Georges St-Pierre talked to UFC about fighting Anderson Silva ‘many times’, bout is still ‘possible’

GSP stated that he was only formally offered a fight with Anderson Silva once, though he talked about it with the UFC many times.

Now that Georges St-Pierre has returned to the UFC, at middleweight no less, one of the most talked-about fights for years may be back on the table. A bout between then-welterweight champion GSP and longtime middleweight champion Anderson silva was a dream fight for a lot of folks, but the timing was just never right.

As a guest on UFC Unfiltered with Jim Norton and Matt Serra though, St-Pierre said the fight is a) still a possibility; and b) was actually formally offered to him once:

“It is possible. The truth is this. The only time I’ve been offered to fight Anderson Silva, formally, like formally – like a real offer – was after my fight with Johny Hendricks when I retired. It’s not because it was Anderson Silva (that I didn’t take the fight). I would not have fought nobody. You could have put a midget of 3-foot tall, I would not have even fought him. I wouldn’t want to fight. I was tired. I wanted to take time off.”

While he was in the middle of his 170-pound title run the superfight talk seemed never-ending among fans, with UFC president Dana White and then-COO Lorenzo Fertitta fanning the flames whenever possible. GSP revealed that there was a lot of talk behind the scenes as well, but the timing was wrong and the promotion apparently wasn’t a fan of his forward-thinking ideas on drug testing:

“We talked about Anderson Silva many times with Lorenzo and Dana. What I wanted to do at the time…there was a big lineup of contenders in my division and what I wanted to do, if I would have fought him at the time because I would have had to defend my title too. I would have done it at a catchweight, 177, with WADA. Because USADA was not in place back then, and I wanted to do the WADA testing for performance-enhancing drugs.

“I think the UFC didn’t really like the idea at the time. But then after I had to fight other guys, after I blew out my ACL then a lot of guys were waiting for me to come back. I didn’t have a time to stop or the opportunity.”

St-Pierre will take on Michael Bisping for the UFC middleweight title in his return fight, with the date still to be determined.

GSP stated that he was only formally offered a fight with Anderson Silva once, though he talked about it with the UFC many times.

Now that Georges St-Pierre has returned to the UFC, at middleweight no less, one of the most talked-about fights for years may be back on the table. A bout between then-welterweight champion GSP and longtime middleweight champion Anderson silva was a dream fight for a lot of folks, but the timing was just never right.

As a guest on UFC Unfiltered with Jim Norton and Matt Serra though, St-Pierre said the fight is a) still a possibility; and b) was actually formally offered to him once:

“It is possible. The truth is this. The only time I’ve been offered to fight Anderson Silva, formally, like formally – like a real offer – was after my fight with Johny Hendricks when I retired. It’s not because it was Anderson Silva (that I didn’t take the fight). I would not have fought nobody. You could have put a midget of 3-foot tall, I would not have even fought him. I wouldn’t want to fight. I was tired. I wanted to take time off.”

While he was in the middle of his 170-pound title run the superfight talk seemed never-ending among fans, with UFC president Dana White and then-COO Lorenzo Fertitta fanning the flames whenever possible. GSP revealed that there was a lot of talk behind the scenes as well, but the timing was wrong and the promotion apparently wasn’t a fan of his forward-thinking ideas on drug testing:

“We talked about Anderson Silva many times with Lorenzo and Dana. What I wanted to do at the time…there was a big lineup of contenders in my division and what I wanted to do, if I would have fought him at the time because I would have had to defend my title too. I would have done it at a catchweight, 177, with WADA. Because USADA was not in place back then, and I wanted to do the WADA testing for performance-enhancing drugs.

“I think the UFC didn’t really like the idea at the time. But then after I had to fight other guys, after I blew out my ACL then a lot of guys were waiting for me to come back. I didn’t have a time to stop or the opportunity.”

St-Pierre will take on Michael Bisping for the UFC middleweight title in his return fight, with the date still to be determined.