Georges St-Pierre says the UFC did approach him to face Anderson Silva in a superfight, but it never went beyond that lone conversation.
āWhat happened is that, at the time and when I was in my prime and Anderson Silva was in the primeā¦ I can only speak from my side,ā St-Pierre told Demetrious Johnson. āI donāt know what was happening on Anderson Silvaās side.
āI was only asked once by Dana and Lorenzoā¦ and I had the request because I was like, OK, you want me to get out of my way to go up a weight class, I need to be compensated because itās different. Iām full of challenges in my weight class, so if Iām fighting someone bigger I need to change my training, try to get bigger, maybe.ā
St-Pierre and Silva are the consensus greatest of all-time fighters in the welterweight and middleweight divisions, respectively, and the most accomplished champions the divisions have ever seen. After both fighters went on dominant runs, it was one of the few times fans clamored for two champions to face each other in a dream matchup.
āRushā says that when the UFC asked him about the fight by Dana White and Lorenzo Fertitta, he had a few requests he needed to be agreed upon in order for the fight to happen.
āSo my request was to fight Anderson Silva, I want to be put under contract,ā St-Pierre explained. āI want to be compensated better, one. I wanted this to be done in a catchweight, because Anderson fought in PRIDE at 170, and I knew he could go down ā I donāt know if he couldāve gone down in that momentā¦ it seems like he got heavier as time goes by, so I donāt know. Itās only an impression.
āSo it would be at a catchweight, so after that I could [go back down]. ā¦ If I go up, I needed to go back down because I wouldnāt spend my career there. And the third one was I wanted to have drug testing implemented. And they never got back to me.ā
A hope in hell, as that what he would had needed against a prime spider!
St-Pierre believes all of those requests weāre on the up and up, and nothing was extreme in any way at the time ā including the compensation, as he doesnāt think what he asked for would ever be perceived as a pricing out.
āThat was my intention: āIf you make that happen, Iām in, no problem,āā St-Pierre said. āIf you made it 180 [pound] catchweight, Iām in. And if you compensate me, and it was reasonableā¦ and also the drug testing. But they didnāt follow up with that.
āI donāt know if they asked Anderson about that, but they only asked me once.ā
He definitely had the style to beat Anderson. I think the reach and size may have fucked him but who knows
It would have been interesting to see how GSP would have done against Chael Sonnen.
IIRC, they did train together and Chael said he was deceptively strong. Much stronger than he thought GSP would be.
I think George is mistaken on this. I remember Anderson fighting at 170 in Shooto. But I donāt remember him ever fighting that light when he went over to Pride.
Wasnāt he 170 in Cage Rage?!?! That was after Pride but before his UFC run.
Fuck GSP
Both in their peak, I think the karate footwork takedowns would have gotten Chael into a āHeās not gonna get me with this cockamamiā¦ WHOOPSā situation and fooled for a round or two and would need every bit of size and intelligent technique he could muster to edge out decision and if they fought 10 times, heād lose 4 or 6 depending on arguments I could see for either side and a lot of the fights would probably be split decisions.
Still insane that these two were dominating their respective divisions in their prime, literally at the same time, and UFC could not manage to make champ vs champ happen.
Unconscionable.
Treason???
The juicy GSP who merked Bisping would be a good scrap
Goddammit, I canāt read GSP quotes without hearing it in his voice
This would have been the biggest fight ever but the UFC decided not to get back to him?
For the UFC to apparently only ask once and never bring it up again, I doubt it was only a 25% bump.
UFC didnāt want to. That wouldāve sacrificed a star and ppv draw
He fought at 185 in Cage Rage. He may have made 170 one last time when he fought Roan Carneiro at Meca Vale Tudo 6 between Shooto and Pride. But if he did, that was the last time he fought at 170.
