Larry Brown Sports

Georges St-Pierre is denying a report that says he wants $50 million to fight Anderson Silva.

Last week MMA reporter Mike Straka said on “The MMA Beat” that he heard St-Pierre wanted $50 million to fight Silva because he felt he needed a huge monetary guarantee to face such a dangerous opponent.

GSP said on Sunday that he had not heard about the report, and that it’s false.

“I have not been informed of this, it is not true,” St-Pierre said in French (translation provided by Google). “Nobody told me about it and I am in France now, I have not seen the article (Mike Straka). I will not comment.”

We chose not to share the original report from Straka because it seemed loosely sourced and we did not find it credible. St-Pierre is one of the highest-compensated fighters in the UFC (probably the highest), so it would not be surprising to hear him demand around $15 million for a fight of this caliber, but there is no way he would be demanding more than what Floyd Mayweather makes in a fight. That just doesn’t seem right.

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Those who were hoping to see Georges St-Pierre and Anderson Silva fight next year will likely be left disappointed.

UFC president Dana White said in September that a GSP-Anderson Silva superfight was close to happening, and likely to take place at Cowboys Stadium. While Silva is busy filming his first movie, GSP is coming off a win over Carlos Condit that was supposed to be the precursor to the superfight. St-Pierre says that fight isn’t as close to happening as many thought.

During an interview with Radio-Canada’s “Tout Le Monde en Parle” on Sunday night, GSP said a fight with Silva would happen on his terms. Here’s a translation of what he said via MMA Fighting.

“He wants to fight me so he can then retire. I would like to fight him too, but after I fight him and win the fight, what happens next? These days, yeah, there’s a lot of money to be made, but I don’t fight for the money. My motivation is to be the best. Like we said, to be the Wayne Gretzky of my sport. So if I fight him, what happens next? It will be over. So yes, I want the fight, but I want to take it when I decide the time is right, not when he wants the fight to happen.

“On top of that, he weighs 234 pounds; I weigh 188. So there’s a big weight difference. I’ve fought guys who were bigger — I’m not scared of him — it’s just that I will take this fight when it makes sense for me. I just came back from an injury, there’s money to be made, there are fights in my weight class, other challenges out there, and if I fight him, I will have to gain weight, while he will have to lose weight, and then afterwards, I won’t be able to come back to my weight class.

“First and foremost, I have things to do at 170 pounds. When I am ready and when I want the fight, that’s when it will happen.”

The thoughts from GSP come as no surprise. In March 2011, he expressed reluctance about stepping up in weight to face Silva, citing the exact same reasons. However, unless St-Pierre is talking about fighting Nick Diaz who has been calling him out, then I’m not sure what he has left to prove at his weight.

Anderson Silva is the latest MMA fighter who will try his hand at acting.

The Brazilian UFC middleweight champion will star in a police movie with his friend Steven Seagal. Seagal is a mixed martial arts instructor who turned into a notable action movie actor. Seagal has actually helped train Silva in past fights.

According to Fighters Only, Silva revealed to Estadao that he received the first draft of the script this week. The movie is supposed to be an action-packed police story.

“I will make a lot of fight scenes and this is also the first time I will act,” Silva tells Estadão (per Fighters Only). “I received a long plot and I will have the opportunity of putting in practice what I have been studying for some time.”

Silva, who beat Stephan Bonnar in October to improve to 33-4, sounds pretty serious about performing well as an actor.

“I don’t want to be seen as somebody who caught the role because I am on the media and to be a fighter. Of course it is difficult, I am not Lorenzo Lamas, but I want to do it well done to the people see that I am a good actor.”

Silva reportedly will begin filming in the US in December.

Randy Couture, Rampage Jackson, Cung Le, and Gina Carano are among the MMA fighters who have gotten into acting. Even Ronda Rousey has said she would be interested in a movie career. It seems like the two just go together.

With Silva’s impressive speed and fighting skills, one has to imagine the action in the movie will be great. His acting may be another story.

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Anderson Silva and Jon Jones have maintained for quite some time that they’re not interested in fighting each other. Jones has said he doesn’t want to face Silva because he has too much to lose. Silva has expressed similar thought. Another issue is that neither fighter wants to change weight classes; Silva fights at 185 and Jones is 205.

But after UFC President Dana White talked about offering them so much money they wouldn’t be able to turn down the fight, Silva suddenly seemed open to the possibility.

According to Bloody Elbow, Silva told Brazilian TV network SporTV that he would be open to the fight. Here’s what he said courtesy of a Bloody Elbow translation:

“People are talking about that so much that… I don’t have this ambition, this (fight) doesn’t motivate me, especially since they have other athletes in my team, such as Lil’ Nog, Maldonado, Feijao, Caldeirao (Wagner Prado), that are in his weight class. My weight class is 185, my belt is of that weight class. But people are talking so much about this, and we are employees of the UFC. Of course, I could be saying that I don’t want it, but what if he goes out and accepts the money Dana is proposing for him to fight? It will be hard (not to accept it). It’s not the money that motivates me to fight, I fight because I like it. So, I don’t know. I wouldn’t like (to fight him). But if it’s going to happen, it would have to be at a catchweight. The belt shouldn’t be at play. I already have mine and I don’t want a belt to be left at the side.”

Silva saying that a potential fight would have to be at a catchweight is a big difference from the firm denials he gave in the past. Jones has an upcoming fight with Chael Sonnen in April, and Silva may be facing Georges St-Pierre next. Could Jones and Silva fight after that? It certainly seems like a possibility.

After Anderson Silva beat Stephen Bonnar at UFC 153 over the weekend, the cries for the Spider to face Jon Jones grew. UFC President Dana White even talked about locking the two men in the room and getting them to agree to fight, despite each of their reluctance to face one another. But now that we know Jon Jones’ next fight will be against Chael Sonnen in April, we can forget about Silva vs. Jones next.

Instead, what we’re likely to see for Silva’s next fight is a superfight with Georges St-Pierre.

GSP is set to face Carlos Condit at UFC 154 on Nov. 17 in Montreal. Should he win that fight — which is no guarantee — a match with Silva seems likely.

White said in September that if the two were to fight, it would be at a catch weight and likely to take place at Cowboys Stadium. Silva indicated over the weekend that he’d be interested in facing St-Pierre.

“I think it’d be a great challenge for me,” Silva said, per MMA Fighting. “I prefer him over Jon Jones. He’s smaller. It’ll be a little bit easier. I’ll be hit less.”

This is pure speculation based on the information that’s available, but it seems that fight would be likely as long as GSP wins. If he loses, then your best guess is as good as mine.

Former UFC light heavyweight champion Forrest Griffin sat down with Stephan Bonnar to give the challenger some advice on facing Anderson Silva at UFC 153 on Saturday in Brazil.

Griffin was knocked out by Silva at UFC 101 in 2009, so he knew what to tell Bonnar. Ready for this hilarious list:

- Don’t stand with him
- Don’t try to punch him
- Don’t kick him
- Don’t try to submit him
- Don’t talk any trash

Basically, there is no way to approach Anderson Silva.

For the sake of UFC fans, hopefully Bonnar doesn’t believe that and will actually try some technique to beat the Brazilian.

Aside from the humorous aspect of the ad, Bonnar and Griffin getting together for a commercial is a pretty special occurrence. The two have fought twice, including an epic Fight of the Year battle in The Ultimate Fighter 1 Finale in 2005.

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Anderson Silva is 37 and has had 36 professional fights, but it sounds like he’s willing to continue fighting for several more years.

In a recent interview with Brazilian newspaper Estadao, Silva said in his native Portugese that he thinks he can fight another six years.

Here’s what he said according to a Google translation:

“I guess you can be more like 6 years fighting. I love what I do, the team that works with me does a fantastic job, never had a serious injury that myself away from competition. So I think I have this little while longer.”

Fans have been under the impression that Silva had a limited amount of fights left before he retires. The way Silva’s talking, he could be the next Randy Couture and still fighting in 2018.

I don’t see it happening. Why should he continue fighting and risk his reputation when he’s already regarded as one of the best ever? Unless he has financial issues, there really is no reason to fight until he’s 43.

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Photo Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-US PRESSWIRE