The idea of witnessing a dream bout between Anderson Silva and Georges St-Pierre has been brought up countless times, and now with both fighters seemingly willing to face each other, UFC President Dana White is eager to promote the matchup.
Of course, it will heavily rely on both Silva and St-Pierre winning their upcoming bouts.
“Obviously it’s a fight that people have been talking about for a long time,” White said during a UFC press conference last week in Calgary. “So like Georges said, first of all, he has to get healthy. Then he’s got to fight (Carlos) Condit. Anderson is fighting Chael (Sonnen), and then we’ll see where we go from there.”
St-Pierre has always been a little hesitant on the idea of facing the Brazilian, as he still sees the 170-pound division as a competitive weight class with many contenders vying for a title opportunity.
Realistically, however, the UFC welterweight champion has essentially cleaned out the division and is left without a legitimate challenger, considering other fighters are either too inexperienced or injured.
But when asked about the possibility of facing Silva, St-Pierre was much more assertive.
“When I get back to my title, depending on what’s going on, I might have to take another fight,” St-Pierre said. “Depending if I’m going to go up or if he’s going to come down, it’s too far away to think about it right now, but it’s something that could happen, of course.”
White has been aggressive in his approach to put on fights that fans want to see and while both champions are currently in their prime, there might not be a better time to set up the fight than right now.
If both parties can come to an agreement, White has hinted at a possible destination for the lucrative super-fight.
“I want to put on fights the fans want to see. I know how big that fight is,” he said. “Imagine if we did Anderson Silva vs. Georges St-Pierre anywhere in Canada, how big that fight would be. Believe me, I’d love to do.”
Mike Hodges is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. Unless otherwise noted, all quotes were obtained first-hand.
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