UFC President Dana White will be talking to welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre later today to get his thoughts on what he hopes comes next in the Octagon.
St-Pierre has been on vacation since his five-round decision win over Nick Diaz at UFC 158 in mid-March, and will soon head out to Los Angeles to film his role in the new film Captain America: The Winter Soldier where he plays villain Batroc the Leaper.
“I’m going to talk to Georges St-Pierre today and see what he wants to do,” White said on Thursday during the UFC on Fox 7 media day.
Just about everyone assumed that St-Pierre’s next fight was already locked down with top contender Johny Hendricks waiting in the wings for a title shot. Hendricks won a close decision over former UFC interim champion Carlos Condit at UFC 158 to secure his spot as the top welterweight challenger.
Despite those accolades, Hendricks may still get stuck waiting in line if St-Pierre utters two words to White during their conversation—Anderson Silva.
St-Pierre and Silva have been linked together for years as a potential superfight for the ages, but after the Canadian champion suffered a serious knee injury that put him out of action for over a year, the plan to face the middleweight king was put on the backburner. With two fights and two victories under his belt since recovering from knee surgery, St-Pierre could decide now is the right time to face Silva next.
“Maybe he wants to fight Anderson if Anderson wins,” White said about St-Pierre’s upcoming options. “If Georges says to me ‘I want to fight Anderson Silva,’ you think I’m going to go ‘no you’re not, you’re fighting Johny Hendricks’?”
Plain and simple, if St-Pierre requests the fight with Silva, it’s likely he’ll get his wish and Hendricks will get back in line yet again.
There are still a lot of variables in this situation, however.
First, St-Pierre hasn’t actually requested the fight with Silva; it’s just being floated around as an idea at this point. Also, Silva has a fight against Chris Weidman in the main event of UFC 162 in early July, and if he doesn’t win, it pretty much nixes any potential fight with St-Pierre.
Still, the option exists for St-Pierre to make the request to face Silva, and if he does, it appears White and the UFC will do everything in their power to make sure his dream fight becomes a reality.
Damon Martin is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report, and all quotes were obtained first hand unless otherwise noted.
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