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.
