Weidman for a second time at UFC 168 in December.
According to Bovada.com, an aggregate betting website, Silva is a 1.5-to-1 (-150) favorite to best Weidman (+120) in the rematch.
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