A party with a vested interest in the outcome of UFC 154’s main event is heading to Montreal a week from Saturday night.
Sitting front row Octagonside at the Bell Centre will be UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva.
And depending on how the bout between UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre and interim champion Carlos Condit pans out, there’s a chance that before the evening is over, the wheels could be fully set in motion for a superfight which has long been speculated.
Silva’s manager, Jorge Guimaraes, hinted to MMAFighting.com’s Ariel Helwani on the Tuesday night edition of Fuel TV’s UFC tonight that a challenge is forthcoming if St-Pierre defeats Condit.
Asked why Silva, who isn’t known to often show up at fights other than his own, is heading to Montreal, Gumaraes said “maybe to challenge GSP if he beats Condit.”
While many fans have clamored for a bout between Silva and light heavyweight champion Jon Jones, Jones’ commitment to filming “The Ultimate Fighter” and an April 27 title bout with Chael Sonnen means a Silva bout is off the table for the foreseeable future.
A Silva vs. St-Pierre fight would match the two longest-reigning champions in UFC history. Silva recently celebrated his sixth anniversary as middleweight champ and has won a UFC record 16 consecutive fights. St-Pierre has been welterweight champion for four and a half years and has won nine straight fights.
The potential superfight, if it happens, is expected to be conducted at a catchweight somewhere between Silva’s 185 pounds and St-Pierre’s 170.