UFC president Dana White reminds the media quite often that despite Anderson Silva‘s extraordinary success, “The Spider” doesn’t represent the company’s most prolific pay-per-view draw.
According to White, that distinction belongs to Georges St-Pierre, the longtime welterweight champ who fought in the co-main event of UFC 100, a monumental bout in 2009 that set a record for pay-per-view buys (1.6 million).
But just because St-Pierre’s the organization’s crown jewel doesn’t mean that White doesn’t have a vested interest in seeing Silva get past underdog Chris Weidman at UFC 162.
After all, which superfights would the UFC look to arrange in 2014 if Weidman, deemed a 2.5-to-1 underdog (+215) by Bovada.com against Silva (-275), would happen to upset the longtime middleweight champ at UFC 162?
White has talked for years about facilitating a bout between St-Pierre and Silva, but the diabolical company president seems even more intrigued by a possible bout between Silva and the company’s most dominant light heavyweight champ of all time, Jon Jones.
Following Jones’ win over Chael Sonnen at UFC 159, White made an ambiguous remark about a phone conversation he had with Silva that revolved around a potential superfight, assumingly with Jones.
Less than a month later, White told CBS Atlanta that a Silva vs. Jones superfight could be on the horizon but only if The Spider dispatches of “The All-American” on July 6.
Silva has a fight coming up on July 6, (and) he’s fighting Chris Weidman. Many people think this is a very serious threat to his record and his title and everything else. But if he gets past this test with Weidman, we could see this superfight (with Jones) this year.
Many experts believe Weidman, a former NCAA Division I All-American wrestler, possesses the variables needed to dethrone Silva, who will amazingly aim to defend his belt for the 11th straight time.
If he does happen to pull off the unthinkable, the 29-year-old Weidman would unquestionably squash the notion of a Silva vs. St-Pierre or a Silva vs. Jones superfight for good.
For Weidman, conversely, the Serra-Longo fight team product has already boldly explained his intentions to not only upset the 38-year-old pound-for-pound king but to then grant him a rematch.
During an interview with Bleacher Report’s Trent Reinsmith at the UFC 158 post-fight press scrum, White offered these sentiments regarding Weidman‘s confidence in playing spoiler:
I spoke to Chris Weidman. He looked me right in the eye and said, ‘I’m telling you, I apologize, but I’m going to f**k up all your superfights, but I’m going to win this fight. I’m going to f**k up all your superfights and be your next champion.
Granted, it’d be just a small consolation prize in comparison to a superfight between Silva and Jones. But White and the UFC’s brass would likely have no choice but to give The Spider a rematch if he suffered his first loss in the UFC to a fighter with just nine pro bouts.
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