Last week, UFC president Dana White said that the world of mixed martial arts was getting pretty close to seeing one of the mythical superfights that fans of the sport always seem to want to make. The superfight that White was referring to was the dream match between middleweight champion Anderson Silva and welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre.
White, speaking on UFC Tonight said, “These guys (Silva and St-Pierre) want to fight each other now” and that the fight would likely take place at a catchweight of 180 pounds.
That talk and the mention that the UFC would look to book the fight for Cowboys Stadium had MMA fans all atwitter, but before you start picking up extra hours at work to afford the trip to Dallas, perhaps, you should hear what one of the fighters who’s involved has to say.
St-Pierre, speaking to MMA Weekly (via Damon Martin) had the following to say about the possibility of fighting Silva.
“I’m thinking about Condit right now; that’s what I should do. He’s the most dangerous guy and I have to take care of business.”
Later during the interview St-Pierre added that the welterweight division has become more competitive than it was in the not too distant past.
“I feel like I have a lot of guys that are there and I don’t understand why people are going crazy now, but I just came back from an injury, so maybe some people see me as a weak link. We’ll see what’s going to happen in the future.”
White, perhaps upping the ante some, threw another log on the superfight fire on Monday night’s episode of Inside MMA (h/t USA Today) saying, “As you start to get to a point where Anderson is in his career – he’s beat everybody, he’s broken every record in UFC history – if he wins against Georges St-Pierre, I guarantee you he’ll be eyeballing Jon Jones next.”
So there you have it, in the span of about a week, White has said that the future of Silva may include two of the most talked about fantasy fights of recent times and why not. Silva is 37 years old, and at some point, his career will come to an end, why not wrap it up with two monster fights that would be pay-per-view gold?
However, at this point, it’s all just talk, and there are obstacles to overcome to make any of this a reality.
First, I would imagine that St-Pierre would have to beat Carlos Condit at UFC 154, and then, be convinced that the other welterweight challengers can wait. As for Jones, he would have to defeat Vitor Belfort at UFC 152 and most likely one or two more opponents before he would be lined up to face Silva. There’s also that pesky problem of Jones and Silva not seeming at all interested in facing each other.
Who knows if either of these fights will happen? They’re nice to think about and speculate upon, and they keep fans talking in the downtime between fight cards, but until the contracts are signed, it’s hard to fathom that they will actually take place.
That’s not to say that I don’t want to see these fights. I, like almost every other fan of MMA, would love to see either matchup take place, but I’m not booking my travel to Dallas just yet.
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