UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre thinks Chris Weidman will be the one to stop middleweight kingpin Anderson Silva‘s reign of dominance inside the Octagon.
In a brief interview with Sportsnet, GSP said he thinks “The All-American” will not only beat Silva, but will also finish him.
“My friend Chris Weidman, when I see him in training, I believe he’s going to beat Anderson Silva,” GSP recently told Sportsnet. “I believe it’s a bad matchup for Anderson Silva. It’s very bad. Not only is he going to beat, I believe he’s going to finish Anderson Silva,” GSP explained. “I believe it’s not going to be too long, that fight. People will be shocked.”
After months of back-and-forth with the champion, the UFC finally granted Weidman his shot at “The Spider” on Wednesday, booking the title fight for UFC 162.
The event is set for July 6 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
While St-Pierre is a member of Tristar Gym in Montreal and Weidman is a member of Team Serra-Longo in New York, they sometimes train together at Renzo Gracie’s jiu-jitsu school in New York.
Although he picked Weidman to pull off the massive upset, he admits that his friend’s recent shoulder surgery could be a factor in this matchup.
“Anderson Silva is smart because Chris Weidman, he come back from an injury, a long layoff, so it’s the time to fight him right now,” St-Pierre said. “It’s going to be the best time to fight Chris Weidman right now, so Chris needs to be sure he needs to get very well-prepared for this fight.”
Weidman‘s wrestling and jiu-jitsu prowess may present problems for Silva, but the champion boasts a perfect 16-0 record inside the Octagon and has already defended his strap a UFC-record 10 times.
Given those facts, it’s no surprise that oddsmakers have roughly deemed the challenger a 3-to-1 underdog for the fight.
Weidman is 9-0 as a professional mixed martial artist, with his last win being a definitive knockout over Mark Munoz at UFC on Fuel 4 in July.
Meanwhile, St-Pierre looks to make it eight successful title defenses in a row when he fights former Strikeforce champ Nick Diaz at UFC 158 this Saturday.
Is it possible that “Rush” is right and Weidman is poised to take the title from Silva, or will the rising star just be another fighter added to “The Spider’s” highlight reel of knockouts?
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