If you thought the drama surrounding Georges St-Pierre and Anderson Silva was too much to handle, just wait. It’s about to really kick into high gear. GSP did what he had to do on Saturday night, meaning he both defeated Carlos Condit and deflected the question of fighting Silva when asked by Joe Rogan after the fight. But he and we know the question isn’t going away. And saying no outright could irreparably damage his legacy.
The trick for GSP is to define the terms of the fight most favorable to him. This sounds obvious, but he has a suprising upper hand when it comes to negotiating leverage. Silva and UFC management want the fight, but they can’t force GSP to take it. So, the champion should create criteria that seems reasonable enough, but either prices him out of the fight or makes the fight much more favorable to him.
A friend suggested to me GSP should demand the fight take place at 170 pounds. Sounds crazy, but the rationale is this: GSP doesn’t really want it, but probably can’t outright refuse it. Silva hasn’t made 167 pounds since his days in Shooto, but he does at least have a history of being able to get down there. GSP should require that if the fight is to happen, it happens at welterweight. Either Silva won’t accept and GSP gets what he wants or Silva does accept, but has to slim down in the most profound of ways. That would significantly reduce the sizable weight advantage Silva would otherwise take into the fight. And it’s not as if Silva is going to stay at welterweight even if he wins. Should they fight for the title and GSP loses, he’d likely be able to get it back without too much hassle.
I’ve included a poll at the bottom of the post for you to vote on the question of whether GSP should make this demand. Let me know if you think it’s a good or bad idea. And while you’re here, relive all of the action from Saturday night plus a few looks ahead to what’s left for the UFC in 2012.
5 MUST-READ STORIES
We have all of UFC 154’s results, photos from the event and all of the videos you could possibly want including interviews, pressers and everything in between.
According to UFC President Dana White, Renan Barao could be forced to defend his interim bantamweight championship. The likely first defense could come against Michael McDonald.
In reviewing the fight, a medical doctor looks back at GSP’s performance against Carlos Condit from Saturday and tries to assess whether the ACL injury hampered the champion.
When looking at the statistics from Saturday’s main event, what do they tell us? Find out.
UFC fighters were all over Twitter on Saturday night and we captured the highlights from everything they said.
MEDIA STEW
The Gracie Breakdown takes a look at how GSP stayed so dominant on top at UFC 154:
Did you miss Dana White’s post-fight scrum from late Saturday night? Catch up on it all:
If you’ve never seen shootboxing, it’s a form of kickboxing popular in Japan that also allows for throws and certain forms of takedowns. ‘Hellboy’ Joachim Hansen took part in Saturday’s S-Cup 2012:
If you haven’t already seen the trailer or preview for UFC on Fox 5, do yourself a favor and catch this now:
Just for fun, let’s all watch Johny Hendricks knockout Martin Kampmann again:
DIEGO SANCHEZ VS. NICK/NATE DIAZ?
@nickdiaz209I WHOOPED YOUR ASS OUNCE AND I’LL DO IT AGAIN…. I’D RATHER WHOOP YOUR LIL BRO’S ASS AFTER HE LOOSES 12/8 AIN’T SCARED AT ALL
— Diego Sanchez UFC (@DiegoSanchezUFC) November 18, 2012
YOU KNOW @nickdiaz209IS NOT GOING TO RESPOND DON’T BE SCARED BITCH
— Diego Sanchez UFC (@DiegoSanchezUFC) November 18, 2012
YOU KNOW HE IS CALLING @ceasergracie WHAT DO I SAY WHAT DO I DO ? DIEGO IS TALKING SHIT….. PLEASE HELP MEDADDY
— Diego Sanchez UFC (@DiegoSanchezUFC) November 18, 2012
@ceasergraciebjjAIN’T MY HOMIE !
— Diego Sanchez UFC (@DiegoSanchezUFC) November 18, 2012
My Twitter just got hacked
— Diego Sanchez UFC (@DiegoSanchezUFC) November 18, 2012
No NOT REALLY
— Diego Sanchez UFC (@DiegoSanchezUFC) November 18, 2012
WHAT DOESN’T HE ANNOUNCE?
Announcing NASCAR was an honor and a blast! The Pit crews are amazing at what they do! say.ly/phP4BMD
— Bruce Buffer (@brucebuffer) November 18, 2012
TRUE THAT
Glad to see one of the best @mauroranallo back in the game!Hope your doing well my friend
— Big John McCarthy (@JohnMcCarthyMMA) November 18, 2012
THE NEW H-BOMB
Nobody has brought this up but don’t we have another “H-bomb” in the @ufc now? Hendricks & Hendo, who has the more devastating #Hbomb ? #ufc
— Kenny Florian (@kennyflorian) November 18, 2012
WE ARE FAMILY
Great win @johnyhendricks! I was sitting in front of your family and they were going nuts! Awesome having that kind of support!
— Joe Lauzon (@JoeLauzon) November 18, 2012
DEEP THOUGHTS BY RAMPAGE JACKSON
DrugsIf people didn’t use drugs, people wouldn’t sell drugs, If no sales, no manufacturing. lets start manufacturing a better world!
— Quinton Jackson (@Rampage4real) November 18, 2012
HARDY THE MATCHMAKER
I want to see GSP fight Diaz and maybe Hendricks, then maybe fight Silva at a fair catch weight. Silva is quite a bit bigger than GSP.
— Dan Hardy (@danhardymma) November 18, 2012
SYMPATICO
GSP is the man, welcome back champ.
— War Machine (@WarMachine170) November 18, 2012
THE MASTER OF THE DOUBLE LEG SPEAKS
When GSP wants to really learn how to shoot a double, he knows where to come.
— Jordan Burroughs (@alliseeisgold) November 18, 2012
TASTE OF HIS OWN MEDICINE
I am not impressed by your performance @georgesstpierre
— nick diaz (@nickdiaz209) November 18, 2012
ANNOUNCED FIGHTS:
n/a
FANPOST OF THE DAY
Today’s FanPost of the Day comes from Steve Borchardt, who looks back at the preliminary card for UFC 154. Here’s his take on the Alessio Sakara vs. Patrick Cote debacle:
Put yourself in Alessio Sakara’s shoes for a second. Here the guy was heading into his bout with Patrick Cote trying to snap a two fight losing streak – and perhaps more importantly to keep from reaching the dreaded “three strikes and you’re out” benchmark that has meant the end of many a UFC run – and he comes back from early adversity to rock Cote with a pair of beautifully vicious elbows against the cage. At that point victory must have felt so close he could almost hear Bruce Buffer announcing his name. Then after five or six overzealous hammerfists to the back of a downed Cote’s head his world turned upside down and his efforts resulted in a loss via disqualification. That can’t feel good.
In a way it’s easy to feel for Sakara until you consider how much worse it must have felt to to be the guy on the receiving end of his hail of illegal blows. Cote was trying to recover and working on a single leg takedown when Sakara began playing a violent game of paper rock scissors with the back of his head and subsequently took the option of a comeback off the table. Some may say Cote was already out of the fight after the elbows, but how many times have we seen a fighter get rocked by a brutal shot only to later recover? The fact is, we’ll never know if Sakara truly had “The Predator” beat fair and square or if the latter had a comeback in him because those illegal strikes irrevocably muddied the issue.
You can certainly make an argument the bout should have been ruled a no contest rather than a disqualification victory for Cote, and you can make an even better argument that referee Dan Miragliotta should have stepped in sooner to put a halt to the brutal game of Whac-A-Mole Sakara was playing on the back of Cote’s skull. Sakara’s manager Lex McMahon told MMAFighting.com’s Ariel Helwani that he intends to appeal the decision but at the end of the day how much difference will it make? This is one of those unsatisfactory cases where nobody comes out a winner in the end. Cote certainly didn’t want to have his first Octagon victory in over four years come like this and even if Sakara’s camp is successful in getting the decision ruled a no-contest, Legionarius still won’t get the winner’s purse that looked to be within his grasp before the disqualification. The UFC is unlikely to cut him considering the controversial manner in which the loss occurred, so what’s the point in protesting? Better to just focus your energy on moving forward if you’re Sakara.
Luckily it sounds like the gears are in motion to have these two face off again. Both fighters deserve a chance to prove who the better man truly is when you take illegal shots out of the equation.