GSP Having Second Thoughts About Fighting Anderson Silva

Georges St. Pierre and Anderson Silva are widely considered to be two of the top pound-for-pound fighters in the world. Silva’s 28-4 and coming off an incredible win over Vitor Belfort. The Spider has won 14 straight and fought at both middleweight and light heavyweight. GSP is 21-2 and has won his last eight fights in a row, all as a welterweight. He has a fight coming up against former Strikeforce champ Jake Shields late April in Toronto. After that, there’s been talk of a GSP-Silva superfight should St. Pierre come out victorious.

The St. Pierre-Silva fight is one fans have been dying to see for quite some time, but it appears as if the bout is no certainty. Speaking at UFC on Versus 3 Thursday evening, GSP said he’s focusing on his fight with Shields first before anything else, but he also was hesitant to talk about plans to fight Silva.

GSP’s biggest concern centers around the weight issue. During an interview, he said “It would take a long time [to put on that kind of weight]. Anderson Silva is a huge guy, he’s weighing around 230 pounds. He’s very big. Even when he fought as a light heavyweight he looked bigger than the other guys. I don’t know if I’m gonna go up to 185. I have no idea. It’s a complete reorientation of my career. I have a lot to lose.”

If he’s reluctant to fight because he has a lot to lose, that’s a poor attitude. But if his concerns are over weight issues, that makes complete sense. Silva is a bigger guy and has four inches of height and 20 pounds on GSP. He would have a clear advantage in a sport where a lot of the fighting is based on strength, leverage, and tactics on the ground. They would have to meet at an agreeable weight that would make the two equally uncomfortable. Remember, it won’t be easy for Silva to drop down in weight either. Hopefully GSP beats Shields and the superfight goes down.